Island of the Blue Dolphins

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Island of the Blue Dolphins is based loosely on the story of "The Lone Woman of San Nicholas Island," who survived alone for eighteen years on an island off the coast of California. While main character Karana's story doesn't last eighteen years, she proves plenty tough enough to survive that long on her own. Between memories of what the adults of her tribe did and her own process of trial and error, she figures out everything she needs to stay alive. Her self-reliance makes her a great model for the primer, and the fact that a real woman actually did this in the mid-1800's makes it even more awesome.

There is a sequel to this - Zia - which follows Karana's niece, but, while enjoyable, it didn't leave as much of an impression on me. I'd recommend the Little House on the Prairie series, which has great descriptions of how tomboy Laura and her family do things like building a cabin and getting food. Even more like Island of the Blue Dolphins, though, are My Side of the Mountain, by Jean Craighead George, and Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen. Like Island of the Blue Dolphins, these both feature the protagonist surviving on his own in the wild. I also enjoyed the Boxcar Children series, by Gertrude Chandler Warner, which has a similar premise.

The Phantom Tollbooth

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The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster

Like many people of all ages, young Milo is often bored. He can't find anything in the world worth appreciating, and he is always wishing he were somewhere else. He is saved from a life of boredom by the appearance of a mysterious tollbooth, which transports him to a hilariously magical world full of adventure and puns. Of course, the journey changes him, and by the time he completes his quest and returns home, he finds that even his own world can be interesting.

I'm always surprised by the number of people I meet who seem to feel like Milo felt in the beginning of the book. The number of interesting things one can find to do in this world is mind-boggling. So, the main reason this book is part of the Primer is that it encourages the reader to appreciate the many interesting and beautiful possibilities the world has to offer. It also encourages imagination and humor, and can be appreciated on many different levels depending on the age of the reader.

I can't think of anything that compares to this style of humor and adventure, but children who enjoy this might enjoy books by Roald Dahl.

The Host

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The Host, by Stephenie Meyer

I think the Twilight series is pretty ridiculous, but I also think my kindred are too hard on Meyer (especially those who give their opinions without ever bothering to read one of the books). Her only crime is releasing her inner 12-year-old fangirl out into the world. So it's silly, sparkly, and swoony. Most girls have gone through a stage when that stuff is at least a tiny bit appealing. Maybe she just never had a chance to let it out, so it built up until it exploded in sparkles.

The important thing, though, is that The Host is a completely different book. She may try a little too hard for a happy ending, and she might not be Shakespeare, but in The Host she creates a world worth paying attention to. A quiet alien invasion from an alien point of view, huge moral dilemmas, and a quest through the desert - good ingredients for a surprisingly intriguing story.

My first thought when I started reading this was of the Animorphs series by K. A. Applegate. Similar alien species with an extra pinch of evil (or a thousand extra pinches). I'm not sure if my childhood love of Animorphs would survive a rereading now, but someday I intend to find out.

Le Petit Prince

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Le Petit Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The first time I remember reading this is 11th grade French class, but I have a feeling I also read it when I was much younger. It's a wonderful book for many reasons, but appropriate for the Primer because of both the sense of adventure and the emphasis on the importance of noticing small things that might ordinarily be overlooked. It's also about finding joy in the universe in any way you can.

I don't really have any books to connect to Le Petit Prince. For me, it captures one of those moments of enlightenment when you see the whole world just as it is, and it's glorious. In that way, it makes me think of the movie American Beauty, although American Beauty is darker and for a much older audience than Le Petit Prince.

The King's Equal

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The King's Equal, by Katherine Paterson

In some ways, it's a typical fairy tale. What I like about it, though, is that the princess does not fit the stereotypes on either end of the spectrum. (She's neither a damsel in distress nor a great warrior, just a person.) She does fit into the humble peasant girl category, and does go on to marry the king, but she had no interest in being rescued from poverty, and she definitely didn't have any interest in the king. She wouldn't marry him until he lived in a cabin in the woods for a year and learned to be a real human being, and while he was gone she took charge of the country to fix all of his mistakes. A pretty good role model for the Primer, I think.

If you like this, you might also like some of these (older audience, though):
-any book by Gail Carson Levine (the humorous side of fairly tales)
-books by Donna Jo Napoli (darker side of fairy tales) who is also a linguistics professor at Swarthmore
-The Rumpelstiltskin Problem, by Vivian Vande Velde

The Lorax

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The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss

An environmentalist-themed picture book from the 70's. The many Dr. Seuss books are the first books I remember reading (around age 4, maybe?). For a while it was hard work, and I just wanted my parents to read them for me, but eventually I learned to enjoy it. Dr. Seuss is wonderful in all his ridiculousness, but I picked this book for the Primer because it goes beyond fun rhymes to present something meaningful, which is somewhat unusual in the picture-book genre.

If you like The Lorax, you might also appreciate the rest of his books, as well as the books of Shel Silverstein and Roald Dahl.

Andrew Henry's Meadow

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Andrew Henry's Meadow, by Doris Burns

This is my favorite book from early childhood. Andrew Henry is an extremely calm boy who just likes to build stuff. When his parents and siblings get fed up with him building big contraptions that do cool things but take up whole rooms, he calmly packs his bags and strolls through the woods and fields until he finds a nice deserted meadow where no adults can find him. I love Andrew Henry, but even more I love the house he builds for himself, which has a landing strip for dragonflies, and the houses he builds for the other kids who gradually join him in the meadow because they also have interesting hobbies that their families for some reason object to. My favorites include the tree house and the house built on a little bridge across a stream.

This book is important to the Primer for the themes of adventure, self-reliance, and doing-really-cool-things.

I don't remember that many of the books I read at this age (I know I liked books about the Ice Age), but here are a couple with similar themes for an older audience:
My Side of the Mountain, by Jean Craighead George
Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen