…what are they reading?

I recently asked folks on Facebook, “Those of you with elementary-/middle-school-aged kids: What was the last book you read that really helped you get better at your parenting gig?”

I’ve got a lot of friends from outside the children’s book world, but the overwhelming majority of the responses came from other authors and illustrators.

Among the suggestions were:

  • Becoming Dad: Black Men and the Journey to Fatherhood by Leonard Pitts, Jr.
  • Bringing Up Boys by James C. Dobson
  • The Childhood Roots of Adult Happiness: Five Steps to Help Kids Create and Sustain Lifelong Joy by Edward M. Hallowell M.D.
  • The Five Love Languages by Gary D. Chapman
  • The Gift of the Blessing by Gary Smalley and John T. Trent
  • How to Talk So Your Teens Will Listen and Listen So Your Teens Will Talk by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish
  • King Me: What Every Son Wants and Needs from His Father by Steve Farrar
  • Nurture Shock: Why Everything We Thought about Children Is Wrong by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman
  • Raising Lifelong Learners: A Parent’s Guide by Lucy McCormick Calkins and Lydia Bellino
  • Raising Self-Reliant Children in a Self-Indulgent World by H. Stephen Glenn and Jane Nelsen
  • Taking Back Childhood: Helping Your Kids Thrive in a Fast-Paced, Media-Saturated, Violence-Filled World by Nancy Carlsson-Paige
  • Unconditional Parenting: Moving from Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason by Alfie Kohn

    • To this list, I would add And the Skylark Sings with Me – Adventures in Homeschooling and Community-Based Education by David H. Albert and Joseph Chilton Pearce.

    What would you add?