this is not the first time i've read this book and sadly and like some other things it will never be as good and sweet as it was the first time, but that said, it's still crazy good.

for reasons i won't discuss here (in the event you haven't read it), i view this to be a book of import and consequence especially for a young and hopefully impressionable mind. oddly though i struggled over giving this as a gift to a nephew of mine because some of the subject matter, if really poured over and considered, is intense. while i think this science fiction novella is a good exercise for a questioning adolescent, there is a part of me that wonders if it is my place to make that decision for someone else's child and for all the stupid stuff i say on a daily basis, i don't really want to be the guy who pisses off some young person's parents, especially on the matter of literature, because that has the ingredients of being pretty messy.

in the fifteen seconds i just sat here looking at the flashing cursor, i'm going to say i don't know. but i do hope my children read it.