Harry Stottlemeier's Discovery is a wonderful book for doing philosophical discussions. I find it appropriate for the ages of 10-14, and actually for any age group if the mind is open and you are willing to think about challenging issues that have puzzled philosophers for milleniums. This book should not be read alone, but in a group with active participants. It doesn't tease you, it encourages you to think well. If I had to learn philosophy in school all over, I would want to start with this book and an open minded instructor.

Kio and Gus is written for 2-3 graders, NOT preschool. In this story we meet two friends who together tell you the story of their summer vacation. In addition to the usual, Kio and Gus ponder the nature of animals, experience, knowledge and perception. Central to the story is the question of how we know: if you were born blind, what would your understanding of the world be? This philosophical novel by Lipman encourages children to pursue this central question of philosophy. Adults can try to follow...

A good childrens book is a rare find. This is why I was so delighted in finding this marvel by Mr. Lipman. Lipmans' pixie lives in the mind of an old mans imagination. His world is a strange one. It is black and white and two-dimaensinal. Pixies world is completely at the mercy of the old mans' imagination. The book enthralls both adult and child with a delightful first chapter about the day Pixie was given a what pocket. Pixie roams his world collecting carrots, bicycles, traffic lights, whales and turnips, all of which are shrunk into his what-pocket. The descriptions of these objects getting shrunk made me laugh! However, as Lipman progresses to Chapter 2, chapter 2. In Chapter 2, our Pixie sits down and communicates with the old man through dream. The old man, through dream is taught about an old, forgotten tribe of Pixie, distant relatives of the hero of the book. This is where my main critism of the book lies. A story is relayed of how these Evil Pixies come down to Earth and kidnap babies. They are then sent up to Pixieland, where after a very short tour of the land, they appear (although Lipman luckily isn`t too graphic) to be clubbed to death and put through a Pixie Jam machine. The Pixie Jam is served to the Pixie King. I feel that this content could upset some children. My child (age 3) however loves the story, so perhaps it is me who is too critical. However, the deilvery and imagination of this book is in a class of its own. Not since Dahl have we been delighted so. Watch out for Lipman in the Millenium!

Firstly, Pixie is written for 4th graders, not pre-school as the heading says. Secondly, the previous review is NOT about this book. I have no idea what that reviewer read but it was not Lipman's novel. Lipman's novel is about a child who tells of her philosophical adventures in school, at home and with her friends. It is NOT anything remotely like the scenario described in the other review. So, you might really enjoy Pixie if you are intrigued by language, meaning, how we think and how a child tries to make sense of the world. If you want the book described below, keep looking!

Trendy revisionist garbage as to be expected from the Yale imprimature. This edition is strictly for collegial faculty club bores. Get the edition edited by Stefan Collini instead he's less interested in himself.

[From the Plains of Troy...
awakened from the dream]

[in his own words...]

"The whole scope of the essay is to recommend
culture as the great help out of our present
difficulties; culture being a pursuit of our
total perfection by means of getting to know,
on all matters which most concern us, the best
which has been thought and said in the world,
and, through this knowledge, turning a stream
of fresh and free thought upon our stock
notions and habits, which we now follow

staunchly but mechanically, vainly imagining
that there is a virtue in following them
staunchly which makes up for the mischief
of following them mechanically."
* * * * * * * * *

"Culture, which is the study of perfection,
leads us, as we in the following pages have
shown, to conceive of true human perfection
as a HARMONIOUS perfection, developing all
sides of our humanity; and as a GENERAL
perfection, developing all parts of our
society. For if one member suffer, the
other members must suffer with it; and
the fewer there are that follow the true
way of salvation, the harder that way is
to find."
* * * * * * * * *

"Now, and for us, it is a time to Hellenise,
and to praise KNOWING; for we have Hebraised
too much, and have over-valued DOING. But the
habits and discipline received from Hebraism
remain for our race an eternal possession;
and, as humanity is constituted, one must never
assign them the second rank to-day, without
being ready to restore them to the first rank
to-morrow. To walk staunchly by the best
light one has, to be strict and sincere
with oneself, not to be of the number of
those who say -- and do not; to be in
earnest, -- this is the discipline by which
alone man is enabled to rescue his life
from thraldom to the passing moment and
to his bodily senses, to ennoble it, and
to make it eternal."
* * * * * * * * *

This edition is preferable to the gimmicky version published by Yale, where the original text is lost beneath the imposition of leftist ideologues.

This first book in Lipman's series of philosophical novels for children is a wonderful exploration of language, meaning and a child's perspective. BUT it is erroneously describe as for 9-12 year olds. This book was designed for use with kindergartners and first graders.

This is a textbook for teachers that demonstrates how philosophical thinking can be used in teaching children. It begins with the assumption that what is taught in schools is not (and should not be) subject matter but rather ways of thinking. The main point is that the classroom should be converted into a community of inquiry, and that one can begin doing that with children. This book is based on the curriculum that Matt Lipman has developed at the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children.