This year’s Book Fair is a great success! I send special thanks to the Parents’ Association and Suzannah Van Schaick, Alex Ciejek, Rob Slonaker, Jilly Lederman, Ev and Eric Wilska from the Bookloft, and the many parents that worked together to provide this important community event. The Book Fair is in the library, and you can stop by before 4:30 today, between 8:00 and 4:30 on Thursday, and between 8:00 and noon on Friday. Many great books await readers of all ages. All proceeds benefit the Library fund, so please stop by!
Throughout the year, I share suggested readings for parents and educators. In this post, I offer three classics. If you are interested in stopping by to review any or all of the books, let me know.
Everybody who has survived adolescence knows what a scary, tumultuous, exciting time it is. But if we use memories of our experiences to guide our understanding of what today’s girls are living through, we make a serious mistake. Our daughters are living in a new world. Reviving Ophelia is a call to arms from Dr. Mary Pipher, a psychologist who has worked with teenagers for more than a decade. She finds that in spite of the women’s movement, which has empowered adult women in some ways, teenage girls today are having a harder time than ever before because of higher levels of violence and sexism. Young teenagers are not developmentally equipped to meet the challenges that confront them. Today’s teenagers face serious pressures at an earlier age than that at which teenagers in the past did. It is critical that we understand the circumstances and take measures to correct them. We need to make that precious age of experimentation safe for adolescent girls. (from the book description)
In Raising Cain, Dan Kindlon, Ph.D., and Michael Thompson, Ph.D., share what they have learned in more than thirty-five years of combined experience working with boys and their families. They reveal a nation of boys who are hurting–sad, afraid, angry, and silent, and they set out to answer this basic, crucial question: What do boys need that they’re not getting? They illuminate the forces that threaten our boys, teaching them to believe that “cool” equals macho strength and stoicism. Kindlon and Thompson make a compelling case that emotional literacy is the most valuable gift we can offer our sons, urging parents to recognize the price boys pay when we hold them to an impossible standard of manhood. They identify the social and emotional challenges that boys encounter in school and show how parents can help boys cultivate emotional awareness and empathy–giving them the vital connections and support they need to navigate the social pressures of youth. (from the book description)
“This is a clear and concise guide for all parents. In a very practical way it helps the parents understand their child’s behavior and misbehavior. It is a very encouraging book. It is a great relief for someone to put into words the worries we all have as parents and to illustrate techniques that will help in the solution of everyday problems. It deals especially well with creating cooperation within families. I believe it could become your constant companion in the struggle that we all have in trying to bring up our children to be responsible, caring, and likable adults. Highly recommended.” (Ruth Farrell)