Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Books for Raising Libertarians

I've made a few recent posts about children's books and the importance of reading to children. I have advanced the notion that reading to children is formative. Maybe our Liberal government already knows this, which is why they appear to be anxious to (a) make daycare necessary (b) ensure that all good children go to state-funded daycare where they can be correctly shaped.

I recall that buying books to read my children was a difficult process - I spent a lot of time at Borders going through the books checking the message in each one, in order to weed out those that were "bleeding heart", "guilt building" or otherwise weakening. Wanting to raise my children to have their own heads on their shoulders, I rejected a few. Books that were about taking risks, being independent, having good morals, creatively solving problems, were just plain silly or funny, were thought provoking, were informative (to a little person), sounded emotional richness, and so on, were high on my list.

The purpose of this post is to ask for your opinions, and share information. What books do you recommend for reading to children and why? Which have you rejected, and why?