I confess that until I found The Iron Giant, by Ted Hughes, illustrated by Laura Carlin, at our library, I didn’t think of the movie that came out in 1999 as being based on a book. But of course, it was. And naturally, the book is better.

The author is actually a poet, which didn’t surprise me at all, since much of what makes the story so compelling is the poetic way in which it is told. In the version we read, which came out in 2010 (the original story came out in 1968), the illustrations sometimes include part of the text from the story, which is attention-getting and even moving at times. With repetition and descriptions that use sensory vocabulary in an incredible way, the story slides in for a home run.

As I read it, I was thinking how very different it is from the movie, and about what makes the story so good. I’ve read other books that are considered classics and have found that I spent so much time explaining outdated things to my kids whilst reading them that we got lost in the muck of time.

Admittedly, The Iron Giant isn’t terribly old.

I’ve also had experiences reading books that were written long ago that have lost none of their appeal. Anything written by Jane Austen comes to mind. I’m not typically one to re-read books; there are far too many good books and life is too short to read many of them more than once. For Austen, I make a notable exception.

Several years ago, I got all her books out of the library and read them a second time. They were amazing again. What struck me about them is that Austen does an amazing job of capturing human behavior. And while fashion, social norms, and day-to-day life as changed incredibly since the early 1800’s when Austen wrote her novels, human behavior has changed very little. And watching her characters live out their lives in a way that is strangely and delightfully identifiable is a true pleasure.

Life for human beings has changed so much just in my lifetime – I shudder when I think how much it has changed since Jane Austen was alive. The levels of anxiety and depression in our society are no doubt a testament to humans trying desperately to keep up with the level of change our species has endured at our own hands. The struggle animals large and small have had just trying not to go extinct is another signpost in that regard.

Our whole planet seems to be groaning with the weight of the change we have inflicted on it, and yet there are these people from time to time who are able to rise up and put something essential into words that we can all identify with long after they are gone.

Are you a Jane Austen fan? Did you read The Iron Giant as a kid or to your own kids as an adult? Are there any other titles you’ve read that stand the test of time?