Adventure Lit 101
Today the New York Times published a front-page story on a teacher in a public middle school outside of Atlanta who eschews a fixed literature curriculum and allows her students read whatever they choose. Twilight, Harry Potter, Steinbeck, Jack London, Bill Watterson—it's all good. The paper calls this tactic "part of a movement to revolutionize the way literature is taught in America's schools." If that's the case, the hippie elementary school I attended was far ahead of the curve: We could always opt out of assigned activities to go sit outside and read.
I'm a huge believer in the tactic—I found it particularly useful during math class—and apparently America finds the idea intriguing, too: the Times story is the paper's third most emailed today, ranking just behind a trend story on Facebook quitters. (How's that for a fun juxtaposition?)
So, what adventure classics should America's youth be choosing from? I solicited some suggestions from the Outside editorial staff. Here's the resulting conversation. No one's feelings were too badly hurt. -- Abe Streep
Abe (associate editor, media; weasel fan):
1. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain. Teaches young entrepreneurs to manage a staff, plus a few boating and piracy basics.
2. Brian Jacques's Redwall series. Underdog mice battle weasels for the fate of the world. Sure, there are some heavy Catholic themes, but then again: mice fight weasels for the fate of the world. How can you not love that?
3. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson. The original Survivor.
Jeremy Spencer (senior editor, unapologetic book snob):
1. Moby-Dick, Herman Melville. A universe right in your hand—and on the high seas. It blew my mind, taught me about ten thousand new words, fired up the competitor in me to finish it in a reasonable amount of time, and helped turn me into an insatiable reader.
2. Lord Jim, Joseph Conrad. Another seafaring adventure by a literary master with an instructive moral compass.
3. The Red Badge of Courage, Stephen Crane. A nonpareil coming-of-age story that functions as a powerful antidote to the easy bloodshed of today's cyberculture.
Grayson Schaffer (senior editor, hunting dog aficionado ):
Jeremy, of course you were reading Moby Dick for fun in elementary/ middle school.
A few more easily digestible survival (and dog) books:
Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen: A fantastic plane-goes-down survival narrative starring a kid.
White Fang, Jack London: High-quality anthropomorphism that was made for Disney before Disney existed.
The Call of the Wild, London: The original canine classic.
Norman Maclean's story collection A River Runs Through It. There's a great story about fistfighting in a Missoula bar.
Jeremy, it could have come in use. Moby Dick. No wonder you got beat up so much.
Jeremy:
Grayson, I've been in five fights in my life, none of which I started, and won them all, thankyouverymuch.
Abe:
Enough! Speaking of kid-survival narratives, I'm throwing My Side of the Mountain into the mix. Turned me into a falcon nerd and forged a bad habit of climbing into tree stumps whenever possible. And yeah, White Fang is a classic. You got the feeling London saw a dogfight or two in his day. What about horse books? Shane, anyone?
Elizabeth Hightower (features editor, Black Stallion junkie):
Huckleberry Finn, Twain: Am I misremembering, or does Tom get stuck with the fence and the cave while Huck gets to take to the wide open Mississippi?
The Black Stallion, by Walter: Boy, Horse, Desert Island. Love. I read every single one of them.
Misty of Chincoteague, by Marguerite Henry: For tomboys who run out of Black Stallion books.
Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer: Escape/cautionary tale for disaffected teenagers who've discovered the meaningless existence of "the Man."
Love Treasure Island.
Lord of the Flies, by William Golding: Terrifying! In a good way.
Abe:
Huck does get to do the big river (more rafting tips in that one, too) but Tom gets to stick his friends with the yard work. Besides, he discovers treasure in a cave and attends his own funeral with Huck in tow. Now I ask you: Who hasn't thought about faking their death to attend their own funeral?
Grayson:
I made the same pilgrimage through all of the Farley books, too (Son of the Black Stallion, Cousin..., Stepniece...) into Misty of Chincoteague and then onto the Brighty of the Grand Canyon books.
Ryan Krogh (research editor, occasional cagefighter):
Okay, a few more to throw in.
The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway: Old fisherman goes out to sea to catch a marlin and comes back with a lesson on the power of heroes.
Walden, by Henry David Thoreau: Who hasn’t dreamt of spurning society for a simpler life in the woods, but with your mom still there to wash your laundry?
On the Road, by Jack Kerouac: Good friends, good times, and (ostensibly) no consequences. Adolescent idealism at it’s most uninhibited.
Abe: Thanks for the surprise picks, Ryan. Walden—now there's a cheery read for a sixth grader. Can't you just see the 12-year-olds fighting each other for that one?
Ryan: Fair enough. Here are my non-surprise picks: Twain's Following the Equator; Maclean's Young Men and Fire; and Down and Out in Paris and London, by George Orwell. Also, Mixed Martial Arts for Dummies. Feel free to take that as a warning.
Abe: Okay, this ends now. Thanks, all. Until next time.
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A few years ago the magazine ranked Antoine de Saint-Exupery's "Wind, Sand and Stars" #1 on a list of 100 adventure books. That it's not here disappoints me tremendously.
For what it's worth, "Southern Mail" and "Night Flight" are equally beautiful.
Posted by: Skot Nelson | September 01, 2009 at 01:31 AM
Hey, one I read that got me hooked on the outdoors and reading was Ralph Moody's "Little Britches". It is the start of his autobiography. It is set in early 1900 Colorado and is a great read for kids and adults.
Posted by: John Clark | September 01, 2009 at 08:00 AM
Thanks Skot and John - You just added two to the list.
--The Editors
Please feel free to add more.
Posted by: Outside | September 01, 2009 at 10:52 AM
How is Kon-Tiki not on this list?!?! Reading it now for (embarrassingly) the first time and am ready to build and sail my own balsa raft across the Pacific. Who's in?
-Michael Roberts, Executive Editor
Posted by: Michael Roberts | September 01, 2009 at 10:57 AM
The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. I thought this was the most glaring omission. The others are great. I like both "Huckleberry Finn" and "Tom Sawyer", but I have to say, Huck Finn is ten times the book Sawyer is. The passage where Huck decides he's going to go to Hell for trying to free Jim, but that he's going to do it anyway is as fine a piece of writing as has ever been written.
Posted by: Dan Moore | September 01, 2009 at 11:44 AM
What?!? No Robinson Crusoe? No other novel has left a mark as long-lasting as that first literate reality show. I'm still hoping to get shipwrecked to see how I measure up against my friend Robinson 40 years later!
Posted by: Case Huijssoon | September 01, 2009 at 12:35 PM
Steinbeck: Travels With Charley and Grapes Of Wrath.
Posted by: George Rodgers-Clark | September 01, 2009 at 12:44 PM
Great additions, Dan, George, and Case. Thanks for the feedback. Favorite short from the Jungle Book: Rikki-Tikki-Tavi. Re: Tom vs. Huck—obviously Huck is the classic, the one you read in freshman comp. But we were simply trying to assemble a list of the books that hooked us on good writing about wild trips. For me, that was Tom.
Posted by: Abe Streep (Associate Editor) | September 01, 2009 at 01:21 PM
For the younger tykes--Where the Wild Things Are
Posted by: Garrett Wood | September 01, 2009 at 04:48 PM
How about "The Lord of the Rings?" True, it's a fantasy novel, but what an adventure: hiking, caving, rafting, bouldering, rappelling, horseback riding, tree climbing, mountaineering, fishing, backpacking, sailing, ultralight aircraft handling, etc!
Plus, the book encourages mastery of a diverse range of outdoor skills, scientific principles, and personal growth targets: survival training, firestarting, ropecraft, seamanship, linguistics, team-building, expedition planning, puzzle solving, route-finding, self-defense, martial arts, camouflage, personal goal-setting, public speaking, paddling, volcanology, intercultural communications, first aid, foraging, metalsmithing, botany, organic gardening, distance running, archery, biodiversity, habitat preservation, endangered species awareness, falconry, archaeology, tracking, endurance training, snowshoeing, meteorology, alternative medicine, diplomacy, wireless communications, arachnid identification, stargazing, mapmaking, equestrian skills, alternative energy sources, eco-friendly homebuilding, leave-no-trace camping, cultural sensitivity skills, and coping with addiction.
True, the book is overly obsessed with violence and glorifies tobacco and alcohol use, but you can't have everything.
Posted by: Eric Heidle | September 02, 2009 at 12:47 PM
Eric: LOTR is on my shortlist for sure. I read them for the first time in fourth grade, and they went fast, being such pageturners. I remember afterwards going into the woods behind our neighborhood with an even greater appreciation for trees.
Case: Crusoe is a good one too.
And just about anything by H.G. Wells and Jules Verne.
Also: Huck!
Also also: Correspondent Wells Tower recently turned me on to James Thurber's awesome fairy-tale-reinvented, The 13 Clocks. Thurber was a longstanding New Yorker contributor and widely beloved humor writer, but he's fallen through the cracks somewhat these days. A wonderful writer due a resurgence.
Posted by: Jeremy Spencer, senior editor | September 09, 2009 at 02:29 PM
Happy to see someone mentioned Jean Craighead George's My Side of the Mountain. All of her work is wonderful, and scientifically accurate. You can't go wrong with anything she's written. My daughter and I love the Julie of the Wolves trilogy. It's a must for pre-teen and teen girls. Strong female role model, lots of outdoor action, and good solid info on nature.
And I'll second the voices in favor of Tolkien's work. He knew whereof he wrote. He grew up in a day when kids (and parents) spent a lot of time in the outdoors, naturally.
Posted by: Kelly Cotten | September 09, 2009 at 02:44 PM
These are better known in the UK, but all of the Swallows & Amazons books by Arthur Ransome are fantastic adventure reading, especially We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea in which the kids accidentally drift into the North Sea in a storm.
Posted by: Kate | September 09, 2009 at 03:33 PM
Island of the Blue Dolphins was right up there for me with My Side of the Mountain. Great tale of wilderness survival.
Posted by: Kat | September 09, 2009 at 06:09 PM
PEAK - by roland smith. My pre-teen daughter read this and said, "This is really good". Skeptical that I would be interested (this was after all a young adult book) but fresh out of reading material on a long plane ride -- I was hooked from the first paragraph. Tagging, big mountain adventure, competitive intrigue, travelogue, Oriental vs Occidental -- all enter this story. This is an "Outside" book if I ever saw one. (and yes, tom sawyer, robinson crusoe & call of the wild DO fit in the top 5).
Posted by: mike c | September 10, 2009 at 08:13 AM
Hi,
The book collection is really great to teach student the true way to learn and to live a life.The Lord of the Rings deserves the place in this collection.
Posted by: spiruline | September 30, 2009 at 06:28 AM