The Giving Tree (1963)

Published in 1964, it tells a single relationship across a whole lifetime in short, repetitive sentences, so you finish in one sitting with plenty to argue about afterward. The core verbs, give, take, climb, want, come back page after page until they stick. Grown-ups rarely read it the way children do. Some find it tender, others find it troubling, and either reaction makes a ready topic for a conversation partner or a language class. Silverstein wrote it in English, and translations run from Hebrew, Chinese and Korean to Latin, as Arbor Alma. His spare line drawings leave lots of white space, so a page never feels crowded.