A book I recommend

I wanted to write a fast post to recommend a book I am reading. I really enjoy the classics and after my sisters recommendation I decided to pick up an unabridged version of The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss. I wanted to read it aloud with my kids and thought that the whole ship wrecked theme would be a hit!
Now I must be honest, we are only eleven pages into the book! Hahahah! How can I possibly be recommending a book that I am only on page eleven of, you may wonder! Well let me tell you!
On the first page of the book you have a father teaching his children about Faith in God and excepting Gods will.

"My children, said I to my four boys who clung to me in terrible alarm, God can save us, for nothing is impossible to Him;but if He sees fit that we should not be saved, we must not murmur at His decree, but rely that what He does is most for our good."

On the fourth page of the book patience in the Lord is spoken of as well as brotherly love and respect.

"Papa, cried my youngest boy, six years old, will not God assist us soon?
Hold your tongue, replied his eldest brother. Do you not know that it is our duty not to prescribe to God, but to wait for his assistance with patience and humility?
Well spoken, my boy, said I; but you should not have reproved your brother so sharply. The eldest instantly ran and kissed the innocent little creature."

By page ten a wonderful education/parenting philosophy.

" One of the points of my system of education was to awaken the curiosity of my sons by interesting observations, to leave time for the activity of there imagination, and then to correct any error they might fall into. I contented myself now, however, with this general remark, That God sufficiently compensated for the natural weakness of man by the gifts of reason, invention and the adroitness of the hand"

I don't think I have ever read a "modern" or "current day" book with so much to offer in the whole of the book. Let alone in the first eleven pages! =-}
Now this isn't to say that there aren't any good books today. There are many. It also is not to say that all "classics" are a good or worthy read because they aren't. I just had to marvel at this book. Its sad how surprising it was to find so many wonderful principals in this book. If a novel today has this kind of content it is labeled a Christian novel because of course any "main stream" novels wouldn't have such content!
I'll post after finishing the book and tell you what I thought =-}