Children's book recommendations?

What books would you recommend for children of progressive/humanist families? Well illustrated and written picture books? What about books for older children and thoughtful intelligent young teens? We know about Harry Potter. I need something more!

Do you specifically want progressive/humanist books?
This is a list of ones I enjoyed at that age...
For older children (8+):
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
The Dollhouse Murders by Betty Ren Wright
Wait 'till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn
The Castle in the Attic by Elizabeth Winthrop
The Real Me by Betty Miles

In terms of well written/illustrated children's books, I can really only think of one:
The Eleventh Hour by Graeme Base

I'm thinking of books that are 'reality based' rather than 'faith based' and that are about righting traditional wrongs, presumably like The Real Me book that Lily recommended. Separation of church and state, true religious freedom, alternative energy, women's rights, racial injustice, peace, social responsibility and international understanding all come to mind.

I'm not suggesting that the reading should be heavy but I don't think that children's literature needs to be all fantasy and fluff. If there is some real meat to the story, it will have a greater effect later.

Is there any book that you read as a child that you remember being key to your understanding of what is right and important?

I would suggest an Illustrated Bible. I know you don't want "faith based" stuff, but Bible stories are primarily about justice. You should be able to take pretty much any story and find justice at its heart.

I'm afraid there is a bit too much brutality in the Bible to be really appropriate for children. I suppose that is mostly left out of the children's version but that isn't a very honest presentation.

I've been looking at Lily's list on Amazon and have linked from The Westing Game and Tuck Everlasting, which both sound wonderful, to other Newberry Award winners. The books of Lois Lowrey, like The Giver, seem promising. I also found Roll of Thunder, Hear me Cry by Mildred Taylor.

I'm just going to say this about biblical violence and then drop the issue, unless you specifically wish to continue.

Yes, there is considerable violence especially in the history books of the OT. These are a very small part of the Bible and must be read as a rather limited vision of God's power. The stories from the Histories without the seemingly gratuitous violence are wonderful, The prophets and the NT are almost completely centered around justice.

Sheltering our children from violence leaves them open to it when they do run into it.

For geneg: I think it's best to drop the Bible as a topic.

After looking at your wonderful LT library, I think you might have some other ideas and suggestions. I'd rather keep this thread focused on children's books rather than on biblical analysis.

Love the hat, by the way.

I don't know what books would be good for younger children, I know I loved Little Black Sambo and Uncle Remus. Not exactly liberal texts for the young.

Although Uncle Remus might have more to say in this area than you might expect. Aesop's Fables might work well here.

My daughter's favorite book was Tikki Tikki Tembo but although I've read it a thousand times, all I got from it was why the Chinese all have short names. But you must admit tikki tikki tembo no sarembo chari bari ruchi pip peri pembo does roll off the tongue quite nicely.

As for YA, Huckleberry Finn has typical liberal lessons in it.

Voyage of the Basset by James C. Christensen. The illustrations are beautiful. I love the one of Medusa in shades. It also shows another way of thinking about things. You have to find the right question before you can find the right answer.

Science fiction was my ruin. It asks so many questions, and points out so many truths of who we are.

Maniac McGee by Jerry Spinelli comes to mind. Looking through the recommendations associated with that, The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox, Number the Stars by Lois Lowry (and The Giver, which hasn't been touchstoned yet), Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson, and The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman all bring back memories. (Had to do some fiddling to get touchstones working.)

All roughly 9-12 years old range, I'd guesstimate.

daschaich: Those look good. I'll add them to my list of possibilities. Newbery and Caldicott awards are good indicators, it seems.

Probably more for an older child, The Triumph of Liberty is a collection of 65 biographies of people who have worked towards freedom throughout history. Each biography should be short and bite-sized enough for a child to read in one sitting at a time. Also, F. Paul Wilson's next Repairman Jack novel, Jack: Secret Histories, will be the first in a trilogy that's specifically geared towards the YA demographic. It might come out being a little dark, but Harry Potter probably throws that caveat off the tower anyway...

I forgot these:

My Teacher is an Alien (series) by Bruce Coville
A Wrinkle in Time (series) by Madeline L'Engle
Sabriel (has two sequels) by Garth Nix
The Ragwitch by Garth Nix

How about George's Secret Key To The Universe by Lucy Hawking (Stephen Hawking's daughter).

I admit it's not exactly progressive humanist book, but it is good reading for interested and intelligent children with a scientific bent.

For progressive/humanist children's books, try this website

dreamlikecheese, that is an awesome website! I don't even have children and I want to order all the books on the page! I love the idea of 'Why Daddy is a Democrat!'

That is a nice website. As for George's Secret Key to the Universe not being humanist, it is so. Humanism embraces science as the means for explanation of things that happen as opposed to supernaturalism.

How do you make a link to outside pages work in a post? I understand the touchstone idea now but I don't know how to make other links.

#17: "Humanism embraces science as the means for explanation of things that happen as opposed to supernaturalism."

That's only partially true. If it were just about the rationalism of scientific discipline and healthy scepticism of supernaturalism, that would be great. But Humanism overreaches when it purports to use rationalism to come up with an objective difference between right and wrong. The idea of there being an objective morality reeks of supernaturalism.

and to create links, using the left and right arrows above the comma and the period (but I'll use parentheses so that it's visible) you type:

(a)the url(/a)

Also, to give a link a name you can type:

(a href=the url address)the name you want to give the link(/a).

If you can find a copy of The Missing Person's League (sorry, touchstones not working) by Frank Bonham, try that. Its a great read for the middle school set, about life in an alternate future after people have destroyed the environment. It turned me into an environmentalist. I think its out of print, though, but still available through Amazon. Shel Silverstein is also really good, especially A Light in the Attic and Where the Sidewalk Ends, both of which I found hilarious when I was 8-ish. And 30-ish, come to think of it! Not so into The Giving Tree, though.

OK. I'm going to try the url link thing:

Here is the complete list of Newbery winners since 1922.

Did it work?

It worked beautifully, sigridsmith. As for George's Secret Key...I think I gave the wrong impression. I meant to say that it's not a strictly humanist book. In that it is not specifically designed with the idea of explaining/promoting humanist ideas, it just does it partially as a by-product. Sorry for the confusion.

I'm looking for books that live up to a humanist/progressive ideal so these are all great. They don't need to be overt like Why Mommy is a Democrat or like the Dan Barker books, although those are good too. George's Secret Key fits the bill.

here is a book that I heartily do not recommend called My Beautiful Mommy.

When I was a young lad I enjoyed Johnny Tremaine, as much Nancy Drew as I could read, juvenile poetry (Eugene Field, Robert W. Service, James Whitcomb Riley), as many of the Edward M. Pease modern sea-going adventures, Stevenson, juvenile histories and biographies, Penrod novels by Tarkington. I know these are juvenile books primarily.

When I was a small child I enjoyed my mother reading Little Black Sambo, Beatrix Potter, Illustrated Bible stories. The Little Engine that Could, The Bobbsey Twins, Three Little Pigs, etc. I'm sure there were many more.

Girls to the Rescue was a favorite of my daughter. Classic folk-tales and fairy-tales a re-told so that the girl saves the day. For younger children, there is a wonderfully illustrated version of This Land is Your Land that was also much loved and re-read.

A friend of mine dates his interest in politics back to reading The Enormous Egg.

How about Winnie The Pooh? All my nieces and nephews love it. It seems to have a timeless appeal. I also swear by Alice in Wonderland. As a kid, I re-read it so many times and never failed to get completely lost in it. Just as a side note, as a kid I also read the adult version of the Bible and never failed to find it very interesting, precisely because all that violence and "carnal knowledge," etc. For some reason, kids just love that stuff, even if one is not quite understanding all the nuances. I am not sure, however, that it is a good thing for kids to read it, but then I was always a very precocious reader, and it might not have been the best thing ever.

I'm a humanist/science nerd children's book enthusiast so here's my 2 cents:

Picture book authors:
Byrd Baylor especially The Table Where Rich People Sit
Bob Graham
Daniel Pinkwater

Chapter Books:
The Hundred Dresses
Randall Jarrell (especially the Bat Poet)
Pam Munoz Ryan
Cynthia Rylant

Look at my library for anything I tag with the label "kids" but beware of things tagged "good for grownups" because those will be HEAVY and often more complicated than they seem. My library, in its entirety is not necessarily kid safe so look to the tags to guide you!

I've recently heard about Cory Doctorow's Little Brother, which is sort of a YA version of 1984, but set in near-future PATRIOT Act style San Francisco.

Rose Blanche by Roberto Innocenti and My Hiroshima by Junko Morimoto.

Gorgeous picture books which tell their stories in poignant illustrations and sparse text.

I would say both are about war and it's consequences.

Second grade and up would be a loose recommendation for age appropriateness, but parents know their kids best.