Thinking Parents' Book Group

September/October 2013 Selection: In the seventh grade, Todd Rose was suspended--not for the first time--for throwing six stink bombs at the blackboard, where his art teacher stood with his back to the class. At eighteen, he was a high school dropout, stocking shelves at a department store for $4.25 an hour. Today, Rose is a faculty member at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
"Square Peg" illuminates the struggles of millions of bright young children--and their frustrated parents and teachers--who are stuck in a one-size-fits-all school system that fails to approach the student as an individual. Rose shares his own incredible journey from troubled childhood to Harvard, seamlessly integrating cutting-edge research in neuroscience and psychology along with advances in the field of education, to ultimately provide a roadmap for parents and teachers of kids who are the casualties of America's antiquated school system.
With a distinguished blend of humor, humility, and practical advice for nurturing children who are a poor fit in conventional schools, "Square Peg" is a game-changing manifesto that provides groundbreaking insight into how we can get the most out of all the students in our classrooms, and why today's dropouts could be tomorrow's innovators.
Todd Rose is a faculty member at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, international lecturer, and leading thinker in the field of educational neuroscience. Today, Todd works at the forefront of innovation in learning science and education, contributing new insights about learning variability and helping to design new educational technologies flexible enough to support all students in reaching their full potential.
Katherine Ellison is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who has written three books on neuroscience and learning differences, most recently "Buzz: A Year of Paying Attention," as well as related articles for media including "The New York Times," "Washington Post," and "The Atlantic" magazine.

June 2013 Selection:

In What My Mother Gave Me, women look at the relationships between mothers and daughters through a new lens: a daughter s story of a gift from her mother that has touched her to the bone and served as a model, a metaphor, or a touchstone in her own life. The contributors of these thirty-one original pieces include Pulitzer Prize winners, perennial bestselling novelists, and celebrated broadcast journalists.

Whether a gift was meant to keep a daughter warm, put a roof over her head, instruct her in the ways of womanhood, encourage her talents, or just remind her of a mother s love, each story gets to the heart of a relationship.

Rita Dove remembers the box of nail polish that inspired her to paint her nails in the wild stripes and polka dots she wears to this day. Lisa See writes about the gift of writing from her mother, Carolyn See. Cecilia Munoz remembers both the wok her mother gave her and a lifetime of home-cooked family meals. Judith Hillman Paterson revisits the year of sobriety her mother bequeathed to her when Paterson was nine, the year before her mother died of alcoholism. Abigail Pogrebin writes about her middle-aged bat mitzvah, for which her mother provided flowers after a lifetime of guilt for skipping her daughter s religious education. Margo Jefferson writes about her mother s gold dress from the posh department store where they could finally shop as black women.

Collectively, the pieces have a force that feels as elemental as the tides: outpourings of lightness and darkness; joy and grief; mother love and daughter love; mother love and daughter rage. In these stirring words we find that every gift, no matter how modest, tells the story of a powerful bond. As Elizabeth Benedict points out in her introduction, whether we are mothers, daughters, aunts, sisters, or cherished friends, we may not know for quite some time which presents will matter the most.

July 2012 Pick: Music is not only fun, but it's also the foolproof way to family harmony and connection--it can soothe a crying baby, engage an active toddler, entertain during long car rides, and help everyone get through daily chores.
In "All Together ""Singing "" in the Kitchen" you'll find all the tools you need for family music making--you don't need to know a thing about music to get started. With over thirty songs (with lyrics, chords, and audio recordings) to get you singing, musical games to get you dancing, and tips on playing instruments to get you grooving, this book will help you make music a larger part of your family's life, from playtime to bedtime.

Making music with any group of people is one of the best and surest ways to forge deep emotional connections. Making music with the members of your family practically guarantees a lifetime of distinct, memorable, warm moments of togetherness.

February 2012 Pick: "Torn" is an anthology of essays that captures the voices of a generation of women caught in the crossfire of kids, career, and family life. In a series of 46 heartfelt and often laugh-out-loud essays, the book exposes the dirty truths of motherhood and the inevitable crises that life brings: battles with cancer, lost jobs, broken marriages, unplanned pregnancies, the heartbreak of infertility, and lots of "bad mommy" moments. As these stories illustrate, there is no perfect mother, nor is there a perfect balance when it comes to kids and successful career.

October 2011 Selection: Susan Engel draws on her years of experience as a developmental psychologist, educator, and mother to help parents stop worrying about their young children's future and stop trying to control their formative years. Offering an intriguing new way of thinking about child development, she uses both personal and professional research to identify problematic behaviors that require intervention and gives reassurance about those that don't. Unlike many parenting experts, Engel encourages perspective and acceptance: rambunctious children will calm down as they find activities to absorb their intellectual energy; similarly, as shy kids grow, they will learn how to reach out to others on a one-to-one level.

May 2011 Selection: Louv talks with parents, children, teachers, scientists, religious leaders, child-development researchers, and environmentalists to find ways for children to experience the natural world more deeply.