Customer Reviews

Humanism, What's That?: A Book for Curious Kids

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I read this to my 11 year old. He loved it and uses it's concepts and ideas in his dealings with friends and teachers at school.
If you want to teach your kids HOW to think instead of WHAT to think, this book is a must.

This is a fine book for teachers and or anyone who is not a theist trying to answer questions about "non-belief." The world has always had non believers. Unfortunately fear from any and all religious sects kept the secular/humanistic point of view hidden beneath the thundering voice of authoritarian religion. We need more people to speak out.

Helen Bennett's book is written in the form of a dialogue between a teacher and her pupils on the subject of Humanism and its role in human relations. It has all the appearance of nonfiction, in the sense that it takes the form of questions asked by pupils and the teacher's answers. It is, however, too carefully designed to be an unedited transcript of a single discussion that occurred at a specific time and place, and is in all likelihood a synopsis of several discussions with different groups of pupils. The teacher's answers to the pupils' questions are at all times intended to teach tolerance as well as other Humanistic principles espoused by the more enlightened religions. But perhaps the most significant paragraph in the whole book is the description of what happened when the fictional teacher asked her pupils to have their parents sign a permission slip for them to attend a discussion group to talk about Humanism.
"The class took permission slips home and six children (out of thirty-two) were allowed to take Mrs. Green's after-school class on Humanism. When the discussion group met, here is my best recollection of what happened" (p. 13) The rest of the book is the dialogue from their discussions.
When twenty-six out of thirty-two pupils are refused permission by their parents to attend a discussion of what Humanism is all about, it is self-evident that trying to overcome religious bigotry by reasonable discussion has little chance of making a difference. Bennett presumably wrote her book in the hope of doing just that. She should not hold her breath.

Religion in classrooms is a touchy subject. Many have accused "secular humanists" of taking over education and public policy. But what is humanism (secular or otherwise) and what does it mean for a person's soul and beliefs? This book examines this question. The format is a Q&A between a teacher and 6 of her students-they ask her questions about Humanism, God, the Bible, Heaven, and sin, and she tries to answer them without casting aspersion on their own beliefs.

This is an excellent resource for teachers with atheists, agnostics, Unitarians, or other Humanist children in their classrooms. It would make an excellent conversation starter in discussions about atheism and agnosticism or for RE classes in the UU church. It's also a useful guide for students from about 4th grade up. Topics include abortion, September 11, evolution, and capital punishment, so the student's ability to understand or ask about these topics should be considered as they read this book.

I was hoping to get a book to send to my nieces helping to explain why we do not celebrate their holidays, why we don't believe in faith.

Sadly, while the tone of this book is kid-friendly, the message seems to me to be more pro-humanism than to just an explanation of this ideology.

So, while I don't think I can give this book to my nieces without their parents thinking I'm trying to convert them to the "smart" and "thinking" way of being, it's a wonderful book for my kids.

Actually, if your child has been raised as a 'Humanist' this is kind of a nice lesson on what the "god-people" think. My kids only knew the basic principles of those with diety delusions, but this sure covers a lot of the finer belief tenets.

I gave this a 5 star rating for what it actually is, not for what I hoped it to be. It is well written, and easy to understand.

Terrific primer for this magnificent outlook on the world. If you hope the best for your child ... and if by 'best' you mean to make them a thinking contributing human INDIVIDUAL (not an automoton who simply mimics a design of your own making) I could not more highly recommend this fine book.

Not hostile to other beliefs and a very good example of what humanism is. My children enjoyed reading this.

This book is excellent for explaining humanism and separation of church and state to kids 9-15.

Want an alternative to religion to instill values and morals in your child. This is a great book.

This book really helped me to answer all of my 6 year old questions about Humanism. Definitely recommend!