The Scientist in the Crib: What Early Learning Tells Us About the Mind

By:

Alison Gopnik, Andrew N. Meltzoff, Patricia K. Kuhl

An informal and entertaining yet authoritative look at the science of babies minds. The three research psychologists, all of whom are parents, and two of whom, Meltzoff and Kuhl, are married to each other, write about child development as though they were speaking directly to parents they know. As their title indicates, the authors find parallels between babies and scientists: both, they say, formulate theories, make and test predictions, seek explanations, do experiments, and revise what they know based on new evidence. They show specifically how babies learn about people and objects, and how they acquire language.

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ISBN 0688177883

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Understanding Your Child’s Puzzling Behavior

Steven E. Curtis

Research shows that if these children do not “close the gap” before they finish third grade, they are likely to remain functionally illiterate throughout their lives. See Johnny Read! is the first book to offer practical, proven, and timely ways for parents to help their boys with this critical skill. Written by an expert teacher and educational consultant, this much-needed book answers essential questions, including: When does a reading delay become a reading problem? How, when, and where should I look for tutoring? How can I get the best help from the school? How can my son avoid (or overcome) the “Bad Boy” label? How can I help my son learn to read — and enjoy reading — at home?

See Johnny Read! : The 5 Most Effective Ways to End Your Son’s Reading Problems

Tracey Wood, M.Ed.

Published:

2003

Peer Power explodes existing myths about children’s friendships, power, and popularity, and the gender chasm between elementary school boys and girls. Based on eight years of intensive insider participant observation in their own children’s community, the authors discuss the vital components in the lives of preadolescents: popularity, friendships, cliques, social status, social isolation, loyalty, bullying, boy-girl relationships, and afterschool activities.

Peer Power: Preadolescent Culture and Identity

Patricia A. Adler, Peter Adler

Leo the Late Bloomer

Robert Kraus

How and when does a child begin to make sense of the world? Why does a lively preschool child so often become a semiliterate and defeated school failure?

Developmental psychologist Margaret Donaldson shows that much of the intellectual framework on which we base our teaching is misleading. We both underestimate the astonishing rational powers of young children and ignore the major stumbling block that children face when starting school.

Given a setting and a language that makes sense to them in human terms, very young children can perform tasks often thought to be beyond them. The preschool child learns everything in a human situation. Only in school is he asked to acquire skills―reading, writing, arithmetic―isolated from a real-life context. This transition is difficult.

The author suggests a range of strategies that parents and schools can adopt to help children. She argues that reading is even more important than we have thought it to be, since learning to read can actually speed children through the crucial transition.