The Power of High-Quality Books: What to Read (and What to Skip!): The Montessori Power Hour

Not all children’s books are created equal—some foster imagination and language development, while others fall flat with shallow storytelling and clunky prose. This week, we’re diving into how to choose books that truly support your child’s learning during the sensitive period for language. You’ll learn what to look for (and avoid) so you can build a home library that nurtures curiosity, empathy, and a lifelong love of reading.

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Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Hey there friends, I'm Aubrey Harkis.
Today's episode is a replay fromthe Child of the Redwoods live
show that I host with my husbandin Montessori homeschooling,
partnering crime, David Harkis. You can watch the full episode
on the Child of the Redwoods YouTube channel.
Here's the clip. Not all children's books are

(00:25):
created equal. Some will spark the imagination
and enhance your child's use of language, but others are going
to fall flat. So this week, yeah, this week,
we're going to talk about choosing books that are truly
supportive for your child's learning during those young

(00:45):
years and maybe not so young years when your child is most
receptive and likely to enjoy the reading.
And we're going to talk about what to look for so you can
build your own home library. That's right.
All right. All right.
Well, let's do it. The power of high quality books,

(01:05):
because I know those of you who are watching out there, if you
are watching and you have young kids, you know, literature is a
part of the parenting experiencewith young children.
That's right. Yeah.
And part of that is due to the fact that it's just really
enjoyable to read books to our children.
We feel like when we are holdinga book in our hands and we're

(01:27):
reading aloud to our kids are we're actively doing something,
you know, to further their education just by the act of
reading. We've also been taught
culturally that it's like a really healthy thing to do if we
want to grow the intellect. We think of like intelligent
people. They're probably well versed.
Well, we have a word, say a educated person is a literate

(01:55):
person, right, So that the wholeassociation of literacy, reading
lot reading lots of books and intelligence and success, they
go hand in hand in our culture, even into our language.
So I think you're right, like wedo have that expectation and but

(02:17):
readings also can be pleasurable.
Yes, reading, I think is I, I mean, not everybody honestly
finds reading pleasurable. And so we'll talk more about
that later on as well. You know, maybe you're out there
and you're feeling the the pressure to read to your child,
but you don't actually really enjoy it.

(02:37):
I would encourage you to stick with it and try and find some of
the parts that you enjoy becauseI really do deep down believe
that it's a great part of educating our children and it's
something that everybody is capable of doing, enjoying books
and stories with their kids. And yes, audiobooks count.

(02:59):
I think most of us know that now, right, that audiobooks
count. Now, they do different things in
our brains, but they're actually.
Yeah, go ahead. Actually, they don't.
Is that right? Is that what the new research
says? Yeah.
Yeah, they're. No, the new research says that
the parts of the brain, I guess we'll go ahead and talk about
this. Parts of the brain that are

(03:19):
active when you're reading a story, when you're when you.
OK, imagine like you're reading a book to yourself and you're
imagining all of the things thatare happening to the characters
and you're listening to the, youknow, you're reading the
language, the same parts of the brain light up, you hear an

(03:40):
audio book. So like science does say, like
the research that we've done on listening to audiobooks versus
reading a book ourselves says like you're getting the same
thing out of it. Now, I will tell you that I know
that you have very keen ears. You really love the listening

(04:00):
experience. I do You listen to a lot of
podcasts. I don't know that you listen.
Do you listen to audiobooks? It's not really your thing, but
you're. It seems like you're constantly
listening to things. Yeah, audiobooks don't work for
me, like for my brain as much. I think it has to do with just
the way my hearing processing works, you know, just

(04:22):
auditorily. When I listen to a book on
audio, it's harder for me to follow the storyline as opposed
to when I'm reading it. But I mean, I think that that
might be an individual thing. Most people, they just say,
like, audio books are the same thing.
And when you think about it, it makes sense because when we
start with our children, what are they doing?
Mostly they're listening to books being read aloud.

(04:43):
And so it, you know, what they say is like, it doesn't matter
whether you are the person physically reading the book
aloud or whether you are the listener, you're getting the
same thing out of it. It's so interesting.
Yeah. I mean, it makes sense too.
Now, we have a great group out there this morning or afternoon
or video. I think.
I'm probably curious if we have any audiobook.

(05:03):
Yeah. Do we have any audiobook files
out there or any strong opinionson that?
We'd love to hear it in the chat.
I know we do in our community for sure.
So The thing is that whether it's an audiobook or a classic
printed book, there are certain qualities that you might want to
look for that can really help elevate that experience.
Because, you know, if you have areluctant reader, nothing can

(05:28):
sour the experience faster than a bad book.
Like it's like if you've never tried, I don't know, let's say
you've never had sushi and you go and have 711 sushi and you're
like, this stuff is terrible. It's going to turn you off,
right? So like don't make that your
first experience, right. So the same and the same goes
here, right? Like there are better and worse

(05:50):
books and picking high quality books is actually kind of
important if you're trying to foster not only a love of
reading, but like the the ability desire, the stick to it
Ness or whatever that's requiredto master reading itself.
Right, we need we want kids to feel engaged with the book so

(06:11):
that they want to go and read the book.
And that's a critical part of learning how to read.
So we wanted to share A3 tips ora few tips here on how to go and
find and think about what a highquality book would look like.
OK, here's the first one is my proposition to you is I think

(06:32):
personally that a really high quality book is also an
effective teacher. And if you look for the same
qualities that we talked about in good teaching, it's going to
be the same kind of qualities you find in quality books.
Yes, that's right. So what are the qualities of a
good teacher, slash book, teacher book as teacher?

(06:55):
I'm imagining now I'm imagining a book with like a little
glasses on, putting on the teacher hat, knee jacket with
patches, right. So I think an effective teacher,
an effective teacher really is has a purpose for lessons.

(07:18):
And this is one that I have kindof gone back and forth when I
was a young new teacher. I really was feel I really felt
uncomfortable about like a clearobjective for every single
lesson because I believe so strongly that you could have a
great purpose for the lesson. But then if the students decide
to take away something differentfor it, like who, who am I to

(07:42):
say that that's the wrong take away from it?
Right. But I think that it's it is like
true that if you are setting outto give a lesson to your kids on
anything, there is like an underlying objective.
There is a purpose behind it. And I think that that is true
with books too. And sometimes authors aren't so

(08:02):
great at nailing it down. I don't know if you've ever read
a book and you've opened it up and you've you've read through
and you're like, wait, this, I thought we were talking about
this character or like, where's this storyline going?
And you know, what happened at the end?
It doesn't seem to like, did we just drop that whole thread, you
know, of that whole subplot, youknow, that we were so invested

(08:24):
in a few chapters back and then it kind of wraps up.
I think a lot of us have had this experience from reading
fiction especially. Or you think about your own
fiction that you read. You get to the end, and
sometimes it's a really satisfying ending because you're
like, yeah, this book had a purpose.
And I feel changed and transformed by the end, right?

(08:45):
That's right. I'm a different person now,
having gotten to the end of thisbook and taken in the overall
message. And sometimes you get to the end
of the book and you're like, what?
Like what was that? That was not even.
Sometimes you don't even get to the end of the book because it's
so meandering. So meandering.
Exactly. I give up on books all the time.
And so let's take this because Iwas thinking of some Yeah, yeah,

(09:09):
absolutely right. Great books, whether fiction or
non fiction that I've read in mylife.
They have a clear purpose right now.
What about for a child? Like one of my one of the best
books I, I read, I've read in the last 15 years is the I think

(09:30):
it was Farber's book on the lifeof Walt Disney.
OK. Oh, yeah.
You really. Like, that was an amazing book.
And its purpose was to bring Disney's, you know, life to
life. But more than that, it was to
put him in context. And it, the purpose that I got
out of it was like seeing him inthis.

(09:54):
You like, you know, living out here in in Silicon Valley and
working at that time and workingin start-ups, like seeing the
connection between like this creativity and kind of rule
breaking, but also sort of this the force like over time, how
that kind of gets watered down and corporatized.
And so it was interesting like that was a really fascinating to

(10:18):
me to see this journey of this person who experienced something
very similar to what I was seeing day-to-day.
And so that purpose was really, really powerful.
But I'm not going to give my 4 year old this biography of
Disney. But the, but the purpose of the
book was what I think it was to show that he wasn't like who he

(10:39):
really was. Like to strip away sort of the
mythos of him as either like this kind of corporate brand or
as Uncle Walt of the 50s at most, like boomers will remember
best. And they're like try and put him
as an actual living person with all of his ups and downs and
flaws and, and, and genius and like, and to show like, what was

(11:03):
it like the answer to that question that I went into the
book was what makes him important?
Besides, like he, you know, these innovations he created.
What is it about him? And I and I got that answer.
Like he, he set out. I would say his purpose was to
explain what was the, the, the whatever the generous Iqua, the

(11:23):
essence of Disney. And he comes through in that he
he meets. But again, go ahead.
So what I know about a lot of biographies is that, you know,
we tend to think of a biography as just being like, this is a
book about a person's life. Here's a book, another book
about this person's life. Here are these three people who

(11:44):
wrote biographies. I mean, Maria Montessori also
has had at least three, many more biographies.
Yes. And they're very different from
each other, but they all have a clear purpose.
And I feel like the earliest biography of Montessori's, which
is by EM Standing. Great classic book, I think

(12:07):
written in the 50s. I have a copy on my shelf
actually literally within my fingertips to reach.
But I think the purpose of that biography was to showcase the
Montessori method from by looking at the life of the
creator of the Montessori method.

(12:28):
But the latest, and we can talk about other biographies later,
but like the latest biography that we read that was written,
Yeah, it's right here. Child is the teacher.
We have a whole series on on this channel.
You can go watch our whole series on that.
I think it's five parts and it'sexcellent.
And you're right. What is its purpose?
Christina De Stefano took the purpose of like Maria

(12:50):
Montessori's and her purpose wasn't to showcase the
Montessori method through the biography of a person.
It was to dig down into like theMaria Montessori's personal
idiosyncrasies and reveal her passion for her work.
Yes, and just and explore, Right?

(13:12):
Like you said, her idiosyncrasies and explore
things that I don't know that I really I connect to, like her
faith journey, which was so important, which is often
overlooked, her place and time. I mean, Rita Kramer's book also
did those things. But I felt like Christina
Stefano de Stefano's book was more about like to tell her life

(13:34):
as a story, story of a person changing, coming.
Excellent. It's great.
So even a biography will have a purpose, you know.
So not all the biographies are the same, right?
Like all of them have a very distinct purpose.
A good biographer will do that for their subject.
But the other kinds of books that you might share with your
children, of course, biographiesis a great genre you might think

(13:57):
of. Like in our Constellation
activities packets, we always have a recommended reading list
and try and fill them with a variety of different kinds of
literature. I'm thinking of the one that's
coming up soon, which is Tide, which actually has several more
than one book in it is dedicatedthe poetry.
It's like the poetry of tide pool animals, two of them,

(14:21):
right. And so like the purpose is I I
think maybe the purpose is like to help children love the
creatures of the world, but alsolike to, to play with language,
you know, to, to share poetic, the poetic nature of English,

(14:43):
you know, with children. Yeah.
So your point is good, right, right.
So I, I began by describing a book that was written for a
general adult audience since it's very, very pretty thick.
So it's a little, it's not academic, but it's, it's
definitely something you have toset out to want to read.
And it's not something you wouldgive a four year old or probably
even a 10 year old. But the qualities that spoke to

(15:05):
me in that biography, which are the same qualities that spoke to
me through any fiction works that I've read that I've just
like that has stuck with me in my life, like The Great Gatsby
or something like that. These, they can, they are the
same. And it's also the same for the
little guys, right? So the clear purpose and
sometimes a purpose like I thinkthat makes those sort of early

(15:28):
those Doctor Seuss type books compelling is that they are
playful and the purpose is in the playfulness of the language,
right. So the purpose may not be to
teach a branch brand lesson or something like that, but it
could just be like fun Poetry can sometimes just be an
experiment in language that's. Right.

(15:48):
So you're when you're picking a book, you're wanting to think,
what is this book trying to teach?
First off, is it teaching something that I wanted to
teach? And 2nd, if it is, does it
actually do it in an effective way?
Is it going to bring is it is itpurposefulness to manifest
through it? There there are books that you

(16:13):
know, Speaking of that purposefulness.
There are books that set out to teach a really good message to
to children that whose purpose is really, really clear.
I'm thinking of and don't hate me for this.
If you love this book, the Pout pout fish, do you remember that
one? Well, it's all about it's a book
about a fish that pouts and it'skind of about like how we should

(16:37):
not be pouty. I I guess I'm kind of
remembering it's kind of a moralistic book.
It's very sing songy language a lot like it's very popular.
A lot of parents find it fun. I hated it.
Why? Because my children were not
powders and it was like, I don'twant to be teaching them about
pouting. Oh, that's great.
Right, and sometimes that also can happen.

(16:59):
Like I'm remembering all those Mercer Meyer books that were
like they're clearly teaching, don't lie, don't steal, don't
like no fib. There was one about no fibbing.
Remember that one from the the 80s?
Like we all read that. But like, if your children
aren't fibbers, like, it can sometimes it can encourage them

(17:24):
to mimic some of the bad behaviors because it becomes
like a game. It does.
Yeah. And also just like some of them,
just like, I don't think. Oh, I know one.
It was like those the series about dinosaurs don't do this
thing or that book Dinosaurs don't.
I don't know, whatever it is. And it's silly.

(17:44):
It's also like things, classic things that kids will do that
are bad. But some of those I read, I'm
like, I don't think I want to beteaching my kids like, Goddess,
there's only crappers in the better way.
Right. Right.
So it is really, it's actually really important to look at the
books and say, you know, what message is this teaching?

(18:05):
Yeah. Because some of those might not
be messages you like. They can have another one that
is very popular. Is that David?
David. No.
Oh, yes. Book.
Do you remember that? I do pictures.
It's kind of scary looking is very popular, but also like
Dave, poor David, David in the book goes around doing all these

(18:27):
bad things and is constantly being told no.
And that was something that we as parents were really trying
not to do is like use the word no over and over and over.
And so I felt like reading that book, it's not only highlighting
things I didn't want my kids to to be emulating, but also it's

(18:47):
it's like teaching my children what the role of the parent is
supposed to be doing is like constantly saying no to things
that kids want to do that are bad, you know, and so, you know,
maybe that book resonated with you.
That's fine. No judge all right.
But just like there is a purposebehind every single book that is

(19:08):
written. And if if the purpose isn't
clear and that purpose was to make money and it's not a great
book, right. Exactly.
They could be it's a cash grab, folks, right.
Or just the author just isn't a great teacher, you know?
Yeah, so, so, so this so other other things about being an
effective teacher is we as teachers, we do have a purpose

(19:31):
for teaching. We know what we're going to
teach. We also a good teacher does not
overwhelm child and in Montessori this is really one of
our guiding principles is that we don't overwhelm children with
too much information right away.We want them to discover, you
know, discover the outcome or, you know, we want to kind of

(19:54):
lean them on the path, not bombard them or hit them over
the head with too much at once. And we do this in our lessons,
yes, by showing rather than telling, especially at the
younger years, especially in theyounger years.
And we also do this by allowing our children to just like,
slowly work through and digest the information.

(20:17):
Rather than front loading them with it.
And so sometimes we get books out there that are really well
meaning and let me know in the comments if you've ever run
across some of these before. But usually I'm talking to like
information books that are non fiction and you open it up and
the first page is like 5 really dense paragraphs about this,

(20:40):
this life science concept. And you start reading and you're
like, it just gets really, really dense right away.
And it's not captivating the attention of the reader.
It's just like you launch right into the, the meat of the topic.
And so there are books like this, I would say, like, it's
not quality if it's not really captivating and working our way

(21:03):
into. Yeah, sometimes it really has to
narrow in on the purpose, right?And so that goes kind of in a
way back to this idea of purposefulness.
Like sometimes the purpose can be too big.
Like, I want you to know everything there is about all
the continents. And it's just not realistic in
the format of a children's, let's say a picture book or
something like you just kind of need to hone in.

(21:24):
And so when you're evaluating a book, looking for that purpose,
seeing if it comes through, if it's something that you want to
resonate. The other thing that you might
look for in this is does it helppeople understand other times,
other perspective, other people,other places?
Does it does it help foster a sense of empathy?

(21:46):
Now, I don't know that you're going to have this from Hop on
Pop, although you could be empathetic for poor Pop who's
being hopped on. I'm sure you were.
I certainly was, but I've gone many times.
But there are lots and lots of books that are meant to.
I mean, I mean, it's kind of thepurpose of a of many books

(22:06):
actually is to highlight something unique.
And does it do that with seriousness?
Does it bring depth? Does it resonate?
So those are the qualities too, that you would be looking for in
a good teacher, AKA, in this case, a book.
Yes. All right, let's see.

(22:27):
We've got we got so many comments.
Read some to you. Yes.
OK. So yes, Vidya says she loves the
audio books. Christy says audio books work
very well for us in the car, especially on the way home from
the outside. Oh yeah.
Car rides. Enjoy listening along with them.
It helps regulate and calm the nervous system to kids.
And Muma mommy, you know, sometimes here in the city,

(22:53):
we'll see people riding by with their Dutch bikes, whatever, you
know, they'll they'll be blasting an audio book and
they're only two kids or something on the back part of
the bike and pedaling up the hill on his E bike.
And like, do you hear the audio book blaring?
And you're like, so even if you bike, even if cycling is your

(23:13):
mode of commuting to and from the meetups, the audio book can
work are great. Yeah.
Vidya says my her oldest, Vega, my oldest, like both.
Vianna, my youngest, took her time to learn to read, but she
enjoyed listening. And her comprehension skills

(23:36):
skill has been pretty good. She has been listening Fianna or
Vega? Vega or both.
Yeah, and she adds, also, my husband now has never been an
audio book or podcast person, sohe always finds it hard when we
want to listen to a book becausehe says it makes him sleepy.
My kids can listen so well. You don't like to listen to

(23:57):
things in the car, like podcasts.
You never want like the baseballgame or something.
It's just not for you. It's a baseball game.
Drives you crazy. You know, The thing is.
And yet I love you. The thing is I know I I've
started bringing my earbuds in the car.
I'll just like put on my music. You know I actually like re

(24:19):
listening to an audiobook. If I'm driving and I'm by
myself, I will do that actually.But if I'm in the car as a
passenger, just like I don't know, my mind wanders too much.
This is just a problem I have with audiobooks.
I'm constantly having to rewind them because I just don't
process them the same way. And I, I don't know.

(24:41):
I think we naturally do that. Probably when we read, we go
back and read things. That's one of the, that's one of
the strategies effective readersnaturally have is they scan back
and forth regular. But what happens when I'm
reading an audio book is I just tend to Daydream.
I'm the same. That's why I don't have to do
well with audiobooks, but I listen to podcasts constantly.

(25:03):
OK Maggie says I'm definitely more of a visual learner and
reading with my eyes helps me process the story better.
I can doze off for audio books easily but I do find with most
podcasts tone of voice matters too.
Yes for sure. Yes video ads.
When I was pregnant and struggling to fall asleep I
would hear the Agatha Christie read aloud and I would fall

(25:25):
asleep half an hour. Never finish and since I a sleep
trigger I like it. Sadia ads my 4.7 year old who
loves reading. He's exploring chapter books.
He hates non fiction. I try reading with him but I get
motivated because his lack of interest.
Yeah, I mean. Don't force it.

(25:47):
I would say like if he's loving chapter books but he's not
getting into the non fiction informational books, doesn't
matter. Yeah, just read non fiction.
Just read the fiction books. And if you find fiction books
that touch on topics that you'retrying to introduce that are
more factual, then that's a win win.
And even if you can't do that, just just going with the non,

(26:08):
just reading the book and bringing the the books to life,
because I suspect in time he maychange his point of view.
And then the last one video saysthat's why I love GAIL Gibbons
book, Chris, great layout and good.
And yes, you know, I mean, she wrote a bajillion of those

(26:30):
nonfiction books. Which ones did she write?
Like, is she, is that the eggs or the young 1 chickens are the
one? No, that's Ruth Heller.
Now, GAIL Gibbons wrote these really great nonfiction books
that have illustrations that arejust like simple and also
interesting. They're just there are she's

(26:51):
just hit on something like hit on a really great method for
writing these non fiction books.I recommend them all the time in
our in our community because they're really well written.
All Moon. Yeah.
Is that one of the books she wrote?
Moon? Yeah, she's written a lot of
them. I mean, pick a non fiction life
science topic. GAIL Gibbons has probably

(27:12):
written a book about it. But but then the surprising
thing is that they're actually really good.
They're good reads. Yeah, totally.
And P the last comment right nowsays funny that Eddie doesn't
like fiction at all, only non fiction.
And I think it's also around 5, Right.
Yeah, yeah, 5 1/2. You know, it's different strokes

(27:33):
for different folks, I guess, asthey say.
And I think it'll come and go. I know that I used to never like
non fiction. I only only wanted to read
fiction. Yeah.
And well into adulthood. And yeah, it was only later,
even though I like I have a degree in history and I love
history, I just would not, I wasn't inclined to pick up non

(27:55):
fiction unless I needed to studysomething.
Yeah, because I also have a degree in literature and so I
liked the literature. But yeah, no, I but nowadays I
some of the best books I've readare non fiction.
Yeah. So whatever you're doing is good
as long as it is satisfying to the child.
Yeah. All right.

(28:16):
Number 2. So the first one is purposeful,
being an effective teacher. And so the question you should
be asking yourself is, is what is this book teaching?
Yeah. All right then.
Do I like it? Do I not like it?
Is it? Can I tell what it's teaching?
OK. Doing it the right way.
The second thing we want to talkabout is a really high quality

(28:38):
book generally will make you feel something, OK?
It will evoke some kind of deep emotion within you.
And maybe this emotion is like pulling for the character's
journey. Like the character is working
really hard and countering challenges, the hero's journey

(28:59):
or whatever kind of journey it is.
And then you get to the end of the book.
Then there's a resolution. You're like, yay, they made it.
He ran the whole marathon. She walked the whole Pacific
Crest Trail and didn't die. He made a new best friend.

(29:22):
You know, like whatever it is, like you feel happy for your
character or tragically, like Romeo and Julia didn't make it.
You feel something. And I think this is can be true
of fiction and non fiction books.
Yeah. Well, you were just talking

(29:42):
about GAIL Gibbons and so or youtalk about like an illustrated
book. Yeah, that can make you feel
something, right. Those illustrations can.
You know, art is very powerful. So let me say feel something.
I know the where our mind went and where you were first
describing. It was like an empathetic
journey with the characters. But it's also like up spark in

(30:06):
the mind. You read an interesting fact.
You see a beautiful page layout.You see a beautiful
illustration. You read a beautiful sentence.
I was thinking, you know, a bookthat we read a lot.
I can't remember where which which of those Doctor Seuss type
books it's from, but it's the one that it might be Hop on Pop.
But it says, poor dad, he had a bad day.

(30:28):
What a day Dad had. That is sad, right?
Yeah. And what a day Dad had is such a
beautiful turn of phrase, right?It's it's meant to introduce.
It's a play on words. They dad had.
They're all CVC words. They sort of slowly morphed from
day to had by using the word dadin between.

(30:49):
And I remember it all these, we haven't read that book in 10
years or more, but I remember itpartly because the kids loved it
so much, but also it really works like it made you feel
something. It also, you know, sometimes Dad
would come home and have a bad day because, you know, work
isn't always fun and you're eating and hop on pop or
whatever and you're like, yeah, that's right, Dad did have a bad

(31:10):
day. What a day he did.
Or sometimes Dad is just like exhausted after a whole day of
staying home with kids. That's exactly right.
What a day dad had. Or in this case, Mom.
But, but no, in this case it wasdad.
You get your own mom books. There's plenty of those.
But this was a dad book, you know.
So it struck me. Well, actually I was thinking

(31:31):
that we have a lot of stay at home dads.
Oh, we do. That's true.
That's true. Oh, that's true.
That's true. Yeah.
No. So that turn of phrase, and also
there's a little bit of an empathetic piece.
It was just so clever, right? It made me feel something.
It made me feel delighted. I loved the little turn of
phrase. It made me feel heard.

(31:54):
I know in a kind of a simple silly way, like a book about a
dad, like even though it's just a single line and it feels so
real. Like sometimes that you know,
you come home from work, dad or mom or whatever, you come home
from work and you're tired. Or maybe you've had a long day
at home and you're just tired atthe end of the day and the kids
are still going crazy and you'relike, oh, no more.

(32:15):
It like you feel seen or something like that, right.
So and that's a book for a little guy.
OK, let me let me I'm going to go get a book that's right on
the shelf right here. This is going to surprise you.
I think when I pull this off, this book is called this book is
called The Planets. IDKIDK read some good books.

(32:41):
They did. OK.
So yeah. So let's just look through.
Oh my gosh, I'm just going to pull this page out right here.
You see that, friends? This is called Sun's rays.
As well as producing light in the visible part of the
spectrum, the Sun emits wavelengths our eyes cannot see,

(33:03):
from radio waves to infrared to ultraviolet radiation.
By capturing these rays, solar observatories can image parts of
the Sun that are normally invisible.
And then it it combines it with this picture.
And I want to ask you what kind of emotion might arise from,

(33:26):
like, a book like this, a book that doesn't have a character
arc? Yeah.
Here's Mercury mapped and some information about the great big
picture I love. So let's let me look at this one
again. OK.
So. Yeah.
So we're not. So this is just a picture.

(33:46):
It's probably a NASA photo. The surface of Mercury, it has a
grid pattern. It has some place names on it.
It has one of these degree markings on it.
So it looks like a scientific map.
And there's some other information like the IT shows up
here like a key of where it is. It's in the chapter called Rocky

(34:09):
World. OK, this is an amazing layout
and let's think about it and howit makes you feel.
Well, it makes me feel amazed. It also makes me feel wonder how
did they take this? Because it looks so scientific,

(34:30):
like it's got these, the grid Marks and things.
It feels real and authentic. I feel smart.
I feel like I can do big things right, So feel a sense of awe
yes, a sense of awe sense of I feel curious.
That's right. So that's a great example,

(34:53):
Aubrey and that one. I was thinking about the one
also the Suns right. So let's evaluate this against.
How does it make you feel? It makes me feel really curious.
It also makes me. I mean, it's just so beautiful.
It makes you feel like there's an aesthetic pleasingness.

(35:13):
Yes. So you feel fed artistically.
Yeah. Yeah.
And if we were to go back and even look at that first point
about being an effective teacher, what is this?
Does this what does this teach you?
You mean this page? It's a book.
This is page. I mean this this page's purpose
is to show that the the sun is more than what you see in the

(35:38):
sky. But like, let's think about the
whole purpose of this whole big thick book is to give you that
sense of all and on and wonder about the universe and in
particularly our solar system inthis case.
Yeah. So even a non fiction book can
make you feel something and can make you feel something very

(35:59):
powerfully. That's right.
And so the exercise that we, youknow, I love that you grab that
book. So that exercise we just went
through is kind of the thing that you would be doing as
you're flipping through books inthe library or if you're
shopping online, then you get totake a peek, you know, are you
feeling a sense of something? Like, does this spark

(36:20):
excitement, curiosity, joy, love, passion?
Even if it's a nonfiction book, even if it's a book for real
little guys. Like there's something endearing
about. I was thinking about all those
little golden books I used to read as a kid.
Like those drawings are so adorable.
They make you feel something that you make the What's that?

(36:41):
The adorable little kitten. Do you remember that one?
We read it so many times. Playful Kitty.
Yeah. It's like those drawings.
Curious kittens. Yeah.
They're just so cute. You just want to look at those
drawings. That's a feeling that you have.
And it's a mark of good books. OK, let's, let's take a look
here at our comments. Odidia has a few things she
hears. She says she was a When we were

(37:04):
young, I think non fiction bookswere not so fun.
Well, I don't know, but for sureweren't too fun for me.
You were also a fixture person. Yep, for sure, she says.
I bought many books recently in India that were non fiction.
Last two days we have been reading a lot of book on blood.
Rihanna listens but doesn't seemto care so much about Vega,

(37:25):
who's older, right, does it? And you and then she was adding
like encouraging curiosity and adeeper look and reminds me of
the I Wonder series we do in Constellation.
Yeah, that's right. Yeah, the I Wonder.
So each week we'll have a a journal or what is it a research
question that goes with the lessons for that week.

(37:48):
And it's meant to sort of like provoke thoughts and like
sparked a sense of wonder. Literally, I wonder.
OK, there's one more tech, one more thing that you should look
for when you're looking for highquality, powerful literature to
add to your home library or justwhen you're browsing your Public

(38:09):
Library. And that is a book, not
necessarily just, you know, a non fiction book, but let's
think of like story like books. You want a book that really
relies on good storytelling techniques.
That's right. So you're looking for

(38:30):
interesting language. You'd have talked about the hop
on pop, you know, multiple times, but I think that would
that would come into play. Compelling descriptive language.
I mean, I guess I'm going to go back on that and say it doesn't
just have to be a storybook. This have descriptive,
descriptive language in it as well.
That's right. Which is a classic storytelling

(38:52):
technique. Repetition is another one of
those techniques. A lot of children's literature
is repetitive, and children likerepetition.
Yeah. So you can think of like a
classic story, like the three beers, a lot of repetition.
That's right. A captivating story, a story
that really grabs your attention.

(39:15):
Something that's kind of interesting or unique about the
setting or about the place and time or about the characters.
I remember when I was young, I was always really gravitated
towards characters that were kind of quirky or nerdy or had
something kind of particular about them that made them

(39:37):
different from others. Where it's so many of those
stories and it really does bringback that those emotions and
make you feel something. Visuals really help.
I think those go well in with this storytelling techniques,
like good images that you can get in your mind of something.

(39:57):
Not necessarily just illustrations, but like a mental
picture. So those things are all great.
I'm sure you've read lots and lots of stories and books out
there that use these combined together.
There's these good techniques ofthis.
Eloquent way to use language to your advantage.

(40:22):
And I think sometimes we get books that seem good on the
surface. They've got repetition, they've
got, you know, what seems like agood storyline or an interesting
character, and their purpose is clear.
Their purpose is clear, yet the book just falls flat because the
way the author has used languagejust kind of sounds trite or

(40:46):
overdone or doesn't have anything compelling about it.
So I'm thinking about our kids just recently wouldn't saw a
play and there were lots of things they liked about it, but
at the end of the day, they found it kind of boring.
And that's because it didn't really have any dramatic
tension, right? And so the they had a great
purpose. Purpose was awesome.

(41:07):
The effort when it that was intoit was top notch.
Acting was good. Yeah, it made you feel
something. But at the end of the day, it's
like kind of boring because there's no dramatic tension,
right? And that's true in all forms of
art. In fact, when we look at visual
art like a painting, part of what really captivates us about

(41:27):
visual art when we start to really think about it is that
there is a dramatic tension to it, even if it's abstract art,
because we're trying to, like, think through what's happening
to these images or spaces or characters.
And I'm going to go back and think about that.
A picture of Mercury that we saw, right?

(41:49):
Like there's no, that's a visualand it's a beautifully presented
visual. And that is a classic visual
storytelling technique. There's also a sense of both
wonder and apprehension, the wonder of like, amazing to see.
But there's also some little part, at least in my mind,
that's like, oh gosh, wouldn't it be terrifying to be stuck on

(42:12):
that planet? Oh my gosh, to be so far away?
I don't think that. Like, when we see something very
alien and far, like in that case, literally very far and
alien, it's the surface of a planet that's not our own.
It can feel terrified. We're thinking about being at
the bottom of the ocean or beingfar away.
It can be. It's both exhilarating and also
a little bit scary when we actually think about it.

(42:35):
That is tension, and that tension is what really
captivates us. So that if that picture had been
drawn in a poor way or hadn't been such a high quality, it
probably wouldn't have been ableto convey the sense of wonder
and also fear because it was so realistic and real, right?
It's a real photo done in a realistic kind of scientific way

(42:57):
that it lends itself to drawing you in to.
Imagine what if you were standing on that?
Oh wow, That would be pretty intense.
That is dramatic tension. It's the same kind of dramatic
tension you get when you read a work of fiction.
So we've talked about Vernicularbefore.
I haven't read that in a millionyears, but you know, it's a
classic story. There's a rising LR, there's a

(43:20):
mysterious, there's a there's a mystery.
It comes to a climax and then there's a resolution and it
draws you in. We just recently saw the new
Superman movie. It one of the reasons it whether
you like it or not, you probablyshould recognize that it follows
a classic storytelling arc. You.
I mean, one of the things that it does that's kind of inventive

(43:41):
is it starts kind of it starts at the middle of the story with
Superman literally getting beaten up, right?
If you've seen, if you haven't seen a movie, not a snow
spoiler, it'll be in the 1st 2 seconds of the film.
It's actually the very premise of the opening scene is that
he's losing and it throws you right into the action.

(44:02):
But the journey that he goes through is a journey of, you
know, success, Then he's down, he gets worse and worse and then
triumph. That is a classic plot and it's
that is the classic plot arc andit's super compelling.
It's like everywhere in the Western tradition, you'll find
that. So you're looking for when

(44:24):
you're looking at books, especially non fiction books,
but even non fiction books, you're looking for something
along the lines of dramatic tension because dramatic tension
is the essence of that storytelling technique.
Dramatic tension is what it comes through in repetition.
It comes through in interesting or compelling or descriptive.
It comes through and putting youin shoes that are uncomfortable.

(44:46):
Now you're going to imagine yourself as a different type of
person or in a different world or a different time, and it's
not familiar enough. It's familiar, but it's a little
bit cracked. And that, oh boy, that can
really spark that imagination. Just like I'm standing on the
surface of Mercury. I know what it's like to stand
on a planet. I know what the sun looks like.

(45:06):
I've seen a place. Maybe I live in a desert or I've
been to the desert and I've seena barren landscape. 2004 but
this is different. This is really different.
Oh yeah, that's really fascinating.
Well friends, if this topic is interesting to you and you are
curious about more about learning to teach your child to

(45:27):
read the Montessori way, you cango and take a 3 minute quiz.
It won't take you very long to take it.
If you got 3 minutes, you can find out your child's reading
level and we have 6 levels in our whole curriculum for
teaching reading and writing. And so I encourage you to go do
that. You can find that at

(45:47):
childoftheredwoods.com/reading. And also, for those of you who
are members watching out there love you, please consider
sharing this link wherever you might have homeschool friends.
Yeah, it's a fun little quiz. We actually have written some
reports that go with each level that include explanation of who

(46:08):
Montessori is and the approach to reading and give some
concrete tips and lessons that will satisfy the children at
their different levels. And I want to under score here
what I love about what we're really proud of as our approach.
What I love is that this is not an age or grade level based
program. This is a readiness based

(46:29):
program. So level one through level 6
does not have any correlation other than just the most basic
to the age. You can be a level 4 and B4, or
you could be a level 4 and B7. That's right, because it's about
your readiness and where you go.And you've said this before,
learning to read can happen at any age.

(46:51):
Even an adult can learn to read.So if you feel concerned, take
the quiz, get some tips, work through those lessons, follow
your child as they progress along.
It will be a satisfying journey.That's right, we have one other
comment here. KO says.
I used to look at my parents encyclopedias over and over for

(47:13):
the graphics. Me too.
So glad to have better options now.
That reminds me, this makes a liar out of me.
I said never liked nonfiction. One of my very favorite book
series when I was a kid were theSnoopy, the Charlie Brown
encyclopedias. The Snoopy.
So there was a series of books that they published in the 80s,
I guess 70s or 80s, and they were, they were not real

(47:37):
encyclopedias. They were not real
encyclopedias. Well, they had real topics.
There was Snoopy in there like they were, they were awesome.
I know that was the title and itwas really it was for kids.
They were awesome and our kids love them as well.
And then we bought it for our kids and they loved them as
well. Oh, you have those vids yet?
I love them now. You know, tell me they're not

(47:59):
real encyclopedias. Well, I'm just thinking like, I
think it was 1985 or something. We got our first set or of, of
encyclopedias as a family. It was a big deal because they
were very expensive and we were really excited about them and we
lined them all up on the bookshelf and I would just pour
through those things. Oh, I did too.
I loved reading encyclopedias, but I loved my Charlie Brown

(48:23):
encyclopedias because they And so that was not.
Fiction. Yeah, so you know what I am
You've you've you've made me re evaluate my life.
Love. Not fiction encyclopedias.
All right, well, oh, you this isoh, my goodness.
That's awesome. I need those how my son adores
peanuts. I love them.
All right. And our our oldest of two.
That's right. All right, we.

(48:44):
Have we have some mail? It's the mailman.
It's the mailman. Do you want to read this letter?
And I'm going to run upstairs for just a minute.
OK Mute yourself please. She's she's giving me the look.
It's of course I reviewed myself.

(49:04):
Dear COTR, I'd appreciate thoughts.
I just watched the Montessori Power Hour on what to do if your
kids are not interested in reading.
I've always loved reading and I read to my children tons and
they love to be read too, well into teenage hood.
But two of them disliked readingto themselves and would never

(49:24):
read for enjoyment. My daughter, now married with
children, has just recently begun to enjoy reading.
My youngest son, however, age 20, still dislikes reading.
I have two older sons who enjoy reading.
Do or did any of our community members this?
She's a member of our community,obviously dislike reading.
And if so, how do you help your children learn to read?

(49:47):
Chaya, this is a great question.She posted this in our community
and then she emailed it to us aswell and we asked if we could
answer here. So the, the question, I think
she's answering it herself. The question she's asking
ultimately is how do you help your children learn to read if
they have a bit of a dislike or reluctance?

(50:09):
And the answer is that you did it right.
They, you say in your letter that now that they're older,
they like to read. So with children, we don't
always see the fruit of our labor in the moment.
Sometimes we have to wait a verylong time.
Now we see that in kind of a smaller sense when we are in,

(50:32):
let's say we present a lesson onthe content, a continent box or
something, or we give a three-part card lesson, or we
get out the movable alphabet. We present it to the child and
the child just can't care less, right?
They just wander off and you're like failure and then whatever.
Then some short amount of time later, maybe a few weeks later,

(50:53):
you might see them get that material out and start to play
with that, right? So you could see the outcome of
that effort, but not immediately.
And sometimes it takes even longer than a few weeks.
Sometimes it takes years, or as in China's case, decades for
those efforts to come up. It takes a long time for the

(51:16):
tree to bear fruit. And I think it's important for
us as parents to keep in mind that we're really making an
investment in the future that the child, eventual adult is
learning things that are essential.
You're presenting to the child things that you value as a

(51:36):
person or a family or culture, and you want those things to
come through. And an example that comes to
mind for me here is parenting, right?
Most parents, I think many parents dream one day that their
children will be parents too. Like, we love being parents.
We want our sons to be parents when they're older and

(51:59):
experience that joy of parenthood.
But I don't want them to be parents now.
But I know that the things that I'm doing now and I did when
they were little guys will hopefully leave an impression on
their minds so that when they are older, much older, and they
are ready to have a family and raise their own sons and

(52:20):
daughters, that they will be have been inspired by what we
tried to do as a family, as parents.
We may not even be alive to see that tree bear fruit.
That is sometimes the reality ofparenting.
But we have to trust that what we've done, what we've the seed
that we've planted is good and that the child will manifest

(52:46):
that in time. So Chai, I would say the advice
I would really give to you is not to over worry if you're
reading or if you're not seeing a love of reading, but you're
bringing literature into your house.
If you're demonstrating, reading, if you're showing that
enthusiasm for it, if you're showing that you value it,

(53:07):
whether or not they show that inkind at the moment, or in 10
years or even in 20 years, it doesn't mean that it was wasted
effort or that it won't come to life later.
You have done what you can do and you're going to trust that
that child's natural desire to learn will stay alive like a

(53:29):
burning ember. Yeah.
I I like that you, you are emphasizing the natural desire
to learn over a love, specifically of reading books
themselves. Because I think that sometimes
we just because you know, we tend to, you know, put emphasis

(53:49):
on certain, you know, we, I think that we really weight
literature, especially in both early childhood and the
elementary years, actually all the way all the way up.
We really weighed it. But the reality is we don't have
any control over what our kids are going to like when they grow
up. Like maybe they will carry a
love of math with them forever, or maybe they will not carry a

(54:11):
love of math with them forever or love books or not love
reading books, but really enjoy watching movies and getting
their story stories that way. You know, I mean, and I think
that I think that we can trap ourselves into thinking that if
we do things in early childhood,it will cultivate A lifelong

(54:34):
love of one particular behavior.And the truth is that we just
have to trust that like, we're doing this work.
You know, we know what's healthyfor them right now, as you said.
And in the future, they're goingto become wonderful people.
OK. And, and that's the end, Like,
we believe it. We believe they're going to

(54:54):
become wonderful, curious, loving human beings.
And whether or not they continueto read books has nothing to do
with that, you know? So we can, you know, what we can
do is share our own love of literature and model it for
them. But in the end, like everyone
has their own journey in life. Yeah, right.

(55:18):
I hope that helps. Chaya it.
Is a great question I think thatobligation that we sometimes
feel and put on ourselves. There's an onus right as
parents, we feel that I mean that actually is one of the
things we want to bring to life for our children is that being a
parent is one of our most sacredobligations like we should
embrace we should be joyful it'shard work.

(55:38):
Sometimes you get hopped on likea pop, but we want to do it
because it's, it's it's like corridor being as as creatures
on this earth. And we need to do it in a way
that is meaningful. And so bringing a joy of
learning to life, knowledge, a quest, a desire, curiosity,

(56:00):
however that manifests whether it's to film or art or science
or reading or sports or whatever, like that's that's the
task at the end. Yeah, great question if you guys
have. Questions.
Out there that you'd like us to answer, you can e-mail us at
hello at Child of the Redwoods. If you're in a community, you
can always reach us through the community.
You can also reach us through social media.

(56:22):
And we love answering your questions because they are
they're really authentic, right?These are the real things.
These are the real things. These are the real things.
Now wait a minute. I hear something coming.
Oh, Vidya adds. She confirms that my Peanuts

(56:46):
encyclopedias do explain sciencestuff, but it's Snoopy
everywhere, and that is the way it should be.
That's right, the only thing better than a Snoopy?
Everywhere would be a Mr. Bunny.Oh, that's right.
Well, I will have you on the Power Hour.
Anytime, Mr. Bunny. Well, thank you.
I. Was enjoying the show today.

(57:07):
You know, I was over here in my little Burrow listening in and,
well, I was inspired to share myown little story.
Is that OK? Yeah.
Yes, please. I thought I could tell a little
story. Share a story.
With us, OK. 1. Day I was at my house and I was

(57:30):
like, yeah. And then I remembered something.
I was so hungry. Oh, I wanted a carrot.
Juicy carrot. A great big juicy.
Carrot So I left my house and I hopped on and I went.
Past the lettuce, but then a cowmood.

(57:54):
Oh it. Went moo.
Exactly. And I said, hey, you cow.
Don't you Moo, you're distracting me.
And I started to say, hey, cow, you moo, on somebody else's turf
and that in my car. And then I remembered something.
What? I was so hungry.
I wanted a carrot, a juicy carrot, a great big juicy
carrot. So I left my house.

(58:17):
I went past the lettuce. I went over the stream and then
how Fly buzzed. Yeah, it's exactly.
I. Get away from me, I bet you're.
Related to that, Stinky. Old cab when I chased that fly
all over, but then I remembered I was so hungry I wanted a.

(58:41):
Carrot. A.
Juicy carrot. A great big juicy carrot.
Yeah, that's right. So.
I left my house. And I went past the lettuce and
went over the stream. I went through the barn and then
my cousin showed up. Yeah.
He had brought me some flowers. They were real nice, too.

(59:03):
They were like roses. Can you believe it?
Yeah. And they were so smelled so
good. And so we.
Stood around and be like roses. And then there's the.
Petals are so soft. Oh, we had a great time.
Looking at the flowers and they were so happy.
But then I remembered. Oh, yes, I was so hungry.
Hungry. Yeah, I wanted a carrot.
A juicy carrot. A great, great big juicy carrot.

(59:28):
Yeah, that's right. So.
I had to. Leave my house and I went past
the. Lettuce and I went over the
stream and then I went through the barn.
Yep. And I saw it.
I finally saw it. I saw the the top of the carrot
and I. Ran over there and I.
But that carrot was eaten. What cow was eaten?

(59:49):
The carrot, the cow, That darn cow.
He. Ate my carrot.
But then I remembered I got like1000 carrots at my house, so I
went back. I went over the barn, through
the barn, over the street, pass the Levison, through my house.
And yeah, yeah. You did all that.
For a carrot and then you ended up at your own house, Mr. Bunny.

(01:00:13):
Well, it was quite an adventure and I enjoyed.
Every moment of it. Maybe not discovering that you
have eaten carrot, but still. Cows are friends too.
Well, that was a fantastic story.
I really enjoyed that and I knowour friends out there did too.
Bye, bye, Mr. Bunny. Mr. Bunny, he's a good.

(01:00:34):
Storyteller. He's a good storyteller.
Yeah, it's almost as though he has had a lot of practice.
It is almost as though he's had a lot of practice.
That's right, Viji says. Does Mr. Bunny like non fiction
books? He does.
He likes all kinds of books. Super.
And he is always happy to read and share.

(01:00:56):
Anyway, that's a fun story. That's obviously there's a
repeating story. It's a classic kind.
We just made that one up. But it follows if you've ever
read or told the story, we're going on a bear hunt or any of
those kinds of stories where there's a repeating nature.
They're really fun to make up and play with your kids.
There's also a lot of songs likethat where like the tree, the

(01:01:23):
green grass grows right where itbuilds and builds and builds.
So play around with that. Tell your own.
Stories, right? Have fun with it I.
I was going to say it just this kind of jog to memory for me
that this is something that you can do with your kids about
their own lives. You know.
So if you might think about likea little adventure that you had

(01:01:46):
during the day, you can think oflike a way to tell the story
with something that kind of repeats.
And it might be something as simple as, you know, you.
We went to the playground. You were so excited to get there
and you went back to the swing and you swing and you swing and

(01:02:06):
you swing. And then you hopped off that
swing and you wrote the one on the slide.
And then you met a friend and then you went back to the swings
and you swing and you swing and swing, you know, like it doesn't
have to be a really interesting story in order to integrate in
some of those storytelling elements, like repetition.

(01:02:27):
That's right. Yeah.
And so it's it's something to play with, you know, if you go
out, just go out with your kids,have some kind of adventure.
And then as you retell the story, think about some ways
that you can integrate in a little repetition.
Yeah, in fact, so I'm going to, I'm going to amend our main
segment and say that there are actually 4 qualities of high of

(01:02:48):
a high quality book. And that fourth quality is the
book that you write, whether it's like a story that you make
up or one that you actually sit and absolutely getting invested
in. That is, yes, high quality
books, friends. All right.
Well, choosing the right kinds of books, it's actually a joyful
experience. It's something that is your

(01:03:09):
responsibility to do is the primary reader read aloud, read
aloud, read reader, reader, reader to your child.
And by seeking out high quality literature, it is part of it is
you saying I value the teaching ability, you know, within the

(01:03:34):
the relationship between me, thereader and these beautiful books
that I'm presenting to my kids. So it's a wonderful thing to do.
And if you're looking for more step by step advice about what
kinds of literature to read to your child, or you'd like
curated list of books delivered every month on a variety of

(01:03:55):
themes, Yes. Then.
Consider joining our complete orunlimited plans.
That's right. All right.
Well, thanks so much friends forjoining us today.
We had a really nice time. Thanks everyone for showing up.
We had a great big crowd today. It really appreciate that and
all the great comments and all the good memories, especially
about those Peanuts encyclopedias.

(01:04:17):
All right, have a great day. Friends take care guys, bye.