The Veldt, by Ray Bradbury is about a family in the future that becomes too dependent on technology. This family, the Hadleys, have bought a house that does everything for them, it clothes and feeds them, ties their shoes, and bathes them, and everything else you could think of. The Hadleys have a "nursery" that becomes whatever you imagine it to be for their children, Wendy and Peter. The story starts off with Lydia, the mother, asking George, the father to take a look at the possibly malfunctioning nursery. When Lydia and George go into the nursery it is a hot African veldt. They see lions eating something that they can't see, and then they hear a sccream. The lions start advancing on George and Lydia and when the lions get too close, George and Lydia run from the room. They leave, and as they are standing talking about the nursery the lions jump against the door and Lydia gets worried about the lions coming out and they decide to lock the door. Later, George goes back to the room and finds a bloody wallet of his. When the kids get home their parents ask them about Africa, but they lie and they say that they don't know anything about Africa. Later, they go to bed and then they hear screams in the middle of the night, they found out that the kids had broken into the nursery. In the morning, the psychologist came and said that George and Lydia should turn off the nursery. When George and Lydia turn off the nursery, Peter and Wendy beg for one last minute, the parents agree reluctantly. But when they hear screams they run into the nursery and suddenly, the door slams shut behind them and the lions start advancing. They get eaten.
One theme in this book is that spoiling your children can have disastrous consequences. One example of this is that George and Lydia didn't think that anything was good enough for their children. "But nothing's too good for our children" (pg.9) My second example of this is that that the kids become too controlling of their parents. "They're insufferable, let's admit it. They come and go as they like; they treat us like we're offspring. They're spoiled and were spoiled" (18). My third and final example is that even the psychologist thinks that the kids are spoiled. "I sensed you had spoiled your children more than most" (22). These are my examples of how spoiling your children can have negative consequences.
I would definitely recommend this book to other 7th grade readers because of the technology that Ray Bradbury envisioned, such as a table that produces food from inside, a shoe tier, and a tube that sucks you up too your bedroom. I think that because of this technology, other 7th graders would enjoy it.
