Red Pill Children's books

OnMyWay

I'm trying to give my 6 year-old son a solid entry into the world of masculinity, and to me that includes giving him the right books to read (he is an early and voracious reader).  I'm trying to build a reading list,so of course I figured I'd ask everyone here:  What are some of the children's books you read that teach Red Pill Awesomeness?  Also, maybe give a sentence or two about why you like it for this list? 

I realize this might be a broad discussion, so let's definitely break our lists down by fiction and non-fiction for sure.  I'll start, just off the top of my head:

Fiction:

• Treasure Island (Robert Louis Stevenson) - This one is obvious, and not just because, you know, Pirates.  A young boy is thrown into a grown-up situation, goes on an adventure in the company of good men and bad, and has to take a stand and fight for it. 
  
• The Hardy Boys (ghostwritten) - The older ones especially. Two brothers solving dangerous mysteries, and their dad is a badass detective.

Non-Fiction:

• The Dangerous Book for Boys (Conn and Hal Iggulden) - Some useful skills, some not-so-useful (these days), but all generally inspirational.  
  
• The American Boys' Handy Book (Daniel C. Beard) - Same as above, just written 130 years earlier, by one of the founders (sort of) of the Boy Scouts of America.
  
• The Right Stuff (Tom Wolfe) - because Chuck Yeager.  And to a lesser extent (I'm a little biased), astronauts.
  

I realize I'm asking a lot from this crowd:  Everyone knows knuckle-dragging neanderthals like us don't actually READ books; we just rub them together to make fire.  But I want my son to grow up and know what it really means to be a man, and know it to his core.  Teaching him is my job, and I really need to take it seriously.

Thanks in advance.  My first thread here, I hope it's a fun one.

Natalie_Lorin

At six I'd look into the original Boxcar Children stories - in the same vein as the Bobbsey Twins only I think they're geared a little younger. I don't remember them being particularly "red pill" but they certainly aren't all "girls rule and boys drool."

Other classics:

Fiction:

The Princess and the Goblins and The Princess and Curdie (yeah, it's a princess but one of the main characters is a miner's son named Curdie who ends up saving the day.)
Tom Swift stories - all about a young inventor and his adventures
The Chronicles of Narnia - lots of honor and courage and gender roles
The Hobbit - doesn't really need an explanation
Captains Courageous - spoiled rich boy falls off his steamship, gets picked up by a fishing boat, and learns lots of lessons along the way. Very coming of age and all that. Also just an interesting story.
King Solomon's Mines (probably when he's older) - adventures in Africa involving danger and diamond mines!

Non-fiction:

Farmer Boy - Almanzo Wilder as a young boy on his father's farm in New York.
Carry on, Mr. Bowditch -a biography for young people about a smart young boy who is determined to learn and ends up becoming a ship captain. This man changed shipboard navigation in the process. A favorite when my husband was young.
Come on, Seabiscuit - not one I've read, but my husband say this thread and said that was another favorite of theirs growing up.
All Creatures Great and Small - probably better for you to read aloud to him. Not all the content is appropriate or interesting to a small boy.

Hipster_Hick

Natalie_Lorin said:
Captains Courageous - spoiled rich boy falls off his steamship, gets picked up by a fishing boat, and learns lots of lessons along the way. Very coming of age and all that. Also just an interesting story.

Second that, along with everything else by Kipling.  Jungle Book will be very approachable at his age.

romanceauthor

Oy, some of us are cultured neanderthals! 

I have to second Carry On, Mr. Bowditch

My son loves Encyclopedia Brown

We've just started him on H.G. Wells and Jules Verne. He likes it so far. 

For non-fiction, I've just been letting him pick stuff out. He leans heavily to science books and has basically read everything in his school library and found some of my old stuff at my parents house. I know he really liked the books with simple experiments where he could poke things and get dirty at that age. 

Also, my son has asked me to write some stories based on the Bible. I'm thinking I'll start with David and Jonathon. If there's actual interest from other people, I'll get to them sooner rather than later. As it is, I'm just giving him pages from my printer to keep him satisfied for now.

OnMyWay

@Natalie_Lorin:

Great suggestions.  I've only barely heard of Tom Swift, so I'll have to look into those for sure.  Narnia seems like a no-brainer, I'm a little embarrassed I didn't think of it.  

I did read the Little House books as a kid, and Farmer Boy is another one I wouldn't have thought of.  But yeah, there are some good male role models in that series.

And (when he's older), DEFINITELY King Solomon's Mines.  Allan Quatermain!

@Neanderthal2000:

I didn't mean you personally.  You are a Neanderthal's Neanderthal, and I mean that in the best possible way.

@Hipster_Hick:

Good call on Kipling (you too, @Natalie_Lorin).  You're right about Jungle Book, and it reminded me of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi too.

@Kort:

Encyclopedia Brown is a good suggestion, if for no other reason than he was always standing up to that bully kid.

Also, Jules Verne!  How could I miss him?

I guess I ought to put Arthur Conan Doyle in there, not just for Sherlock Holmes, but also The Lost World.

All great suggestions.  

_io

G.A. Henty.  They are a series of historical adventure fiction written from the perspective of a boy in whichever period the book is written about.  They were written before the turn of the last century, so they are more complex than kids are used to today.  Might be good as stories you read aloud to him.

Shane by Jack Schaeffer.

_io

Argh, can't believe I didn't think of these first.  Louis L'Amour westerns.  Essential.

Natalie_Lorin

@Kort - you might also look into getting an old Illustrated Children's Bible (short url to an ebay listing: http://alturl.com/wfunx). It's not as "dumbed down" as some children's Bibles, and I really like the illustrations. I had something like that as a kid (can't find the exact version), and I absolutely loved it.

Raspberry_rose

The Swiss Family Robinson. Family w four boys are marooned on an island and have to survive. Virtues, and natural lore. That, and it's fun.
Call It Courage. Boy runs away from his tribe in oder to show he isn't a coward. Coming of age story, and is well done.
King Arthur (Howard Pyle retellings). Language may be frustrating, but this is Pyle removing the more adult bits from Le Morte D'Arthur, while leaving behind the virtues.
The Prydaiin Chronicles (Lloyd Alexander). Fantasy, coming of age for an orphan, which deals so well with many themes.
Aesop's Fables. Good advice, and helps develop thinking.
Tom Sawyer. Not quite as adult as Huck Finn, but a good story and good lessons.
Wild Trek (Jim Kjelgaard). Men stuck out in wilderness with dog struggle back to civilization.
My Side of the Mountain. Boy runs off to wilderness and thrives.
The Enormous Egg. Boy's egg hatches out a dinosaur. Chaos ensues. So does learning about dinosaurs.
Dr Dolittle (Hugh Lofting). Physician learns to speak with animals and goes on adventures. The racism is the only part I don't like about this series.
The 101 Dalmations (book). Much more detailed than the Disney movies, with clear male/female roles.
The Fox and the Hound (book). Much more meaningful and less anthropomorphosized than the movie. The same author also wrote Bambi, likewise worth the read.
Brighty of the Grand Canyon. Adventures of a donkey,his owners, and some history of the GC.
Stalky and Co (Rudyard Kipling) I know K's already recommended, but this is a wonderful book about a group of boys in a boarding school which is NOT as well known.
Tarzan series (Edgar Rice Burroughs)
Sherlock Holmes (and most of Doyle) just save yourself some time and buy his collected works? I've loved most of his stuff.
White Fang
The Call of the Wild.
These were some of my favorites growing up - and were all meant for boys! Granted, I was also reading some pretty advanced stuff.

Ps. The Oddyssey, Beowulf and the Ramayana are also worth letting him examine, even if only abridged.
PPS. Robin Hood!

jessie

The Apple and The Arrow (about William Tell)

Sign of the Beaver 

The Whipping Boy

Tom Sawyer

Swiss Family Robinson, but not the movie.

My Father's Dragon

Carry on Mr. Bowditch (but 6 is kinda young-9 might be better)

Chronicles of Narnia

These are just a few.  Go to Sonlight.com, My Father's World,  Ambleside Online, Tapestry of Grace or Heart of Dakota.  They are homeschooling sites that list great books.  I buy anything that appears on three or more lists.

Louise

Stig of the Dump by Clive King. One of the best children's book ever written. About a boy who finds a caveman living in the nearby disused chalk quarry. They develop a sort of friendship, and learn things from each other. published fifty years ago, it's never been out of print. A small masterpiece.

DrDEEtroit

Lone Wolf book series.  One guy saves the universe.  Choose your own adventure books.  A more interactive book so its definitely male.  I read these when I was 10-12 (and again this year at 35).  Fun books with a good story.

They are now free online if your son likes swords, magic and a fantasy world.  www.projectaon.org

 

Gwen

Whole heartedly agree with L'amour. Don't forget Burrough's John Carter books. Even better than Tarzan, IMO.

Classic science fiction - Red Planet by Heinlein, Slan by Van Vogt, Star Surgeon by Nourse, Children of the Atom by Shiras.

The Great Brain books by Fitzgerald. Alfred Hitchcock and the 3 Investigators series (if you van find them.)

Noticing a pattern here. Has anyone recommended anything that was published later than ten or twenty years ago? ^#(^

Louise

A good non fiction book is How to Drive A Tank by Henry Coles. it is not intended for children, but my sister gave it to no.3 son two years ago, when he was ten, and be loves it. full of information about how to do all sorts of things Henry Coles considers essential for 'the modern gentleman'.

jessie

Gwen said:

Whole heartedly agree with L'amour. Don't forget Burrough's John Carter books. Even better than Tarzan, IMO. Classic science fiction - Red Planet by Heinlein, Slan by Van Vogt, Star Surgeon by Nourse, Children of the Atom by Shiras. The Great Brain books by Fitzgerald. Alfred Hitchcock and the 3 Investigators series (if you van find them.) Noticing a pattern here. Has anyone recommended anything that was published later than ten or twenty years ago? ^#(^

I forgot about The Great Brain.  I loved those books!  I must track them down for my children.

Raspberry_rose

Don't forget Gordon Dickson, Orson Scott Card (especially Ender's Game), Alan Dean Foster, Isaac Asimov, and Alexandre Dumas. Though, in the case of Dumas, I'd hold off until he's about 9 or 10.

Savage

_io said:

Argh, can't believe I didn't think of these first.  Louis L'Amour westerns.  Essential.

@_io Interesting.  I have every Louis L'Amour book ever written as well as his daughter's 7 finished versions and his unfinished short stories.  Have always been fan of his and Zane Grey.  Started reading them around 8 years old, grandpa got me into them.

_io

@Savage, I don't have every book, but they do take up two shelves on my bookcase.  A couple years back, I read them in order of publication, just for fun. 

They can teach a boy what it means to be a man, to have honor, to keep your word, to endure hardship.  And how to find water in the desert.

Edit:  I started reading them when I was 13.  It was a rainy day and I had already re-read every book I owned.  Out of sheer extreme boredom, I finally picked up one of my dad's LL books which I had turned my nose up at previously.  Westerns, Pah!  

I was immediately hooked and devoured every one I could get my hands on.

Monkeys_Uncle

I have to second the Box Car Children series... there's something about the series that promotes just the right combination of social responsibility (watching out for family members) and independence (the kids live their lives without adult supervision).  Plus there are just some great stories.  My daughter never really took interest in this series and I always thought it would probably do better with boys.

Some others:

The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier: Great book about peer pressure, self determinism, and the psychological complexity of adoslescence.
 
Yeager!  - Chuck Yeager's autobiography.  Chuck Yeager has a much more interesting story to tell than is even hinted at in The Right Stuff. 

My Side Of The Mountain by Jean Craighead

Stone Fox by John Raynold Gardiner: More of a kids book, and a great introduction to the cold hard fact that in the real world, good causes often collide and make happy endings impossible.

Rocket Boys by Homer Hickam: This book was that basis for the movie October Sky, and is a book about dreaming big, thinking big, and putting mischief to productive usel.

The Number Devil by Hans Magnus Enzensberger - Great and fun introduction to the world of mathematics.  Provides a good framework for young minds to start thinking in mathematical terms, without overloading them with intimidating theory. 

OnMyWay

Hi guys, 

Way to many to respond to here, plenty of authors to look into now, which is fantastic!

A few I can comment on:

• Edgar Rice Burroughs - Tarzan / John Carter.  excellent ideas
• The Great Brain - I LOVED these as a kid too!  Really encouraged me to use my brain to solve problems in unique ways, and to deal with jerks by being smarter if I couldn't be tougher.
• Kjelgaard and London and Craighead all encourage self-sufficiency and survival, good things to strive to.  Great examples.
• Roald Dahl - Good author, but there's one work in particular about a boy who helps his dad poach turkeys.  I read it long ago, anyone know the name of that one?
• Tom Sawyer (and Huck Finn) are good ones about boys getting into trouble, not caring about others opionions, but also accomplishing great things.  Only down side is a relative lack of Good Man role models.  Dads are either not there or really horrible.  Definitely still alpha books, though.
• I've never read Louis L'Amour, but westerns are an excellent idea.  Didn't McMurtry write Lonesome Dove?  Those might be really good as well.
• King Arthur, of course.  I really got a lot out of the Stephen Lawhead novels around the legend as well.

These are all really great, especially as he gets older.  Right now he's reading at a 2nd / 3rd grade level, so I'm also looking for that age group as well.  Encyclopedia Brown sounds really good for that, and I'll check out Stone Fox (thanks @Monkeys_Uncle) as well.  Really impressive thread so far.

Louise

the Roald Dahl you are thinking of is Danny The Champion of the World.