Customer Reviews

The Lesson: A Fable for Our Times

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

When my wife gave this book to me as a gift I wasn't quite sure what to think of it -- Then I read it.

In this book Robert, a young boy, is off to school. There he learns how to solve a problem, 1+1. As life goes on the problems keep coming for Robert, some easier than others. One of my favorites goes something like this...If you take five minutes longer than usual in the bathroom and and three minutes longer than usual eating breakfast, how many minutes does it take you to walk to school because you just missed the bus?

Robert, luckily, has a patient and kind teacher who encourages him to solve his problems and then moves him on to the next grade (in life).

The lessons Pearson writes about are life's lessons. And one of the most important is that Robert's problems are his own problems to solve. No one else can solve them for him, just like everyone has their own problems to solve. Another lesson is that each problem is solvable and and each problem that we face has a lesson.

I was greatly influenced by this short, but deeply insightful, and wise book.

"The Lesson" is definitely a 5 star book, but only because I can't award more. Get this book, read it, share it, and learn lessons from it.

Alan Holyoak

I bought this book for my son, Robert who is 9, without reading very much first. I read the 'story problem lesson' and thought it sounded much like my son, so I brought it home and gave it to him on Christmas. He read it and told me it was a very good book. And then my 11 year old daughter read it and said it was wonderful so I thought I should read it. This book captures, in all simplicity, exactly what I've been trying to articulate to my children. "How much do you love?" And, " Who will remember you when you're gone?" All of our 'life lessons' come down to those two questions. This is a beautiful book, richly illustrated and eloquently written. I recommend this book for all ages, even the very young. However, if you're like me, it could be difficult to read out loud to children without having some words catch in your throat.

I gave ten copies of this book for Christmas gifts and each recipient has asked me where they can buy more to pass on to others. My 32-year old nephew (coincidentally named Robert, as in the story) said it was his favorite gift this year. It's a simple, easy-to-read, soul-expanding story.

This is a sometimes joyful, sometimes sorrowful, but always hopeful tale of the most important lesson we can teach our children in life. Carol Lynn Pearson tells the tale of Robert, a little boy we meet on his first day of school. He is joyful as he solves his very first problem: One plus one equals what? As the years go by, the problems get bigger, but Robert manages to solve them and move on. The problems are no longer as much fun, but still must be solved. Sometimes Robert wants to run away from the problem and sometimes the problem makes him cry. Many times he longs for the simple problems like he had on the first day of school.

The reader spends a lifetime with Robert and sees him learn the greatest lesson of all when he realizes all his life there had only been one problem---How much do you love and who will remember you after you are gone?

A warm, feel-good book for children as well as adults, this beautifully illustrated fable is a quick, satisfying read with a lesson to last a lifetime.

I discovered "The Lesson" in a candle store at the mall a couple of years ago. I gave the book as a gift to my husband and he loved it so much that we purchased ten more copies for friends. We continue to purchase copies as gifts and the recipients are always deeply touched by this wonderful short story of Robert who learns the greatest life lesson of all: How much did you love? I am an avid reader and an author - this is one of my favorite books!

I read this book aloud in my remarks at my sister's memorial service yesterday. Afterward, at least a dozen people came up to me and asked for the name of the story. They all want to get a copy.

This is a really beautiful story that helps put life's trials in perspective. It's a great comfort when the teacher has given you a problem that seems too tough to solve.

I love this book. It is an extremely cute story of a teacher, a little boy named Robert, and the problems he is given to solve. The story teaches a great lesson in an easy to read, little book. It is inspirational and comforting. I also really love the illustrations. They are absolutely beautiful.

this is a book I give my aides when they leave my service--it gets everyone crying.

Use this to teach what one of the biggest purposes of life are to kids. GOod jumping off point to start discussions with your own children.

The Lesson is a wonderful book for readers young and old. We follow Robert from his first day in school in Kindergarten to throughout his entire life! Robert beams with pride when the teacher first gives him a problem to solve and he solves it correctly. Yet as Robert matures, the problems keep coming, some easy and some not so easy. Some he can't wait to solve, while others he would prefer for them to go away so that he does not have to solve them. We all have had problems like that!!

Robert perseveres and continues to solve the problems that come his way and discovers that problems still need to be solved when formal school is over and the school of life takes over full time. Robert loved learning and thus he loved solving the problems that his teacher and life gave to him. Robert learns that problems cannot be ignored, as they just create bigger and more problems! Robert also learned that only he could solve his problems, and that no one else could do it for him. His family and friends supported and encouraged him and had patience with him when he would encounter a particularly "tough" problem.

As Robert matures and weathers time, he finally realizes that ALL of the lessons that he had been learning and all of the problems that he had been solving all had a common theme interwoven into them, and that life was teaching him the greatest lesson of all - how to love. Decisions based in love and not in anger or hatred are the correct decisions for Robert to make.

This book will delight all who read it and it would be a most wonderful book to incorporate into a school curriculum. This fable is short and wonderfully portrayed, and the drawings of Kathleen Peterson lend a charming quality to the book.

Highly recommended!!!