The Hand
How its use shapes the brain, language, and human culture

Frank R. Wilson

Softbound

$17.00

The Hand is one of the most incredible books I've read in years. What a beautiful, thorough study of that feature of our bodies which, in absolute fact, makes us truly human. Wilson so completely and so beautifully demonstrates the relationship between the way we use our hands and the way we come to see our world and are enabled to see our world that the argument that there is little difference between a virtual experience and a real, hands-on experience ought to evaporate once and for all. The implications for education are both clear and vast - as are the implications for how we choose to live our lives and guide our children in other ways. Please read this wonderful book - when this information becomes commonplace, children's lives will be so much more as they truly need to be, and the world will sing for joy.

Punished by Rewards
The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes

Alfie Kohn

Softbound

$15.00

Alfie Kohn draws from hundred's of studies to demonstrate that, while incentives seem to work in the short run, in the long run they lead students and others to produce work inferior to that produced without such enticements. The more artificial inducements are used, the more people, especially children, lose interest in what we're bribing them to do. Kohn presents rewards and punishment as two sides of the same coin and devotes the final chapters to a practical set of strategies for parents, teachers, and managers that move beyond the use of carrots or sticks.

Dumbing Us Down
The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling

John Taylor Gatto

Softbound

$12.95

This book first appeared as a landmark statement about the realities of much of the schooling most children in our society receive - and about the very nature of the society we have ourselves created. John Taylor Gatto taught in Manhattan's public schools for 26 years and tendered his resignation with his speech accepting New York State's "Teacher of the Year" award. His experience allowed him to discover how children learn, not only academic subjects, but about the world itself. All too often, it allowed him to observe how children do not learn, how the premises of standard education block precisely the stated goals of our schools. This is an extremely significant book, well worth reading, thinking about, and acting upon.

Cultural Literacy
What Every American Needs to Know

E. D. Hirsch, Jr.

Softbound

$12.00

Rudolf Steiner faced two primary problems when he set about defining the curriculum of the Waldorf School. One problem was that the people who were well-educated had almost no practical knowledge of anything; the other was that the people who worked in the trades had no real cultural literacy. His curriculum answered both needs in the context of 1919 Germany. E. D. Hirsch's book addresses the latter need from the perspective of late-20th Century America. As such, it is a treasure house of the cultural underpinnings of civilization and a gold mine of ideas for keeping civilization civilized.

The Child and the Machine
How Computers Put Our Children's Education at Risk

Alison Armstrong and Charles Casement

Softbound

$16.00

Alison Armstrong began simply as a parent wanting to know more about the decision to increase the use of technology in her children's schools. What she learned was not at all what she expected to find and led her to team up with Charles Casement to produce The Child and the Machine. Instead of discovering well-designed studies that supported what the educational technology enthusiasts were saying, namely, that computer use enhanced the outcomes of education, the sobering facts of hundreds of school visits, studies and expert interviews led inescapably to the conclusion that our uncritical rush to use computers in schools has been one of the most expensive and most counterproductive "revolutions" in education history. Very highly recommended!

Home-Alone America
The Hidden Toll of Day Care, Behavioral Drugs, and Other Parent Substitutes

Mary Eberstadt

Hardbound

$25.95

Generally, I have tried to steer a wide berth around books like this. I still believe this is a more than reasonable response, usually -- after all, they can be very unsettling, often extremely depressing in that a chronicling of ills without a prescription toward health dredges up not much more than hopelessness, and usually they are written with more passion than skill.

None of that is true about Home-Alone America. Mary Eberstadt has given us an incredibly articulate, interesting and thorough chronical of the increasing trend toward leaving our children in the care of others while we go to work, even when the documented cost of doing so zeroes out any financial gain to the family. And, when those who do care for our children find them too unruly for easy "management," there's now a battery of prescription drugs we can use to get the kids to behave.

While both Eberstadt and I hasten to add and to underscore that in any given individual family, the children may thrive with Mom at work, Dad remarried and/or the children in day care. It is the cumulative effect of the modern adult exodus from the home that she draws our attention to -- and the hard data is sobering, challenging, and begs for all of us to consider and reconsider what is really best for America's children.

I believe this is one of the most important books to be written in years -- and urge everyone who is interested in education and children's health to read it and give it to friends and family to read. This is a landmark work with information none of us can afford to ignore.

The Future of Childhood
Alliance for Childhood
Articles for the Brussels Conference
October 2000

Edited by Christopher Clouder, Sally Jenkinson and Martin Large

Softbound

$19.95

Children create our future with their gifts and talents, yet what does childhood mean for us today? Is childhood vanishing under the impact of poverty, commercialism, stress, social breakdown and hot housing? The experience of childhood is influenced by changing cultural patterns and trends. How can we then ensure that all children are given a good foundation for their future life.

The Alliance for Childhood is a forum where individuals and organizations can work together out of respect for childhood, in a world wide effort to improve children's lives. The Alliance convened this Brussels Conference to explore the following questions:

• What is childhood to today's children?
• What rights do children have?
• How are parents, professionals and policy makers shaping children's lives?
• How are commercialism and the media affecting children?
• What is the impact of hunger, violence, discrimination and abuse?
• What guidelines will help form a better environment for childhood?

This lively collection of articles by Conference presenters offers stimulating insight for dialogue about how we can give due respect to children. Contains useful references, contacts and resources for networking.