> Although the book certainly has many worthwhile themes . . . the most meaningful theme to me is the notion that we all place a great amount of weight and importance and focus on the mundane things that we are trying to accomplish (like the adults in the book) that we myopically lose the opportunity to experience all that life has to offer, i.e., other worlds, other ways of doing things, other types of people, other interesting genres (for example, and I'm being intentionally simplistic, someone who listens only to Top 40 and wonders who the hell Bjork is!), other hobbies and activities. We become pigeon-holed, rather than well-rounded. This theme . . . the book . . . helped me become more open-minded to different things . . . and to treasure things that weren't necessarily within the realm of my family's limited experiences . . . while still not compromising my morals and standards.
Thanks to those who made the effort to post this topic . . . it's a refreshing and much needed change from the usual topics!!