I read this book the first time when I was about 10. Read it a couple more times since. Just finished reading it aloud to my 10-year-old. I’ve always loved this book despite it’s depressing message that nothing really ever changes—“hunger, hardship, and disappointment being…the unalterable laws of life.” I guess deep down I’m a little bit like Benjamin. Even though outwardly I’m an optimistic person, I rarely get disappointed because I rarely expect too much. Maybe I’m a realist.