One of the many things most admired about Haley would have to be his love of reading. He seems to be quite well known as being a voracious reader, and has been reading well above his age level for just about all of his life. Haley is always quick to credit his parents for teaching him to read early, and his teachers for inspiring a love of reading.

I think reading is one of the many "secret weapons" Haley uses to help him give such amazing performances. He can better understand and appreciate the character he is trying to portray, because he has experienced many other characters in the books he has read, which helps him to bring his character to life. I am reminded of an interview that Kevin Spacey gave for Pay It Forward, where he was asked a question about the experience of being fortunate enough to work with Haley. I think his answer best captures what I'm trying to say...

Kevin Spacey: "...He's very articulate and he is as diligent about trying to get to what's inside a script and what the emotions are. He would say things inside the course of the rehearsal that would completely floor me. We were sitting there one day going through a couple of scenes and Haley was furrowing his brow every time he said a line of dialogue. I clocked this because I was right across from him. Finally, he closed his script and said to Mimi, "Can I just say whatever I think the essence of what the words are? Because somehow, I don't know why, but the way that these words are put together are getting in my way." I said to myself that I'm 41 years old and I didn't even know that words could get in my way until I was about 25. How does he know that? But that's him. That's not anybody prompting him. That's his instinct and his own ability with logic."

In a great many of the interviews Haley has given, usually one of the questions he is asked is what he is currently reading. I'm always interested in the answer he gives just to see if he has read some of the books that I've enjoyed. I don't really discuss my reading habits with anyone outside of my family and a few close friends, because for me, reading is a very personal experience. But knowing of Haley's love for reading, that sparked some interest for me to see what else I could find.

Of course there was much to be found, but I did notice some of the information is slowly starting to fade away from the Internet. The least I can do is provide this list of book titles and authors that Haley has enjoyed reading over the years. I don't believe I've ever seen a listing like this elsewhere, so that is more than enough reason for me to want to do this. It is actually something I've been meaning to do for quite some time.

I am sure that just about everyone here has read at least a few of the books on this list... however, for those looking for something new to read, you can be assured there isn't a bad selection on the list.

1. Berenstain Bears series of books.

Written by Jan Berenstain and Stan Berenstain

2. Watership Down

- Written by Richard Adams

3. 1984

- Written by George Orwell

4. The Hobbit

- Written by J.R.R. Tolkien

5. Ender's Game

- Written by Orson Scott Card

6. Goodnight Opus

- Written by Berkeley Breathed

7. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

- Written by J.R.R. Tolkien

8. The Tell-Tale Heart and The Pit and the Pendulum

- Written by Edgar Allan Poe

9. Harry Potter Series

- Written by J. K. Rowling

10. Sphere

- Written by Michael Crichton

11. The Killer Angels

- Written by Michael Shaara

Selections 12. and 13. came from a recent interview he gave while promoting "Secondhand Lions" which included this question and Haley's response...

Q: "I understand you are a good student and love to read. What are you reading right now?"

Osment: "Historical novels mostly, because I'm going to be concentrating on history later on in high school and hopefully in college too. I finished the Abraham Lincoln biography, and I was reading some Steven Ambrose earlier this year, so I'm trying to get into that before I start taking the classes."

I was guessing on which particular Abraham Lincoln biography he might have read, but the one I chose seems to be quite popular and was only recently released in the past few years.
The Steven Ambrose novel is also a guess, but considering his friends Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks were so involved with the filming of the award winning "Band of Brothers" series, I think it is a pretty good guess that he has read the original book and probably a few of the other Ambrose novels as well.

12. Lincoln

- Written by David Herbert Donald

13. Band of Brothers

- Written by Stephen E. Ambrose

Well that's about it... I'll update this list should I find any others. Much thanks to Amazon.com for hosting all the little pictures of each book... oh, and for selling the books as well.

But wait... there's more...

Heh... now, as an added bonus for those of you who have actually read down to the bottom, I'll offer up this fun little Haley fact that I stumbled across during my research for this list.

Back in 2000, Haley was nominated for an Oscar for his role in "The Sixth Sense". One of the treats of attending the event is the post show Goverors Ball for all the invited guests. The famous chef Wolfgang Puck is the executive chef of the event in charge of creating all the meals for the guests.... as a side note, this year's 76th Oscars was his 10th anniversary as the executive chef.

In late 2000 Mr. Puck released another in his series of cook books, this one titled:

Wolfgang Puck's Pizza, Pasta, and More! - Written by Wolfgang Puck There are quite a few mentions of the 2000 Oscars in the book, and naturally there is a brief mention of Mr. Puck's encounter with Haley at the after Oscar's dinner. I think it is worth pointing out Haley is the only celebrity he mentions by name and includes a nice little story about the young nominee from that wonderful night. Anyway, from p.88 of the book... "...After the Oscars this past year, Haley Joel Osment came back to the pizza oven to make pizza with me, and guess what kind of pizza he wanted to make?" You guessed it... Haley's favourite pizza is "Pepperoni and Mushroom!" Heh... just imagine 11 year old Haley at the 2000 Governor's Ball, and he is in the back cooking himself up a pepperoni and mushroom pizza. Haley is the best.