Hemingway’s Old Man—read it for your kids

Over the past couple years, during the existence of Angler’s Tonic, I’ve learned that not many of you really care about books. At least that’s how I’ve perceived things based on the number of comments sent to me about books—almost none.

I’ll pay heed to that message and keep the book reviews to a minimum. But I wanted to tell you about one today that isn’t news—Hemingway’s The Old Man and The Sea.

I’m not writing this to tell you to read that book because it’s likely you already have. If you haven’t, do read it. But the reason I’m writing today is to urge you to read it to your kids, if you have them, or your nieces and nephews if you don’t have your own.

I did that two years ago, when Tate was five and Myka was about two and a half. It was the first real book I’d read to them and the results were great—the girls ate up the relationship between the boy and the old man; and they grew to admire the endurance and perseverance of the old man, even though they laughed when he clubbed the shit out of those sharks next to his boat and then lost his gaff.

During and after the read, I took time to discuss different situations with the girls and I described to them what a sacrifice the boy made to take care of the old man when he would probably have preferred to be playing soccer and baseball with friends. Instead, he gave something of himself to help another human being.

In the end, when I asked the girls which character they would like to be, they both replied, “the boy.” I asked why? They replied, “Because we’re Thomas’. We’re leaders not followers. And it doesn’t matter if people laugh at us or make fun of us. We would have helped that old man, too.”

Get the book. Read it to your kids. You’ll have fun doing so.