In response to:
I'm putting together my kids' summer reading list.
The 12yo is getting classics of adventure, survival, and rugged living. Captains Courageous, Treasure Island, The Swiss Family Robinson, Little Britches, Around the World in 80 Days, ...
The 6yo is getting fairy tales, Aesop's Fables, Winnie the Pooh (Milne, not Disney), Thornton W. Burgess's Peter Cottontail stories, Beatrice Potter's Peter Rabbit Stories, ...
IMO, giving kids the good stuff to read from the beginning is one of the best things you can do for them because it forms a standard of comparison that will last all their lives.
An excerpt from Ladies and Gentlemen: Why the Survival of Our Republic Depends on the Revival of Honor, by Dr. Gina Loudon and Dr. Dathan Paterno.
Lady and gentleman are somewhat familiar terms, for sure. We hear them from magicians and carnival emcees. Billboard advertising manipulates those words into a twisted description of strip clubs. We sometimes view examples of them on quaint Hallmark films. Our children even study literary characters with these names (e.g., Lady Macbeth).
But rarely do we hear the terms used to teach or uphold virtues. When was the last time you heard a parent say...
I especially never watch Disney movies made from books I like. They invetiably have little in common with the real story beyond the title and, most of the time but not always, the main character's name.