Children's book recommendations

[Irish Murdoch]

I have a son who, in a few weeks' time, will be 7. Though I say so myself, he's really rather bright. I'd quite like to get hold of a book for him that presents a sceptical/critical thinking point of view in a way that children can understand. Any suggestions?

 

[Interesting Ian]

I have a son who, in a few weeks' time, will be 7. Though I say so myself, he's really rather bright. I'd quite like to get hold of a book for him that presents a sceptical/critical thinking point of view in a way that children can understand. Any suggestions?

I think that's a very bad idea. He'll be "brainwashed" soon enough. Why close his mind to possibilities? Why completely spoil his childhood?

I recommend the faraway tree books by Enid Blyton. I absolutely loved them as a kid. I'll always hate trolls for trying to kill the faraway tree

 

[John Jackson]

Re: Re: Children's book recommendations

I think that's a very bad idea. He'll be "brainwashed" soon enough. Why close his mind to possibilities? Why completely spoil his childhood?

A child of 7 has passed the age of Santa Claus etc. Yes, children have a vivid imagination which should not be stifled, but learning to separate reality from the bogus is surely a good idea.

 

[Chris Haynes]

Bill Nye has written several... but I recall this one does introduce critical thinking:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0786814438/

There are a bunch of others... a search of "science" for ages 9-12 brought up almost 1800 hits. A search of "critical thinking" for the same age group brought up 10 boring entries (puzzles and some out of print books).

I have found that it helps to get books that reflect the interest of kids... which is why we had lots of dinosaur books, and two Bill Nye the Science Guy books (as a very cute 5 year old my younger son ran up to Nye at a book signing to tell him that he really liked Nye's program).

ALSO... another good gift to create critical thinkers are magic kits -- another favorite of the above mentioned boy. He even went to a class at the local community center taught by a magician.

Now that he is a 14 year old 8th grader he chose for his Independent Research Project "Evolution and the Controversies Around It"... while many of his friends chose history of the Aztecs and sports (one I heard was history of basketball, then the next day my son told me someone did a report on the use of steroids in sports). I got to see his presentation because he had me bring in his cat to show examples of evolutionary adaptations. After his presentation he was challenged by one student who was an apparent creationist, and he did pretty well.

 

[Ashles]

Re: Re: Children's book recommendations

I think that's a very bad idea. He'll be "brainwashed" soon enough. Why close his mind to possibilities? Why completely spoil his childhood?

Oh wow. Now encouraging your children to think critically, sceptically and logically is "brainwashing" them is it?

Ian your desire to believe in exciting and paranormal theories seems actually to be quite a severe obsession.

You are an excellent example of the dangers of what can happen when kids aren't encouraged to think critically.

(Although the Faraway Tree was one of my favourites too.)

I'm not sure of a sceptical book suitable for 7 year olds - just having scientific books on hand that answer questions as and when they arise is a good start.
But I remember enjoying the Tell Me series of books by Arkady Leokum when I was little
Big Book of Tell Me Why Answers to Hundreds of Questions Children Ask

 

[Interesting Ian]

Re: Re: Re: Children's book recommendations

A child of 7 has passed the age of Santa Claus etc. Yes, children have a vivid imagination which should not be stifled, but learning to separate reality from the bogus is surely a good idea.

No, it's much better for people to learn to think for themselves. Saying to them at the age of 7 that this is reality, but this is complete nonsense does not seem to me to have any advantage at all, and many disadvantages.

And besides, so called critical thinking is not important at that age. 7 year olds want fun, they want their imagination stimulated. Most certainly it would be absolutely terrible to indoctrinate them into the skeptical mindset. They need precisely the opposite to that.

Irish, I would also recommend the wishing chair books by Enid Blyton.

 

[Irish Murdoch]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Children's book recommendations

Saying to them at the age of 7 that this is reality, but this is complete nonsense does not seem to me to have any advantage at all, and many disadvantages.

I *absolutely* agree, and I wouldn't want any book that did that.

We've had a go at the Faraway Tree, and he detested it. Lemony Snicket is the man of the moment ...

 

[John Jackson]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Children's book recommendations

No, it's much better for people to learn to think for themselves. Saying to them at the age of 7 that this is reality, but this is complete nonsense does not seem to me to have any advantage at all, and many disadvantages.

And besides, so called critical thinking is not important at that age. 7 year olds want fun, they want their imagination stimulated. Most certainly it would be absolutely terrible to indoctrinate them into the skeptical mindset. They need precisely the opposite to that.

I agree that children should be stimulated and that childhood is about fun.

You seem to be confusing skepticism with some sort of religion though. Skepticism is quite the opposite of what you are saying.

I take it that you're not a skeptic. That clarifies your stance - which I found rather confusing at first.

 

[Garrette]

To clarify, Jon, Interesting Ian is a skeptic. Or a skeptic.

But he's definitely not a sKeptic.

He'll be happy to explain if you ask.

 

[Dragon]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Children's book recommendations

I agree that children should be stimulated and that childhood is about fun.

You seem to be confusing skepticism with some sort of religion though. Skepticism is quite the opposite of what you are saying.

I take it that you're not a skeptic. That clarifies your stance - which I found rather confusing at first.

oh, Ian is not a skeptic - he hates them. He might soetimes call himself a sceptic though - the spelling matters, apparently. If you found his stance confusing then stick around for a while - it will all become even more opaque.

Anyway, welcome to the forum, are you any relation to this "John Jakson" ?

 

[John Jackson]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Children's book recommendations

Anyway, welcome to the forum, are you any relation to this "John Jakson" ?

I'm a JaCkson

No, but if I'm ever in the area - I will certainly check it out

 

[Morris Cod]

Hi,
Don't know if you can get it where you are, but my daughter read "The Skeptics guide to the paranormal" when she was 8, (The author escapes me, sorry), and loved it. I thought at the time it would be over her head, but as usual we underestimate our kids abilities and curiousity. It' s a good primer for anybody.

It's readily available in Australia, perhaps an Amazon Search would do the trick?

Cheers



Oh, and as I was so warmly welcomed to the forum so recently, Welcome to you!

 

[belinda]

I can't actually recommend any books that have not already been mentioned - but having an 6yo myself I can empathise with trying to give your child critical thinking skills.

At the moment I find playing devils advocate is fun ( I mean who doesn't love annoying the hell out of their kids by disagreeing with them ) and it also encourages the halfling to actually think about what he says.

And welcome to the forum.

 

[Irish Murdoch]

I can't actually recommend any books that have not already been mentioned - but having an 6yo myself I can empathise with trying to give your child critical thinking skills.

At the moment I find playing devils advocate is fun ( I mean who doesn't love annoying the hell out of their kids by disagreeing with them ) and it also encourages the halfling to actually think about what he says.

And welcome to the forum.

Thanks. By the way, that's two welcomes to the forum I've notched up now. But I've actually been here quite a long time! I just don't post that much, 'cos I'm busy, busy, busy.

 

[clarsct]

Re: Re: Children's book recommendations

I recommend the faraway tree books by Enid Blyton. I absolutely loved them as a kid. I'll always hate trolls for trying to kill the faraway tree

Second italics mine.




Or is it just me?

 

[DrDave]

Funnily enough I read that exact book last weekend. Those naughty trolls!!

The way that I got into critical thinking as a kid was through books. My parents got me all sorts of books, science encyclopedias, general encyclopedias, general science books, and
also fiction.

Whenever I had a question about things, they would then encourage me to think about it, look it up in the encyclopedias, and think about it.

What they also did (which looking back seems to have worked better than I ever realised) was also buying books of amazing facts (which included 'facts' such as werewolves, psychics, etc etc) which were full of absolute rubbish. What this taught me was that just because it's in a book it isn't necessarily true. Just be prepared to answer a lot of questions about the contents of these books!

 

[Jas]

I remember having some crazy 70's "Children's Encyclopedias" as a kid. They were great. There were twenty books or so in total, each a different colour, and each for a different subject...one was plant, another was animals, fairytales, different cultures...etc. They were really quite good. I would assume that they would have a modern version of them, though I don't know if anyone else knows what I'm talking about.

I believe that Evolve Fish has a children's section of books.

Otherwise, I'm turning into a big fan of some of the new children's novels...Lemony Snickett, Artemis Fowl, and the other fantasy stuff.

 

[Soapy Sam]

For once, I'm ( at least partly) in agreement with Ian.

I reckon a bright seven year old should be able to make his own choices. Let him read what he wants and be willing to discuss it if he wants to. This may require YOU to read it too. Sorry.

 

[JPK]

Good afternoon Irish Murdoch,

I have a son who, in a few weeks' time, will be 7. Though I say so myself, he's really rather bright. I'd quite like to get hold of a book for him that presents a sceptical/critical thinking point of view in a way that children can understand. Any suggestions?

When I was young I really liked a series of books called Encyclopedia Brown. They were very entertaining and got you to do a little thinking in the mean time.

JPK

 

[Jeff Corey]

For once, I'm ( at least partly) in agreement with Ian.

I reckon a bright seven year old should be able to make his own choices. Let him read what he wants and be willing to discuss it if he wants to. This may require YOU to read it too. Sorry.

Me too. I learned by having a good library nearby and a bunch of old scientifiction up in the attic.