There are far too many factors to pick just one but if I had to I would choose my favorite -- Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery.

Besides the Bible, The Ladies #1 Detective Agency series. The only books I've ever read twice.

There are so many great kids books -- my two favorites to give as gifts are Piggies by Don and Audrey Wood and Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester. Both have fabulous illustrations and would, I would hope, make a child want to read more thereafter.

I have no idea what would suit an adult who might never have had a book of their own (terrible thought!). Reading tastes and general interests are so far flung, I wouldn't know where to even start.

I wouldn't bother to give anything to an adult that had never read/owned a book unless maybe they had arrived from Mars or the depth of the Amazon rain forest. For a young child I would recommend The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell and any of the works by Janet and Allan Ahlberg with their wonderful illustrations. They have given hours of enjoyment to our 'children' and I only wish they had been written when I was young.
Some years ago Royal Mail produced a series of special issue stamps on the theme of children's book illustrations and the ones for the V Hungry C. had little holes in them. ;-)

Here is a link that might be useful: Allan Ahlberg at the Hay Book Festival

Well, for an older child I would probably give the Harry Potter books, or at least one of them. So many children read those books, even if they never read any others. (I don't mean all children who read HP didn't read other books, but many of them did not.)

For an adult I would give If On A Winter's Night A Traveler by Italo Calvino. They will never figure it out.

For an adult, I would give a bumper book of Great Short Stories of the World (I've got one somewhere but can't remember what it's called or where I put it). Then they could decide what authors/styles/genres/periods of writing they leaned towards and take it from there.

Don't know about children's books. But I was started off on 'Rupert' books which my mother read to me so often that I knew them by heart and I eventually used to recite them with her as she read. Those, and A.A.Milne: The House at Pooh Corner etc., When We WEre Very Young. I still read the Pooh books. Has anyone read them in Latin: 'Winnie Ille Pooh'?

Siobhan, what you suggest would certainly confuse them forever!When I read it, I wanted to outwit it, it was so clever-by-half!

Dido

That is impossible to answer!
It depends on the person's age and tastes.

Siobhan,,,,that book would discourage them from ever picking up another !!! It was one of those I tossed aside and never finished.

Adult: "The Poisonwood Bible" just for the sheer intensity of the story.
Child: "Winnie the Pooh".

I don't know about an adult. I love Hannah Fowler, a story of pioneer Kentucky by Janice Holt Giles.

For a child, I would start with the first Little House book.

Heh, that is the whole idea - being the contrary grouch that I am, the thought of trying to find a book for an adult who has never read a book...meh...

Now, it would be totally different if there was an adult who for some reason had never had the opportunity to learn to read, and had a thirst for learning...but I've never met one of those. Actually I might give them Harry Potter too.

To a child or pre-teen who's never owned a book I would give a book that's popular with its peers at present so it would feel "with it". The first Harry Potter was such a book, now its the Hunger Games. Goodnight, Mister Tom was another. My daughter lent it to a girl in her class and never had it back, didn't want it either because it was so well-read that it was in tatters. This girl had lots of problems with her family and was in foster care for some time. I met her on a bus years later when she was a philosophy student. She thanked me for the book and said that it had made an overwhelming impression on her and helped her to understand many things about her situation as a child.

Mariannese, what a wonderful compliment to your generosity.

Mariannese's comment is EXACTLY what the concept of my post (well, actually the WashPost blogger's post) is meant to imply. Not a book for someone who has never read a book, by his or her own choice. But a book that has moved you to some great extent -- whether by teaching you a lesson of compassion or love or understanding, or encouraging you to follow a dream, or simply by transporting you to a different world that you would probably never have the opportunity to experience.

The kind of book that you know you always want on your bookshelf to reread over and over again -- one that you must own. And for a child, the ownership factor can mean a great deal, esp if that child comes from a poor (financially speaking) family.

(The first book, for a child, that I thought of was Dr. Seuess's "Sneetches.")

Given that criteria, I would give them my prayer book, tattered and battered, with all the bookmarks and various clippings still in it. I would have to really, really love someone to give that up.

I read the The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe to every 5th grade class I taught. They always loved it. I would give To Kill a Mockingbird to a little older reader.

As for kids, for boys I would give Gary Paulsen's Hatchet or Indian in the Cupboard is good too. For girls, Black Stallion.

Adults, I'm not sure. Maybe Scarlet Pimpernell.