High quality reading material for our kids

[ChimpBrain]

Do any of the parents out there have recommendations for high quality reading material aimed at kids? I have a 6yr old who learned to read early and is devouring 3rd - 4th grade books like crazy but I'm not finding a lot out there that I'd consider high quality and she's reading a lot of mindless crap. You know, books that are teaching her about her own psychology, important life lessons, critical thinking, etc.

A few decent ones I have found over the past few years is I Once Was A Monkey, Planting Seeds, The Childrens Book of World Religions, Buddha, Master of Mindfulness, and Jocko Willink's two Warrior Kid books. That last one might be debatable depending on your particular beliefs/biases/taste. It's a little too on the Ra-Ra Murica side of things even for me but it's great for teaching discipline and the value of hard work, and she loves them. 

 

There don't seem to be many parents here but if you have suggestions, please post them. Maybe we can get a decent list going and all share ideas. Just post what age range the book is for along with it so people aren't researching a book for their 5 year old that's for middle schoolers. The ones I posted are probably geared toward the 5-10yr old range.

[now is forever]

just had a talk with @Zweisteinabout the books of michael ende. never ending story (age12) and momo (12) . they are for older children though. but you can already have them for later (maybe even read them yourself) because they are really deep. 

zweistein will post something about why.

also the stories of astrid lindgren are magical. michel from lonneberga (8-10) ronia robbers daughter (10), pipi longstockings (8-10) and so many many more. mostly they trigger selfesteem against an outside world. think she also made some for younger children. the lotta stories are from 4-8. (it‘s a little sad the drawings are different in the english versions  - something like a natural or intended culture border - maybe too independent?) so watch out for ilon wikland illustration if possible.

pictures sometimes really do the trick... just realized once again how manipulative they are if not neutral. they can make a good book into junk. and junk into special.

 

all times classic picture book: where the wild things are (age 2-3)

Edited August 2, 2018 by now is forever

[ChimpBrain]

@now is forever Thanks for the recommendations, I just added a few of the Astrid Lindgren books to my Amazon cart.

[Zweistein]

@ChimpBrain I like the idea of creating a list - would it be useful to try to pin down the spiral dynamic stage(s) of a book, too? Or is that a bit too freaky? Do you want to include movies and songs, too?

 

Edited August 2, 2018 by Zweistein

[ChimpBrain]

1 hour ago, Zweistein said:

@ChimpBrain I like the idea of creating a list - would it be useful to try to pin down the spiral dynamic stage(s) of a book, too? Or is that a bit too freaky? Do you want to include movies and songs, too?

 

The spiral dynamics labels might be a little too difficult/subjective to do much good, but obviously anyone can include any information they want. Yeah sure movies and songs would be good too. Pinocchio comes to mind as far as movies (thanks Jordan Peterson lol). A lot of the Disney stuff isn't half bad TBH, Lion King, Jungle Book, Little Mermaid, etc. Some other decent ones off the top of my head are Fern Gully, The Lorax, Wall-E, and Inside-Out.

Edited August 2, 2018 by ChimpBrain

[waking_dreams]

There are so many good books your child is about to be able to devour. If any these are out of reach at the moment, they won't be for long. 

The Giving Tree
Where the Sidewalk Ends is the book that seems to help kids "get" poetry
The Lorax
Oh, The Places You'll Go
How I Learned Geography by Uri Shulevitz
I haven't read these, but people seem to like Kobi Yamada's 3 books,
     What do you do with a problem?  What do you do with an idea?  What do you do with a chance?
I have a soft spot for Calvin & Hobbes. Colorful adventures and pithy insights from a kid with an imaginary pet tiger. 
Speaking of illustration, I'm partial to books like Animalia by Greame Base, Tuesday by David Wiesner, Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs by Judi Barrett, and anything by Chris Van Allsburg.  The film adaptation of Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs isn't half bad either imo.  

There's something about being read to that can make books easier to digest for kids. 
This can also begin getting them into longer form books. 
If you have the time, you could read her books like
The Little Prince
Matilda
The Giver
The Hobbit

[ChimpBrain]

2 hours ago, waking_dreams said:

There are so many good books your child is about to be able to devour. If any these are out of reach at the moment, they won't be for long. 

The Giving Tree
Where the Sidewalk Ends is the book that seems to help kids "get" poetry
The Lorax
Oh, The Places You'll Go
How I Learned Geography by Uri Shulevitz
I haven't read these, but people seem to like Kobi Yamada's 3 books,
     What do you do with a problem?  What do you do with an idea?  What do you do with a chance?
I have a soft spot for Calvin & Hobbes. Colorful adventures and pithy insights from a kid with an imaginary pet tiger. 
Speaking of illustration, I'm partial to books like Animalia by Greame Base, Tuesday by David Wiesner, Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs by Judi Barrett, and anything by Chris Van Allsburg.  The film adaptation of Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs isn't half bad either imo.  

There's something about being read to that can make books easier to digest for kids. 
This can also begin getting them into longer form books. 
If you have the time, you could read her books like
The Little Prince
Matilda
The Giver
The Hobbit

She has the Giving Tree and Where the Sidewalk Ends... I think she has all of the Shel Silverstein books actually and loves them. The Giving Tree damn near made me cry the first time I read it, seriously caught me off guard. Good suggestions!

I'm going to start looking into some of the others you've suggested here and adding them to an Amazon wish list. Especially the longer form books because she's really proud that she can read "chapter books" now. She read the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe recently but I'm not sure how much she was able to take away from it. I think it was a little too advanced. That's something they had us reading in like 9th grade when I was in school.

[Zweistein]

I wanted to comment a bit more, because I think it matters deeply what kind of books/films/games our kids are exposed to. Lately, I have been paying a lot more attention to what kind of books we are reading to our kids.

15 hours ago, waking_dreams said:

There's something about being read to that can make books easier to digest for kids. 
This can also begin getting them into longer form books. 

@waking_dreams I totally agree - plus, for me as a parent, it is also a special bonding time with my kids, too! 

It took me 39 years to come across concepts like spiral dynamics. If we would be able to introduce younger generations to concepts like this earlier, maybe then there is a greater chance for earlier healing? (I understand that everyone has to go through the different stages and I understand that it takes time.) But if people would be able to understand the nature of thoughts & emotions in earlier stages of their life, and also learn earlier how to reflect & recontextualize, show emotions  in a healthier manner and find their unique passions earlier, wouldn't that be awesome? 

Thanks to @now is forever, I started to dive deeply into the books by Michael Ende and I realized how much wisdom is packed into his books.
I had seen the "Neverending story" as a child, but when I listened to the audiobook yesterday, I realized how fully this book is packed with wisdom and possible recontextualizations! For the Germans around here, check out: 
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inhalt_und_Interpretation_der_Unendlichen_Geschichte (as a start) if you are interested.

Isn't it an act of wisdom itself to put so much wisdom into children's books?

Unfortunately, the movie for the "Neverending story" didn't turn out as well as Michael Ende would have liked it to turn out. But I think "Momo" is probably quite ok to watch:

 

 

 

[Wyatt]

@ChimpBrain

I definetly think reading is an incredible way to learn more about life, as well as be entertained. But most kids will read books and dogmatically believe them. Kids are geared towards consuming huge amounts of information, as it will shape their behavior and understanding of the way that they fit into the world. There are some great suggestions in this post, but potentially more important than the quality of the book is the ability to question it. What are the deeper meanings of the story? Are they true? How do we know? How could we find out? All of the information they read will be grounded and interpreted based on their experiences, so having more experiences will allow them to better wuestion and understand different books. I wish somebody had taught me how to question information like that at a young age, I’d be light-years ahead of where I am today.

 

Hope you’ve been enjoying raising her! Can’t wait to be a father

Edited August 6, 2018 by Wyatt

[ChimpBrain]

1 hour ago, Wyatt said:

@ChimpBrain

I definetly think reading is an incredible way to learn more about life, as well as be entertained. But most kids will read books and dogmatically believe them. Kids are geared towards consuming huge amounts of information, as it will shape their behavior and understanding of the way that they fit into the world. There are some great suggestions in this post, but potentially more important than the quality of the book is the ability to question it. What are the deeper meanings of the story? Are they true? How do we know? How could we find out? All of the information they read will be grounded and interpreted based on their experiences, so having more experiences will allow them to better wuestion and understand different books. I wish somebody had taught me how to question information like that at a young age, I’d be light-years ahead of where I am today.

 

Hope you’ve been enjoying raising her! Can’t wait to be a father

Really good point man, we have to teach critical thinking along with providing quality material. I'm working on this "don't trust any source of information 100%" mindset and have been since she could understand what I mean by that. Also when it comes to the big stuff like God and an afterlife I take the "I don't know and neither does anyone else, you'll have to figure it out for yourself" route. I do guard her pretty closely against religious nonsense though being in TX. 

 

 

@Zweistein I'm going to add the never ending story to the Amazon cart too, thanks for the recommendation! 

[Zweistein]

On 6.8.2018 at 2:15 AM, Wyatt said:

@ChimpBrain

I definetly think reading is an incredible way to learn more about life, as well as be entertained. But most kids will read books and dogmatically believe them. Kids are geared towards consuming huge amounts of information, as it will shape their behavior and understanding of the way that they fit into the world. There are some great suggestions in this post, but potentially more important than the quality of the book is the ability to question it. What are the deeper meanings of the story? Are they true? How do we know? How could we find out? All of the information they read will be grounded and interpreted based on their experiences, so having more experiences will allow them to better wuestion and understand different books. I wish somebody had taught me how to question information like that at a young age, I’d be light-years ahead of where I am today.

 

Hope you’ve been enjoying raising her! Can’t wait to be a father

Indeed - I totally agree!

I wanted to add some books here  

Jo Witek  & Christine Roussey: "In My Heart: A Book of Feelings" (age: 2-4 years) 

Byron Katie and Hans Wilhelm: "Tiger, Tiger is it true?", (age: 3-7 years)
(covers self-inquiry and recontextualization)

Hunter Maats & Katie O'Brien: "The Straight-A Conspiracy: Your Secret Guide to Ending the Stress of School and Totally Ruling the World" (highschool)