Bit of a Book Dump

This is just a quick catch up on the books from the last few weeks.  I wanted to get a quick note down about these before starting into a post on recommended kid books for next week.

Kids Are Worth It - I liked the idea of giving a great deal of independence to kids, but I thought the guidelines of saying everything goes except things which are "life threatening, morally threatening, or unhealthy" was rather wooly.  There's a great deal which could be subsumed under "unhealthy" or "morally threatening" which an adult could advise against, but an older kid would likely need to experience themselves to grasp.  I also thought the idea of responding to kids' requests with "convince me" had potential for both valuable, logical thinking and turning everything into a bargaining game.  I'm saving the ideas from this book to ponder later.

Brain Rules - Wow!  This was so fascinating and I'm not at all surprised my engineer husband loved it too.  If you want a solid foundation of the current knowledge regarding how the brain works and how you can use that to your parenting or personal advantage, I recommend this as a fun and intriguing read.

Uncle Tom's Cabin - I listened to the Librivox recording and found it intriguing to have finally experienced this classic.

The Hatchet and The Cay - These were recommended on the Rational Parenting List.  They are survival stories of young teenage boys.  I listened to both with Cameron.  We both liked The Hatchet better, especially noting how the character progressed.  The Cay spurred a conversation about superstitions though and long term thinking. Both stories were good for talking about "crying over spilt milk."

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban- We're almost done reading this and I'm amazed by how much of this fictional world Cameron has absorbed.  He's so visual, but the techniques I've mentioned have helped him pause and question and integrate as we go along.

Voyage of the Beagle - I'm having a blast listening to Darwin's adventures as my latest Librivox download!

We The Living - It may be a bit rough as a bedside book, but my book club just started it and that's when I get the time for personal reading (instead of listening).

OK, on to gathering for a fun post on some of the gems I've found in kid's books which are in the less-well-known category.