A Book Does a Body Good: Buy (or Borrow) & Read
May 2nd, 2007 by Progressive Wednesday
Buy (or Borrow) & Read:
We’ve compiled a brief list of books (sixteen to be exact) we’d recommend reading to your future progressives. If you’re interested in picking up a copy of any of these tomes for your very own, we recommend going through a
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I Live on a Farm by Stasia Ward Kehoe
Kehoe’s book uses photos instead of illustrations, and teaches children about items and actions unique to farm, such as storage silos, bales of hay, barns, tractors, harvesting, and irrigating. The book also has a discreet anti-pesticide message. We believe this book will help kids who live on farms have more pride about where they live, and will help suburban and city kids better understand life in rural
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Spiders by Ann Heinrichs
Spiders is a children’s science book that discusses the benefits of spiders (which are referred to as “nature’s friends”) to both the environment and humans. With Heinrichs’ book, kids can learn key science terms, scientific history, cultural myths, and facts about reproduction. The text also addresses the common fear of spiders: “Spiders are afraid of you. To a spider, you look like a giant.” To further ease fears, Spiders emphasizes that very few arachnids are dangerous to humans. Kids also encouraged to be in awe of both spiders’ silk and webs. We’ll take appropriate awe over fear any day.
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At Daddy’s on Saturdays by Linda Walvoord Girard
This 32-page picture-book helps kids understand the true causes of divorce (read: it’s not the child’s fault). Little readers also learn that both parents, despite separation, still love their children, that sadness is an understandable reaction, and that a child can feel at home with both their mother and father. We highly recommend At Daddy’s on Saturday’s, as well as the other books by Girard, who’s not afraid to tackle emotionally charged topics like AIDS, adoption, and sexual abuse.
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Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Doreen Rappaport
This beautifully designed book won Best Illustrated Children’s Book of 2001 from the New York Times Book Review, and deserved it. The book shares the biography of Dr. King along side breathtaking drawings and pithy, inspiring quotations drawn from Dr. King. The heart of the book is that courage, love, learning, and human rights shall win the day. Rappaport doesn’t gloss over Dr. King’s death, and she reminds kids that good work and good words on earth live on after you do. Both are, in fact, a way to make progress.
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