Anons, Im gonna be a dad. What stories should I tell this kid? What books should a growing child read?

That's the sort of stuff I'm after

Totally forgot, adaptations of Greek myths is great, I loved it as a kid

It might be worth it to make a no-fly list too:

The Percy Jackson series
Anything by John Green
Watered down versions of classics that will ruin reading the real deal in the future

What else?

C.S. Lewis, Twain, Kipling, London,

your wife is gonna have a son, eh?

Reading stuff over the kids head was a mistake I made early. Dont discount award winning picture books and cd+book combos, they really helped my kid start reading.

I never read London as a kid and checked him out recently (early 20's). I'm actually pretty surprised. I guess I was expecting a really romanticized depiction of the subject matter, but a lot of is brutal and unforgiving.

>The afternoon wore on, and with the awe, born of the White Silence, the voiceless travelers bent to their work. Nature has many tricks wherewith she convinces man of his finity--the
ceaseless flow of the tides, the fury of the storm, the shock of the earthquake, the long roll
of heaven's artillery--but the most tremendous, the most stupefying of all, is the passive
phase of the White Silence. All movement ceases, the sky clears, the heavens are as brass; the slightest whisper seems sacrilege, and man becomes timid, affrighted at the sound of his own voice. Sole speck of life journeying across the ghostly wastes of a dead world, he
trembles at his audacity, realizes that his is a maggot's life, nothing more. Strange thoughts arise unsummoned, and the mystery of all things strives for utterance. And the fear of death, of God, of the universe, comes over him--the hope of the Resurrection and the Life, the yearning for immortality, the vain striving of the imprisoned essence--it is then, if ever, man walks alone with God.

What are some books that will help instill a philosophy of hedonism in my children from a young age?

just teach amorally. Instruct on fact and not ethic. Emphasize maximum physical pleasure.

Thats a valid point of not watering down some the classics. I hadn't considered that that was exactly what I was doing.

But in that end, I still think the christian fables are valuable without asking my kid to read king james

I read my kid the children's version of 3 musketeers and he loved it, but there's no way he would have sat through the original. Same with white fang, come to think of it.

Abort it retard

This, also EA Poe.

Very true. I'm an atheist but I would absolutely read the Bible or adaptations thereof to my future children. You need to know what exactly the ideas are this country is working from and to what extent it is beneficial and/or detrimental

make him start with the greeks

Not a book, but if at all possible try to teach your kid two languages when growing up. I raised my kids to speak English and Japanese and it's been going well so far, and they seem to be having easier times learning other languages due to proficiency with two already.

Classic european fairy tales and hero stories

Begin teaching them Latin as soon as it is possible

Roots ... or like ... the dead language?

Asterix the Gaul
Tin Tin
Roald Doal
Michael Morpurgo
Dr Zeuss
Various non-fictional books about facts e.g. dinosaurs/ tanks or Romans.

Basic gist.

I'm 18 btw so I may not be entirely correct in this.

Communist Manifesto is a good idea
Then you can read him Nietsche and Stirner
"Mein Kampf" and de Sade's works are good though

AHH FUCK I FORGOT ABOUT TINTIN

Matter of fact, I forgot about all the great comics and graphic novels that helped me learn to read and analyze stories as a kid. Lemme add them to my list, OP

Tin Tin (maybe save the racist ones until they've developed some solid critical thinking skills)
Fungus the Bogeyman
Ug: The Boy Genius of the Stone Age (if you haven't heard of this one and Fungus, look them up. I even recommend reading them as an adult)
Quimby Mouse (save that for an older age too, it gets dark)
The Complete Calvin and Hobbes

Adding to my list again.
Percy Jackson series
Lord of the Rings Trilogy
The Hobbit (it was written for kids)
The Famous Five
Harry Potter (although you might as well get the audio tapes and listen to stephen fry)

Most important one:
The Chronicles of Narnia, although it might be worth leaving the last two books till their older as it has themes of death and questions about what happens after it which fucked me up when I was 7)

Redwall series. Amazing stuff, some of my fondest childhood memories were from my father reading those books.

Kipling is god-tier children's lit
And Chronicles of Narnia is comfy af. Fuck, I remember sitting at home with my siblings at night around the fireplace, sipping on a cup of tea and listening to my dad read us Lewis stories.

Calvin and Hobbes is a fucking must.

The Bible.

Congrats on becoming a dad. Good luck.

ask your dad

...

The Bible.

Teach the boy to read with Psalms, and instill in him a proper Christian up bringing. Not the KJV 1611 Fundamentalist approach though.

By the age of eight your son should be affluent enough with Catholic teachings and dogma enough to move onto the likes of Plato and Aristotle, and even a bit of natural science with the likes. Don't forget to put great emphasis on the Mathematics.

>The world is a complicated place, Hobbes.
>Whenever it seems that way, I take a nap in a tree and wait for dinner

God I loved these comics growing up, had a huge book full of them. A masterpiece.

When I was 12 I had the three-volume complete set
I pored over that thing for days, I was completely in love
When I read the final comic and completed the series (the "let's go exploring!" one) I sobbed in my mom's lap for an hour because I said I would never have a friend like Hobbes

2bh I still get a little teared up and frog-throated when I think about that final comic

Try Amelia bedelia series. I have fond memories of my dad reading these to me when I was little. Aesop's fables are a great bang for your buck but I hesitate to recommend Grimm's fairy tale. Depends on the age I suppose. Oh! Stellaluna and where the wild things are. Anno counting books are a great way to introduce the world of numbers and math without it being overwhelming. Also congrats on fatherhood!

The only book series that my father read to me when I was young was the chronicles of narnia, I'd say it's worth reading to em when they're old enough to get slightly more complex works.

Also the little prince if you're into marxism.

heart of darkness

>23 yo virgin
>no desire or ability to date let alone marry anyone
>still fantasize about having a kid to raise like a better version of myself
>tfw will never recite the Iliad in Greek to your infant son while his pleb peers hear nursery rhymes

I think mostly I just resent not being raised that way myself.

I don't know if this is bait or not, but if not, fuck you.. Actively wanting to instill nihilism in a child from the outset is one of the most cruel things you could possibly do. This thread has made me incredibly depressed, because I know that this child is going to grow up to have a shit life

The only consolation I have in my miserable life is that I will never have a child that can feel the same sadness that I've felt

Which aspect though? Nihilism is a truth, but not an answer. Not OP but if my future child ever starts asking questions about meaning and existence and whatnot, I wouldn't want to refrain from giving them my opinion. I'd gladly try to teach my child that we live in a world of arbitrary and unfair constructs and rules, but that arbitrarity isn't an inherently bad thing. Arbitrarity is what saves us from the violent, lawless, desolate nothingness of a society that is gives in to nihilism

>Anons, Im gonna be a dad. What stories should I tell this kid? What books should a growing child read?
greek myths (no Percy Jackson)
wind in the willows
watership down
just so stories
sherlock holmes
wonder
counting by sevens
when you reach me
just as important: no catcher in the rye, and no broadcast/cable tv, music videos.
purchase TV shows (no ads)
worthwhile stuff:
Little Bear
Backyardigans
Toot and Puddle
film:
red balloon
white mane
black beauty
secret of roan innish
totoro
spirited way

LOTR