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Philosophy Books for Children
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Book Report: 3.21.2015
by Anna Ridley
Philosophical
picture books that allow children to ask questions and explore a variety of
answers are a great way to encourage intellectual inquiry from an
early age.
It
was in the 1970s that Matthew Lipman, a professor at Colombia University, started
advocating for teaching pre-, middle and high school children how to think
philosophically on the basis that children require an understanding of the
procedure that leads to knowledge. At the time, Lipman’s ideas clashed with the
theories of educationalists like Jean
Piaget, who didn’t think children under 11 or 12 years of age were capable
of critical thinking, but soon gained traction following a trial of over 3,000
children which showed those who took the course saw almost twice as much
academic progress as those who didn’t.
Lipman’s
programme, which is now adopted in schools worldwide and endorsed by the UN,
creates a community of inquiry in the classroom that can be applied across
multiple disciplines. It establishes a culture in which children are encouraged
to ask their own questions, exchange ideas and opinions, explore differences of
opinion, and value the ideas of others, and allows children to take the time to
think and reason.
Here’s
our selection of recently published picture books that we think promote what
Lipman described as ‘excellent thinking’.
I
Am Henry Finch, Alexis Deacon and Viviane Schwarz
Where
do we go when we disappear?, Madalena Matoso
The
Day No One Was Angry, Toon Tellegen
Messy
Monster Book, Rachel Ortas
Hug
Me, Simona Ciraolo
Poka
and Mia Football, Kitty Crowther
The
Big Question, Leen van den Berg
The
World Belongs To You, Riccardo Bozzi
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