Reddit mentions: The best children animals books

My 14 month old twins LOVE to read. Some of our favorite books include:

The Dreamers series by Emily Winfield Martin. All of her books are amazing. The art is beautiful and there’s whimsy to her stories. There are two more books outside of this set I linked and they enjoy them both.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is very well liked by them, although it’s not my favorite. They love the bright colors and the fun attitude. It was one of the first ones I read to them when they were newborns (with the big paper back size) because the colors and shapes were bold.

Mama Loves You So is a short and sweet story. I love the illustrations and my girls love it too.

Wish is especially great for those who have struggled with infertility or loss. And even if you haven’t, it’s a lovely story. Warning: I still cry every time I read it to them.

Every Little Thing for you Bob Marley fans

Take Heart My Child is a sweet book for those of you who are sentimental. They don’t always love to sit still for it now, but it’s great for newborns.

And in general, they LOVE the books you can interact with and touch a feel like the dog/animal books with different furs. They like this Monster book that has a bunch of textures. They like this Dont Touch the Button book that is fun and interactive. They love flip the flap books, especially ones with animals and they helped them learn the sounds very easily. They also like the little puppet books.

Oh, I <3 looking for books for my kids!! They are 14, 13, 12, 11, and 5. Our son is the youngest, and he loves all the books that his older sisters loved when they were younger. :D

Oh my gosh...Get those kids some books!

• This is my favorite children's book.
  
  
• The Story of Ferdinand.
  
  
• This is one of my son's favorites...IronMan!.
  
  
• The Day My Mommy Quit.
  
  
• Dragons Love Tacos.
  
  
• If You Give A Mouse A Cookie.
  
  
• I'd Know You Anywhere, My Love.
  
  
• The Day The Crayons Quit.
  
  
• Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.
  
  
• Boom Chicka Rock.
  
  
• Jake and the Never Land Pirates: Mama Hook Knows Best: A Pirate Parent's Favorite Fables with CD.
  
  
• Are You My Mother?.
  
  
• Love You Forever.
  
  
• I Love You, Stinky Face.
  
  
• The Runaway Bunny.
  
  
• Oh, The Places You'll Go. Cool idea I saw on Pinterest with this book: Buy a copy and have each of your kids' teachers write a little note somewhere in it at the end of every year. Give the book to your kid as a graduation gift. I am doing this with our son now, I saw the idea too late to start it for our girls.
  
  
• Ten Little Monkeys Jumping On The Bed.
  
  
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
  
  
• The Velveteen Rabbit. -- A HUGE FAVORITE!!
  
  
• Locomotive.
  
  
• Sleep Like A Tiger.
  
  
• The Lion And The Mouse.
  
  
• Blueberries for Sal.
  
  
• David Gets In Trouble.
  
  
• Press Here. This is a very fun book!
  
  
• The One and Only Ivan.
  
  
• The Polar Express.
  
  
• Flotsam.
  
  
• Only One You.
  
  
• Beautiful Oops!.
  
  I would love this book for our oldest daughter if I win, please.
  
  /u/DrUsual...can you think of any?
  
  Thank you for the contest!

All of this is up to you ... one option might be to try to explain, and to look for support.

Be mindful of your safety in case, try to look for support, try to have resources in place etc.

In any case looking for support may be a very good idea.

Sometimes the kind of explanation can play a role with acceptance.

Some cis people need to understand there are others out there who feel opposite to how they feel. Its called trans for a reason.

Some people think its just an idea that could be suppressed or whatever. Giving a biological explanation may help understand that its nobodys fault, its not just imagination and people do not do this for ulterior motives, and its not contagious.

And it may help understand that a) it does not go away and b) its not the fault of parents upbringing or whatever.

One fear people often also have is they or others could catch it somehow, and that it needs to be contained. Explaining its a birth condition could help see that its nobodys fault and that people really feel different than others who do not have this condition.

Some people compare it to epilepsy, which is along the same lines of brain studies. Decades ago others also presumed all kinds of things. its now accepted its biological.

It has recently been flagged by the UN as medical condition for a number of those reasons. And in international standards it was deflagged from being mental and flagged as medical condition a while ago. As said, its nobodys fault and it does not randomly spread or whatever. And people usually only want to live in the role of the gender they identify with, and blend in.

Some people make a comparison with a twin : decisive for the body are hormones and with the correct setup people can be like their male or female twin, with still the same sense of humour. A few things may be different but its still possible to have fun together regardless.

And a number of things from this post and the links there might be helpful. There are explaining resources there and hints concerning looking for support.




And a few things from this and this post might help you too.

There is a vid there with unobtrusive things that can be done for motivation, there are hints concerning presentation, starting with neutral styles first, there are hints concerning looking for a gender therapist in case, and there are also hints concerning looking for support there.

And looking for support may also be a good idea. PFLAG might also help with relatives.

And if there are no disturbing influences, children can be more accepting than adults.

Some people explain like a can : they are the gender they identify with inside (can) and are about to change the outside ( labels etc).

I know of someone who tried to explain to a kid. Someone else in the room just said : they regenerated ( a Dr. Who concept). The child looked in awe. If the concept is known, it may be easy to explain.

/r/transparents is for Trans parents. There are Facebook groups for Trans parents as well. See https://www.facebook.com/groups/1515829028742767/ , https://www.facebook.com/groups/1501185016619557/ , and https://www.facebook.com/groups/QTPPgroup/ , amongst others.

As book you may like Red: A Crayon's Story. https://www.amazon.com/Red-Crayons-Story-Michael-Hall/dp/0062252070




hugs

I love this contest. I absolutely love reading with my children. They are 7 and 4 and they are such little bookworms! Reading with children is one of the most important things you can do as a parent (or an educator)!

That being said, I have a ton of books I want to recommend to you. My kids favorites thus far have been:

• Anything by Shel Silverstein, particularly The Giving Tree which is an actual story, or Where The Sidewalk Ends which is a collection of child-friendly poems that are sweet, silly, funny, cute, etc.
  
  
• Anything by Mo Willems, particularly the Pigeon and Duckling series. Our favorite was The Duckling Gets A Cookie!?. It's hilarious and adorable, and very fun to read! I like to put on voices for the duckling and the pigeon. The kids get a kick out of it!
  
  
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar. This one was my daughter's favorite from the time she was 2 til she was 4! She has it memorized now.
  
  
• Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Eric Carle (author of Hungry Caterpillar as well).
  
  
• Love You Forever is a wonderful bedtime story.
  
  
• Madeline is a classic, and for a good reason! :)
  
  I have lots more but I'd be here all day if I don't stop myself now.
  
  If I win, I would love the second book in the Amulet series for my 7 year old. She is really into graphic novels right now and I just bought her the first one the other day, and she has already finished it. She really wants the second one! :)
  
  Green eggs and ham.
  
  Edit: I'm going to stick around and get suggestions for my own kids, as well :P This is such a great contest!

It was pretty good. I went to the Sketchfest recording last year, with Alex Borstein, Brad Bird, and Dan Savage, and I have to say, because all of them were better in front of a camera (so to speak), it was definitely not as funny this year, but overall the experience was great. They have a routine, I guess.

Ophira comes out, and does maybe 10-20 minutes of stand-up (both times mostly jokes about San Francisco). Jonathan comes out and plays a song (last year First of May (Fucking Outside), this year it was IKEA). Then Art comes out. Then they give the usual audience warnings (don't shout answers, clap when the Make Noise signs flash), and then they record some sample applause (they asked for "medium and then Holy Shit applause," to put in as a transition between segments, then the actual recording began.)

The normal guests were good, everything went normally there, not much you'd miss on the edited version.

The first VIP was Steve Sansweet, a former Lucasfilm employee who's the founder and owner of a collection of Star Wars memorabilia with, he claims, over 350,000 items (www.RanchoObiWan.org). He was moderately entertaining in an old-guy way, and he brought a rare Jar-Jar Binks lollipop which you eat by opening Jar-Jar’s mouth and sucking on the tongue… And he tried it (Both Ophira and Jonathan refused)

The next guy was probably the funniest. That was Phil Johnston, a screenwriter who wrote Cedar Rapids, Wreck-it-Ralph, and Zootopia (Disney’s new movie). He told stories about having to get his cat gender-reassignment surgery to save it from a medical condition, and how in 7th grade he would buy porn magazines from high schoolers and then resell them. (I’m guessing they’ll release his uncensored interview).

Then the third VIP was Mo Willems (he’s been on the show before; he wrote the Pigeon books. He played a game with Phil (and they re-recorded Ophira announcing the actual score as 8/10 to a modified 7/8), then they did the Ask Me One More, and the show ended.

TL;DR - It was really fun, and I’ll definitely go next year, or if they come back again before then.

For your daughter, if you want to "fight" the heteronormativity and cisnormativity that she'll be exposed to, you can slip a couple story books on the shelf. Children aren't born prejudiced- they need to be molded into that by the people around them and by society. Heteronormativity means assuming everyone is straight (so think of how in every disney movie the princess always winds up with a prince, etc.) Casually reading a story book and making it just "not a big deal" will enforce in your daughter's head that we LGBT people are, well, not a big deal.

This one will be coming out in June and is about a trans teddy bear.

"And Tango Makes Three" is a famous story about two real life penguins.

"It's Okay to Be Different" talks about all sorts of differences.

Dr. Seuss's story about the "Sneetches" talks about differences and is a classic that is applicable to all sorts of prejudice.

And "The Different Dragon" has a main character with two moms.

I hope that helps- you sound like a great parent who wants your child to be accepting. Best to plant the seed now, while she's young, rather than waiting until she's older. Maybe if you plant the seed, she'll call out grandma for being "mean", which would be pretty satisfying, right?

Edit: if I had been read a story as a kid where it was ok for two women to fall in love, I probably wouldn't have repressed my bisexuality for over a decade. It's the subconscious/internalized/pervasive cultural stuff that really messes with our heads, and reading her picture books with characters of different colors, sexual orientations, etc. will help plant a seed to make her truly an accepting person deep down. Best of luck with your mother in law, by the way.

Some help:

Maybe Yes, Maybe No (LINK)

by Dan Barker

In today's media-flooded world, there is no way to control all of the information, claims, and enticements that reach young people. The best thing to do is arm them with the sword of critical thinking.

Maybe Yes, Maybe No is a charming introduction to self-confidence and self-reliance. The book's ten-year-old heroine, Andrea, is always asking questions because she knows "you should prove the truth of a strange story before you believe it."

"Check it out. Repeat the experiment. Try to prove it wrong. It has to make sense." writes Barker, as he assures young readers that they are fully capable of figuring out what to believe, and of knowing when there just isn't enough information to decide. "You can do it your own way. If you are a good skeptic you will know how to think for yourself."

Another book is "Me & Dog" by Gene Weingarten.

And Born With a Bang: The Universe Tells Our Cosmic Story : Books 1, 2, 3

Here Comes Science CD + DVD

The Magic of Reality by Richard Dawkins

Bang! How We Came to Be by Michael Rubino.

Grandmother Fish: A Child's First Book of Evolution
Grandmother Fish, free in PDF form online

Also:

Greek Myths – by Marcia Williams

Ancient Egypt: Tales of Gods and Pharaohs – by Marcia Williams

God and His Creations – by Marcia Williams

"I Wonder" by Annaka Harris

"From Stardust to You: An Illustrated Guide to The Big Bang" by Luciano Reni

"Meet Bacteria!" by Rebecca Bielawski

See also Highlights for Children - this has materials for younger children.

Atheism books for children by Courtney Lynn

"It Is Ok To Be A Godless Me", "I'm An Atheist and That's Ok", "I'm a Freethinker", "Please Don't Bully Me" and "I'm a Little Thinker" etc.

Courtney Lynn has a couple more for grown ups as well.

Grandmother Fish, free in PDF form online

A child's first book of evolution.

15 Holiday Gift Ideas for Secular Families

Bedtime Bible Stories by Joey Lee Kirkman - for mature teens only

Coming up: TINY THINKERS is a series of books introducing popular scientists to children, by telling their stories as if the scientists themselves were kids!

My son is that age and he loves reading board books with mom and dad (and trying to eat them too). His favorite right now is Moo Baa La La La (and some of his other favorites are Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and The Pout-Pout Fish).

Around that age he also started wanting to climb out of the bathtub, so we were really happy with this The Fill And Spin Water Fountain Bath Toys - Flow Fill Spin Water Spout Interactive Baby And Kids Bathtub Toys - with Extra Orange Cloud . When he figured out how to spin the googly eyes with his finger, he just sort of cooed at it for a few minutes and it was unbelievably cute to watch (and of course he is now more busy playing with the toy to bother as much with climbing out of the tub).

A coworker gave us a stuffed animal (Friendship League 12" Plush Moose ) that our guy has also enjoyed playing with.

He also loves climbing up the stairs (with mom or dad) and throwing blocks (as well as everything in our recycling bin) down them.

An inexpensive item you could also gift could be a pack of tennis balls. Our son loves their bright color and since we have a lot of hardwood he’s super entertained when I show him how to bounce and roll them.

Hope this helps offer a few ideas.

Much of it comes from Puritanical roots. Perhaps things are different now, but when I was young, Judeo-Christian households carried a certain amount of shame associated with sex, sexual organs, and discussions about them.

More shame and discomfort also comes from society trying to paint every man as some kind of molester. This may even be the biggest factor. This is nothing more than internalized misandry that men must overcome for the sake of their daughters. But internalized misandry it is. There is also external misandry. When shopping pre-K schools for my daughter, I asked if there were any male teachers (as I prefer a balance). I was told by a female teacher that it would be considered a "safety risk" by many parents. I wanted to tell her that sexual abuse convictions of female educators have tripled in the past decade. But I noped right out of there and found a better school. That said, this is what dads face on a daily basis.

As men, it is very easy for us to internalize such blatant misandry. My example is simply one of many that we face each week. Luckily, I did not have the same amount of religious programming as my peers. I just had to face society's anti-male pressures. I can see it being more difficult for my peers who were raised in parochial schools and deeply religious homes.

It takes a mindset to say "Fuck em. This is my daughter and I am her father. We can talk about our bodies. We should talk about our bodies. There is nothing wrong, shameful or dirty about it. "

I was the first to comfortably broach the subject with my daughter. I taught her to wipe and why there is an order of operations. She would happly sing the "Down in the front, up in the back" song that I taught her. Ask her why? "So I don't get Mr. Germ and Mrs. Bacteria in my buh-gina..." Fucking hilarious! And that's exactly what the topic needs, right? A bit of child-like levity.

What has also helped me is to use books from cultures that are not ashamed of the body.

The "where did I come from" question was addressed at 2-3 years old with this one. There are some other Japanese books we used, but I cannot find them online.

Body functions

Undergarments

When they get older this one is more appropriate.

I have to admit, the more you read and talk with them about the subject, the easier it gets. I also got kids' anatomy books to go over the various systems. Using clinical terms helps remove discomfort as does talking about genitals in terms of our pets ("Sada the dog has testicles because he is a boy dog. Men and boys also have testicles just like Sada".)

Regarding inappropriate touching, I find that fathers are probably better at explaining boundaries as we are usually the ones who are more adept at setting clear and consistent boundaries for our children through fatherly discipline. Once we were comfortable discussing the body, it was easy to discuss inappropriate touches. We checked this book out from the library. Good concept, mediocre execution. This one was much better and enjoyable.

These books (and subsequent discussions) helped us set a baseline and standard in the younger years builds trust that moves on to the adolescent and pre-teen years. One of the men in our Dad's Group has a teenage daughter. He was the one who taught her daughter different ways of dealing with her period (cup vs pad vs tampon). He has a wonderful bond with his daughter that was set quite early. That guy has been a great influence on all and has helped many of us remove the shame and stigma around approaching the female body.

A few random factors.

- I grew up in a multi-generational house that had at least 2 girls and women at any one time.

- I have also had plenty of girlfriends and serious (cohabitating) relationships. One girlfriend had ovarian cysts, one girlfriend had very unusually rough 7-day periods. Of course, we discussed these things together.

- I probably found my parents' copy of "The Joy of Sex" at a bit of an early age, too.

- I was the first class in my state to have sex-ed in school. This is when I was living in America. It was very controversial, as we started as 5th graders. Many parents protested this (again, American Puritan roots).

All of these things demystified female genitals and has helped with my comfort with discussions around the female body.

A bit of a ramble. But it breaks my heart to see fathers allow terrible people to drive a wedge between them and successful parental relationships with their daughters. I am skeptical of university studies, as most seek to paint men is a negative light. Perhaps this study will be no different. But maybe this post might help some dads with their discussions and relationships with daughters.

I would absolutely love to read this book, I've only read the description, but it sounds really funny... however it's expensive and you wont be able to gift a lot of people.

So this book I would like to read too. Go for a penny book, with shipping it'll be $4. On my entertainment WL.

Labor Day

My favorite quote from a book is from Guess How Much I Love You?, Big Nutbrown Hare settled Little Nutbrown Hare into his bed of leaves. He leaned over and kissed him good night.

Then he lay down close by and whispered with a smile, "I love you right up to the moon - and back."

It's Nice To Be An Otter

What A Wonderful World

That's Not My Monkey

Monster Parade

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

Chicka Chicka ABC

Rainbow Fish

All are board books except Monster Parade and I couldn't find the board book link for Rainbow Fish but that's what we have. His favorites are the top 4 I listed. I've been reading those to him since he was a newborn and loves the pictures. He smiles and giggles at the otters (my fave animal!) and lights up when we get to "the colors of the rainbow" in What A Wonderful World, which is a very special song for my mom and me so it's pretty amazing to pass that onto my son.

I devoured the Magic Treehouse series when I was younger. I thought it was so great that they went to all these cool places (and they were very easy to read chapter books, so I flew through them!) :)

Edit: I ran a Reading Buddies program at the local library and a couple of our younger readers really liked them because the writing style is simple, but interesting. There are new words, but nothing terribly difficult and since the main characters are the same throughout, it's easy to follow :)


In terms of other books, I thought all of these were great:

1. Dr Seuss
   
2. Shel Silverstein
   
3. Alexander
   
4. Amelia Bedelia
   
5. Frog and Toad
   
6. Henry and Mudge
   
7. Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus
   
   Those were all pretty popular with my kids (and with me)! :)

Red: A Crayon's Story

>A blue crayon mistakenly labeled as "red" suffers an identity crisis in this picture book by the New York Times–bestselling creator of My Heart Is Like a Zoo and It's an Orange Aardvark! Funny, insightful, and colorful, Red: A Crayon's Story, by Michael Hall, is about being true to your inner self and following your own path despite obstacles that may come your way. Red will appeal to fans of Lois Ehlert, Eric Carle, and The Day the Crayons Quit, and makes a great gift for readers of any age!

>Red has a bright red label, but he is, in fact, blue. His teacher tries to help him be red (let's draw strawberries!), his mother tries to help him be red by sending him out on a playdate with a yellow classmate (go draw a nice orange!), and the scissors try to help him be red by snipping his label so that he has room to breathe. But Red is miserable. He just can't be red, no matter how hard he tries! Finally, a brand-new friend offers a brand-new perspective, and Red discovers what readers have known all along. He's blue! This funny, heartwarming, colorful picture book about finding the courage to be true to your inner self can be read on multiple levels, and it offers something for everyone.

I read "Oh Crap! Potty Training". The author's recommendation is to not start until they are at least 20months and can sing their ABCs. My kid was speech delayed at that age and definitely couldn't sing her ABCs (and still can't, at 2.5yrs), but we dove in right at 20m and she trained super easily compared to most of my friends' kids, even training for naps and nights. It took us like 2w to get to where I felt like I could leave the house without accidents. And she learned to say "pee pee" when she had to use the bathroom, so that was a plus.

My second born will be 20m in 1 week and I can't decide if I want to dive in and go through 2 weeks of potty training accidents to get the sweetness of never needing diapers again. It's a tough call to make!

Anyways, we used the little separate training potty at first, so that she could put herself on her potty and go pee, and then eventually moved up to setting her on the toilet with an insert which was necessary for using the restroom during outings. By the time I potty trained her, she was also sleeping in a big kid bed already which was super helpful.. I would sit her little potty on a waterproof mat on her floor and if she woke up from her nap, she could quickly sit herself on her potty before I could even get in there. She rarely had accidents in bed.

We read a lot of books about toilets... "Everybody Poops", "Potty Time", and "Once Upon a Potty". Some other books I liked were "Diapers are Not Forever", "Potty", and "Let's Go Potty, Elmo!".

My usual gift at baby showers is a copy of Mary Engelbreit's Nursery Tales - Nursery rhymes and fairy tales (Mary Engelbreit has a collection of those too) are something kids end up only being sporadically introduced to, will work well for bedtime stories as the kids get older, and never go out of style. I'll sometimes also go to the Half Price Books near me and see what other fairy tale collections I can find, but many of them have weird illustrations or the text gets a bit rambly for younger kids and I'm generally pretty happy with Mary Engelbreit's.

If you want to go in a different direction, dragons are pretty once-upon-a-time-y, and there are a ton of great dragon picture books out there - The Knight and the Dragon by Tomie De Paola, Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin, Saint George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges, Dav Pilkey's Dragon Tales, Again! by Emily Gravett, Puff the Magic Dragon - lots of options :)

My daughter was(is) a big fan of Little Blue Truck.

We also like Goodnight Gorilla and Peek a Who

For ones that can grow with her, I'd recommend:
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus
Press Here
How do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight

Honestly, anything by Mo Willems or Jane Yolen is going to be good! I have some books on my daughter's gift list too.

For more suggestions, a friend of mine is a librarian and has a TON of books pinned on Pinterest. Here's just one of her boards.

For us? My daughter can always use more books. We have a ton, but she loves them. I think I'm most interested in The Day the Crayons Quit for her right now. It looks really good and funny and we like to read a little above her level to her anyway (she's almost 4 so at the bottom of this one.)

Green eggs and ham.

Yay! Congratulations. I love children's books unabashedly. I'll limit myself to the 0-5ish age range, as you have some time for the rest.

First books:

• Goodnight Moon is pretty much recognized as one of the greatest children's books of all times.
  
• Black on White is great for very early infants. Did you know babies are color blind? They'll stare at this for a while, but outgrow its simplicity fairly quickly.
  
  Next, for narrative and fun!
  
  
• All of Sandra Boynton's books are great, but I'm partial to But Not the Hippopotamus
  
• Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs is so much fun.
  
• Don't let the pigeon drive the bus is great for when he learns to say "NO!" Actually, just check out Mo Willems at the library.
  
• I want my hat back is super enjoyable.
  
  Going into the children's section at the bookstore/library can be intimidating-- Dora and Elmo and Barney assault you at every turn, but there are some real gems in there. Look at Caldecott winners for glorious artwork and storytelling.
  
  Finally, try reading a book out loud to yourself. If it's taking forever or if you're getting bored, it's probably not worth trying to read it to a kid. I once got a three-year-old Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, which is very text heavy. Poor choice.

Depending on the age of the kid, these could be some good ones:

What Do You Believe?

See Inside World Religions

The Belief Book and others in that series

What is God? (this one does presuppose some kind of a higher power, but compares its depiction across many religions and suggests that god is in us/everywhere around us/basically the concept of good)

I Wonder (not specifically about religion, but more about the idea that science can answer some questions but not yet all - some things are a mystery that we can only wonder about)

Also definitely recommend including some books on the scientific version of the creation story (i.e. the big bang, evolution, etc) so kids have that perspective to draw on as well. Again depending on the age, some good ones are:

Older Than the Stars

Big Bang: The Tongue-Tickling Tale of a Speck That Became Spectacular

One Day a Dot: The Story of You, The Universe, and Everything

Our Family Tree: An Evolution Story

Grandmother Fish

Sapiens: Our Human Evolution

Hope some of those are helpful! :)

I don't know if you have an e-reader or not, but I got this when it was a free download, and my little one LOVES it. We read it every single night before bed. lol.

I would love to have this one! :)

Green eggs and ham! Thanks for the contest.

Not an expert at all, but I've read/heard several times that including the child in the food-making progress can help it overcome pickiness as it is in direct contact with what it will later eat and will have more of a connection to it.

Also, apparently it helps to let children play with the food as well, before it's prepared and after.


>He tells me he doesn't want to be vegan

Does he know what veganism is? And what chicken nuggets are made out of?

Maybe if you can't get through to him on a food basis, take him on outings to go see farm animals and then explain to him what he's eating (there are some good children's books out there for that sorta thing. Like this one, or that.). Show him that veganism is more than just a dietary choice but a compassionate and kind outlook.

Charlotte Pence wrote a book, Marlon Bundo's Day in the Life of the Vice President, a book aimed at children that is illustrated and told from the perspective of Marlon Bundo, the family's pet bunny rabbit that has been selling quite well based on Amazon's Best Seller's list.

Another book, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Presents a Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo (written by Jill Twiss) is a similarly styled book meant as a parody of the former, but still ostensibly a children's book (includes tongue in cheek lines indirectly referencing gay marriage). Humorously, it very quickly began to outsell the former book.

On Fox Business, Charlotte Pence and her mother were interviewed about the book. Near the end, she was asked how she felt about John Oliver's parody:

>“I mean, I think you know, imitation is the most sincere form of flattery in a way,” Charlotte said. “But also, in all seriousness, his book is contributing to charities that I think we can all get behind. We have two books giving to charities that are about bunnies so I’m all for it really.”

I felt that this was a refreshingly classy, non-partisan perspective to have.

I am already looking on Amazon :)

Some ideas for OP:

http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Let-Pigeon-Drive-Bus/dp/078681988X/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419580113&sr=1-4&keywords=pigeon

Plus - the boardgame that about the pigeon driving the bus. So cute, and great for social skills.

For your 7 year old: http://www.amazon.com/Book-No-Pictures-B-J-Novak/dp/0803741715/ref=lp_10238950011_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419580437&sr=1-1

It is meant to read out loud - hilarious!!

These are awesome: http://www.amazon.com/Fiskars-Gel-Pen-48-Piece-Value/dp/B000S161FO/ref=sr_1_1?s=arts-crafts&ie=UTF8&qid=1419580561&sr=1-1&keywords=gel+pens

And should go with this for the 7 year old:

http://www.amazon.com/Boys-Doodle-Book-Pictures-Complete/dp/0762435062/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1419580657&sr=8-14&keywords=doodle

And if you have some tolerance for crafting :) this: http://www.amazon.com/Klutz-Spiral-Draw/dp/B00BEKOAYW/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1419580776&sr=8-9&keywords=spiral+art

Does your little one need jammies? http://www.amazon.com/Leveret-Stars-Piece-Pajama-Cotton/dp/B00P1NL1JU/ref=sr_1_9?s=apparel&ie=UTF8&qid=1419580939&sr=1-9&keywords=pajamas

What about a backpack? This might work for the 7 year old: http://www.amazon.com/Everest-Backpack-Front-Pockets-Orange/dp/B00DQMWN6S/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1419580816&sr=8-5&keywords=kid+backpack

)

It sounds like you did handle it. Unless he keeps bringing up the concept of heaven, I don't think there's any need for you to do so, either. He may keep feeling sad about the fish, and you can comfort him by saying something like, "It's okay to miss Finny. He was a nice fish, wasn't he? You were so good at taking care of him. He always looked happy."

You might also check out the book The Tenth Good Thing About Barney, which talks about the life-death-decay cycle. The boy in the book discovers that the tenth thing for list of good things about his deceased cat is that "Barney is in the ground and he's helping grow flowers. You know... that's a pretty nice job for a cat."

I second the library suggestion- they will have so many resources available to you, usually including story times specifically for this age group! It’s a great way to learn practices you can bring home.

I would check out Jbrary - this blog is run by two children’s librarians and they have TONS of resources and book suggestions. They also have a YouTube channel with lots of songs, rhymes and finger plays to work in with literacy development.

For 1-year olds you should look for board books- sturdy cardboard books that your child will easily be able to handle with you.

Some book suggestions:

Where is Green Sheep? By Mem Fox

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

Dog’s Colorful Day by Emma Dodd

Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell


There are TONS of books that would be great for this age- those are just some of my favorites. Others you might consider:

-Anything by Donald Crews

-“Spot” books by Eric Hill


-Pete the Cat by James Dean/Eric Litwin (there are board books available specifically for young readers)


-“The Bear” books by Karma Wilson- these aren’t usually available as board books but they are great rhyming stories


-“Maisy” series by Lucy Cousins


I apologize for any formatting issues- posting from mobile. Good luck!

ALL of the "If You Give" books! I remember loving those a ton and reading them to my younger siblings. :)

Get those kids some books!

If I win, surprise me! :) I have a huge book list, and used books are perfectly alright.

Get those kids some books!

Books are wonderful. My 4year old is beginning to read and its great!! She loves Pete the Cat books.

The book I recall reading as a kid was If you Give A Mouse A Cookie I absolutely loved reading that book, i thought it was so funny that a mouse could want so many things. This was one of my favorite books.

Thanks for the contest.

1. The Monster at the End of this Book is fun if the parents know how to read stories aloud. Emphasis, emotion, different voices, etc. It features Grover from the Sesame Street, but is great even if they don't watch Sesame Street. Grover spends the whole book trying to stop you, the reader, from reaching the monster at the end of the book.
   
   
2. Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus is similar. The bus driver has to leave for a minute and asks for you to be sure the pigeon doesn't drive the bus. The pigeon then pleads with you on every page, giving reasons why he should drive the bus. The story works when you encourage the child to yell, "NO!" at the pigeon.
   
   
3. Too Many Frogs I enjoyed doing voices for, and knocking each time Froggie comes into Rabbit's house uninvited to have Rabbit read to him. You only need to do a crackly frog and exasperated rabbit voice.
   
   
4. The Book With No Pictures is great when the kid is a little older. The book trailer says it all.
   

Awww, congratulations! :D I'll guess 2:57 PM because that's when my daughter was born, lol. We love Dragons Love Tacos in our house. We have almost all of the books by that author because they're all pretty silly. :) Roll Tide baby!

Thanks for the contest! The book that changed my life the most is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. It is such a beautifully written story of a child's innocence and how the world forces you to grow up to early. Atticus is a perfect father figure and I want to name my first born son after him (obsessed much?). Such a wonderful, wonderful book.

The book that I haven't yet read is more for my new niece/nephew than for me, but it's The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. I think it will be a good lesson on perspective =)

It changed my life!

If you are considering Red Heart for the colors, check out this blog.

I haven't tested it, but the dual approach of washing it before use with fabric softener and conditioning the completed project made a lot of sense to me. I'm actually using up a lot of the Super Saver I have by making rugs instead of trying to soften it. Most of the crocheted afghans we have from my Grandma are Red Heart though, and they all feel very soft, not sure if they'd be soft enough for a baby though. Washing Red Heart will continue to make it softer though.

I kind of have been having the same problem, I've been trying to find a really soft light brown to make a gift corresponding with this children's book
But apparently brown is not a color for baby yarn.

This is me as drawn by /u/circlewise over at RGD. I am a student and sometimes a person who dances.

A professor of mine, following a conversation about the ways I'm like my parents said to me "You are one of the most intellectually curious people I've ever met".


I am proud that in a few weeks ^oh ^my ^god ^only ^a ^few ^weeks ^^panic! I will graduated from a DPT program and become a real physical therapist, which I've wanted since 16.

I added this book to my wish list because a friend of mine and amazing dancer sometimes jokes he is a giraffe.

Not that they're my kids, but my siblings just told their kids what's up. They just accepted it (2 and 3 year olds) or asked a few questions and then accepted it (6 year old). Pretty sure the infant didn't get a taking to.

I did send each of my siblings a copy of Red: A Crayon's Story, which I'm pretty sure wasn't necessary, but at least the younger kids enjoyed the story.

One of my nephews does dead name and misgender me when he's really excited (and since he's 2 I can't be all that annoyed), but other than that there haven't been any issues.

So sorry to hear you little guy isn't doing well :( It's been nearly 4 years to the day since I lost my little girl, Sky, at 16 years old (I had had her since she was a baby). She had the same sort of issues - lost weight, stopped being able to fly, couldn't hold herself up on her perch. It was so hard seeing her struggle. I still miss her everyday but I took a lot of solace in the fact that she, like all animals, didn't feel bad or sorry for herself. She just slept a lot and one early morning she passed peacefully, snuggled into my father's chest (her favorite person).

In my family we have always read The Tenth Good Thing About Barney when our pets pass, and it always brings me a little bit of solace. I hope in the next few days you spend with Bird you can remember all of the good things about him and keep that with you when harder times come <3

This would be neat as an ideal item under $15.

Anywho.

Activity: Lounging about and making weird sounds to my son. Laughing when he tries to mimic said sounds back to me.

Movie: Ew, such a tough one, have so many favorites here. Um...well, let's say Big Trouble in Little China. One of those movies that I'll always stop everything to watch it.

Book: Again, super tough choice for me. I'm going to have to go with Cormac McCarthy's, The Road. Super chilling book that's actually about nothing much at all, yet I could not put it down any of the times I read it. Speaking of which, I really need to get another copy, ex ended up with mine and...yeah. Also was a huge fan of the Dark Tower series, well, until King was hit by the car, then everything just took on this weird turn and it lost some of the magic in it for me. Still good, just not as good as the ones before.

Comic Book: Another tough choice, so I'll limit it to series that have run their course, though Saga is just sooooo good, and Locke & Key is almost at the end. Nah, I'll have to go with either Preacher or maybe Y: The Last Man. Though to be fair I read Preacher quite a few years ago so maybe it won't hold up like it used to, did have some pretty weird bits that just seemed to be there to drag things out. Y was fantastic, really neat and realistic look at a world after an apocalypse of sorts.
Oh, shoot. Johnny the Homicidal Maniac. That's a good one. Yeah, I'll go with that one. It was what got me into comics, like, well, beyond just what Marvel or DC had to offer. Showed me that there was a whole world of artists and studios out there that I just didn't know about. Plus it really fit my messed up sense of humor. Yeah, we'll go with JTHM for favorite comic.

As for a quick blurb about me, well, I'm of Irish descent, which would likely explain my love for all things Potato which, not that I think about it, makes me wish I had some right now. Man, some of those loaded, or maybe bacon chipotle instant potatoes would be so boss right now. Damn, why did I not pick any of those up at the store the other night? I mean, I was there, I was literally right there beside them in the aisle picking up some things on the shelf right next to them. Man, I know they were instant and all, but they were still so good. I mean, they weren't nearly as good as the homemade mashed potatoes that my granny used to make, but still. Speaking of which, man, I really miss her cooking. I really just miss her in general. Eff cancer.

Oh...yeah, I also tend to ramble off topic sometimes. Probably help if I didn't end up typing everything I was thinking out as some sort of free flow type, but...yeah, there you have it. I mean, editing would likely help a great deal as well. Be dead simple to go back and delete things really, but then we have the hassle of figuring out which bits, and how to string the other bits together to make sense without those bits, and then we quickly have something written out that wasn't what I actually said but something of mine taken and made into something that wasn't really me. If that makes sense.

It's actually the #1 best seller on Amazon at the moment. Which is both hilarious and great, since it has probably earned a great deal of money for the Trevor Project and AIDS United.

They have an excellent book about this, I can assure you its a quick read. Whatever you do, I wouldn't let her stay for free. Talk to whoever helped you with the original contract (attorney or agent) about the best way to extend this. But make sure its in writing and in exchange for money

I think everyone can relate to your 10 year old.

I find wonder and beauty in that, everything is cycles. We are part of something (many things) bigger than us. From the water cycle to the microbiome. We just don't understand the web of these relationships. I find some meaning in trying.

Can you design a mostly closed loop fish tank or terrarium? Ferment or bake things to eat?
We don't understand the life in a square inch of soil.

This book is great,but maybe too young for her:

https://www.amazon.com/Me-Dog-Gene-Weingarten/dp/1442494131?SubscriptionId=AKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q&tag=duckduckgo-d-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=1442494131

Physicist funeral:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=you+want+a+physicist+to+speak+at+your+funeral&atb=v107-1ma&tappv=android_5_1_0&t=ddg_android&iax=images&ia=images

There is only ever the meaning we create. Something is only sacred if you make it so.

I've been trying to come up with my own "sacred" traditions.

I see real value in different states of mind. I think they are even easier to achieve with honesty instead of dogma; large groups, drums, etc.

All hail Discordia

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discordianism

All life as we know it so far is based on one operating system and consciousness is a poorly rendered hallucination of reality.
We've started talking about entropy whenever my son says "forever". In a few years I hope he'll grok.

Now that I don't drink Cosmos/Carl Sagan Mr. Rodgers and the ISS live feed make me feel better.

I buy 'unconventional' books for my baby. If I have to read them 700 times, I'm going to enjoy it too.

My Monster Momma Loves Me So,
I Want My Hat Back, and Moonpowder
are currently his three favorites. They are all really cute and I love the art styles.

We also sing Sylvia Long's version of Hush Little Baby to him for a lullaby (less consumerism, more nature.)

Yeah, I second the book idea. Not totally unique but I think three to five books for kids that you loved when you were a child or that your child loves are great. That's what I always go with and that's what we used to do when I would go shopping with my mom. My faves that aren't super obvious (i.e. not "Good Night Moon") are Jamberry, Jesse Bear What Will You Wear (that's my name, so, I loved it, obviously), Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (huge hit for me and later for my sis, which would make sense if you know the plot), Snow Day, and Happy Birthday Moon.

If you want to go absolute classics, these are some of my faves: The Very Hungry Caterpillar, In the Night Kitchen, The Giving Tree, and Harold and the Purple Crayon (Probably my favorite children's book of all time).

Hope that helps!

Edit: formatting

This is the link to Nayomi's wishlist

The gift I chose is Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? By Eric Carle. I loved these books when I was little, and they still have the most beautiful illustrations that anyone, even adults, can appreciate!

Nayomi is a twin with a younger sibling. She just started pre-school and her family has been going through hard times. It sounds like one of her grandmothers just passed away after losing a battle to cancer, and her mom was injured and now can't work due to a spinal injury. The mom is also currently pregnant, and having a tough pregnancy. Their father luckily still has a job, but has to work a lot to make ends meet. They sound like a really sweet group of kids, I want to gift them all, but this book is something all could share, even if it does come off of Nayomi's list.

I have many! Here are a few:


Gender Failure by Rae Spoon and Ivan Coyote This is the book version of the authors' live show that toured in 2012. They both are nonbinary, and the stories they tell are about that.


Second Son by Ryan Sallans Ryan has been a role model of mine for a long time, so I was really excited to get his book. It's a pretty basic transition memoir, but he has a really great voice.


Gender Outlaw by Kate Bornstein This one is a classic, and one I wish I had read much sooner! It's a transition memoir, but she also has some awesome discussions about gender in general too. Also, check out The Next Generation which is a collection of the work of trans* writers and artists.

Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg I think everyone should read this. It's a memoir/fiction sort of thing, and gender and transition are shown to be much more complex than in other transition memoirs. This one is quite old though, so maybe your library already has it?

Lastly, I will suggest Red: A Crayon's Story, which is basically the sweetest story about a blue crayon that was given a red wrapper by mistake.

I'm not sure how to best explain it, but I came across a cute book the other day which is easily interpreted as an analogy for somebody being transgender. It's called Red: A Crayon's Story by Michael Hall. I haven't looked into if it's actually about being transgender, but it could be of use to you?

Otherwise, if you don't get the help you want here, maybe you'd have some luck asking somewhere like /r/transgender or something?

[cw, someone else's pregnancy]
Friends' baby shower is Sunday afternoon. All the presents are wrapped. (Hot tip: Wish, by Matthew Cordell will make you cry but is a beautiful book for people who are pregnant after struggling)

Pregnant friend's mom just flew in last night, and husband and I are going to spend the next few days remembering how much we love and appreciate our own mothers.

That's awesome. I mean, I pretty much always wish I was eating tacos, so I get where he's coming from. Also, do you know the book Dragons Love Tacos? Sounds like it might be up your son's alley.

I thought this may help my fellow new parenters out there. If you're anything like me, you scoured the internet checking off every "must-have" baby items list before your LO was born, but I still ended up having Amazon deliver things about every other day for the first couple months.

As a disclaimer, I'm not saying these are MUST HAVE items. I just went through my Amazon purchases and I'm writing down some things that I purchased in those 3 AM wee hour Amazon shopping sprees.

Here's a compilation of everything that I felt I missed in my preparation for my baby girl:

• An electric nail file. I was terrified to cut her nails myself. This is a safe and easy alternative.
  
• A Swaddle UP. This allows her hands to be by her face, which she preferred her first month or two.
  
• Friedababy MediFrida. My baby had a rough go of reflux and was diagnosed with Ranitidine pretty quickly. This helped us give her doses with no fuss!
  
  
• Comfy shorts for me. I was unprepared for my post C-Section body and clothing options.
  
  
• Gripe Water / Colic Drops. My reflux baby had some rouuuuugh nights. These helped? Maybe? Witching hour SUCKS.
  
• A bigger swaddle that ZIPS. Screw trying to unvelcro my child out of her swaddle quietly at 2 AM.
  
• A mirror to help with tummy time. She still hates tummy time. But she does like looking at herself for a while. So I count that as a win.
  
• MORE. BOOKS. you don't have enough. I promise. After the 15th time of reading "The Rainbow Fish" you'll appreciate a change of pace. I personally recommend, "The Wonky Donkey."
  
• Trial and error pacis. Your kid will have a preference and you'll just have to figure out which. Once you figure it out, buy extras.
  
  
• Bibs / ABSORBENT Burp Cloths. Again... You don't have enough. And the little tiny rags that Gerber tries to sell at Target will not do the trick. Get some THICK in your burp cloth regimen.
  
  ---
  
  I hope this helps! Let me know if there's anything you would add to the list.

the only thing that I can say is: I'd see a therapist who is well versed in these matters (I have no clinical opinion as to whether your kid is trans, or 'gender expressive'. Not only to support your child but to support you.

There are some good children's picture books that deal with these issues gently (I have two five year olds and I fully transitioned about a year ago)


https://www.amazon.com/Red-Crayons-Story-Michael-Hall/dp/0062252070

(this story is adorbs)

https://www.amazon.com/10-000-Dresses-Marcus-Ewert/dp/1583228500/

https://www.amazon.com/Morris-Micklewhite-Tangerine-Christine-Baldacchino/dp/1554983479

I hope this helps! <3

They make indestructible books, but a 2 1/2 year old should be a little beyond the need for that though a page might tear here and there. That said, there are some very good kids books out there. I can recommend a few.

Beekle (my favorite): https://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Beekle-Unimaginary-Friend/dp/0316199982

Mr. Tiger goes Wild: https://www.amazon.com/Tiger-Goes-Boston-Globe-Horn-Awards/dp/0316200638/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1474037351&sr=1-1&keywords=mr+tiger+goes+wild

Dragons Love Tacos: https://www.amazon.com/Dragons-Love-Tacos-Adam-Rubin/dp/0803736800/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1474037404&sr=1-1&keywords=dragons+love+tacos

I'm going to piggyback this post by highlighting a few things that an overhaul should encompass, instead of just the venting above.

• Get things done. Above all else, fix issues fast, as fast as possible. Never put it off.
  
• Don't let people make you do their jobs for them. Set reasonable expectations, because if you give a mouse a cookie...
  
• Communication and CYA. Quickly and efficiently record notes. This goes along with GTD.
  
• Use a good ticket system. I've had a lot of luck with RT
  
• Push the boundaries of whats acceptable at your institution. If the HR people take 4 weeks to fill out a form, finance takes 6 weeks to put your direct deposit in, don't let that be the speed marker. No issues more than 2 days old. No projects left undocumented.
  
  Long story short, you have the power to make yourself look VERY good. Its going to involve micromanagement and establishing a helpdesk culture. Make 0 tickets your goal. Every time 0 tickets is reached, give them a small reward. Make 0 tickets a mantra.

This one is actually about evolution, but it's wonderful, I've been reading it to my daughter silver she was 18m. It's called Grandmother Fish. Like a previous poster said, it introduces new ideas of how life happened. At one point I used to have to read it several times a day to keep her happy.

https://www.amazon.com/Grandmother-Fish-Childs-First-Evolution/dp/1250113237

I love Jon Klassen, his new one This is Not my Hat and my FAVORITE I Want My Hat Back They are so funny!! I teach preschool and the kids love them!

Dragons Love Tacos or anything like that. On ym books list I have a bunch of silly books that while at the library or book store I read with my daughter and she thought they were silly.

They even have What Does the Fox Say and the drawings are amazing. <3

Check out all the ones on my list. I plan on adding them all to her library soon because even when she is 7 or 8 she will enjoy them. Green eggs and ham.

Make it Count!

It's definitely worth it. And I would love this, you might love it too!

Oh I do, and everytime I see her, there's poop questions. I'm probably sitting at Type 3 most days, but the spicy nugs push it to more like Type 6 (Type 7 if there's booze involved). I got her this book, and she seemed quite pleased.

Thanks for the concern though!

I'd really recommend checking out some children's books on veganism, especially when she gets a little bit older, to explain why you live the way you do. Here's a list of some that I've found:

The Girl Who Could See Stories

We're Vegan!

That's Why We Don't Eat Animals

Vegan Is Love: Having Heart and Taking Action

V Is For Vegan: The ABCs of Being Kind

Click Clack Peep (my daughter LOVES all the Click Clack books, but this is her favorite one. Btw it’s mandatory to read it in the most Southern, country accent possible.)

How to be a Good Dog

Owl Babies

Blue on Blue

Hello Light House

Puppy and Friends

We Forgot Brock!

Giraffes Can’t Dance

Solar System

Ten Little Rabbits

Panda Bear, Panda Bear What Do You See?

Joseph Had a Little Overcoat

Babushka Baba Yaga

The Thingamabob

Hear Bear Roar

A harmonica for a two year old? She wouldn't know what to do with it. How about a couple of nice books instead? Little Blue Truck and Giraffes Can't Dance are both superb.

Or, like /u/genome_rants suggests, a nice xylophone.

Can you just follow your child's lead on this one? If he wants to be a he, call him he and by what name he chooses. If he later changes this again, you can always follow that? Let him have age appropriate say in what he wears or what toys he's playing with. As he gets older of course the choices can become bigger (as happens with all kids), but by asking questions and checking in you're letting him lead what happens, for himself. And it's also a good way to check in about where he's at along the way, without having to ask directly.

But also, I don't know that anyone needs to make a big deal out of it at this age? It doesn't have to be "My son has come out as trans" so much as "my child has asked to be called he and ThisName, and we appreciate friends/family doing so".

Reading is great, so I'm glad you were able to find a book for yourselves (and there are more). If you want books to read with him, there are a couple. Backwards Day by Bear Bergman, and Red, A Crayon's Story by Michael Hall, are two off the top of my head (but no doubt there are more).

i really think you should go with this book because of hilarious reasons AHEM!

I've deleted a lot of my WL too.. I had over a hundred items and now I'm getting closer to under 80!! WOO! Also, I followed you on tumbls! ;]

The sun is finally shining today!!! I'm looking forward to a dry day at work and I'm trying very hard to snag this marker sketch from an artist I adore.

ps - i probably stink.. haven't showered yet - yum!

There's fun curriculum here from the folks at Penguin Science, including a fun "Did You Know" page. My favorite fact from there is that an Adélie penguin waddles at a rate of 2 km/h! There are also cute children's books on penguins, like And Tango Makes Three, which is about penguins I used to work with at the Central Park Zoo in NYC.

I used Red: A Crayon's Story when explaining myself to my kids. It's great for younger children, but an 8-year-old should still find it enjoyable. Plot spoiler: a blue crayon comes mislabelled as red, and is encouraged by everyone to try to draw red things, with laughable results. Finally discovers that drawing blue things actually works, despite the label.

Also check out the Customers who bought this item also bought… section on Amazon.

Happy I could help.

These aren’t vegan cookbooks, but they are vegan children’s books you might be interested in.

Vegan is Love

V is for Vegan: the abc’s of being kind

That’s Why We Don’t Eat Animals

They could be a useful tool if children have questions about veganism.

> Well, your gay marriage ban argument is faulty. That's because gay marriage is a more complex legal issue than murder.

No, it's not complex. You and I both know the bans were not in place because of complexity.

> Gay marriage isn't just based on a basic instinct like kill/don't kill. It is a rather complex contract,

You lost me here.

> and I don't know where you live or what kind of intellectuals you hang out with, but most people in this country have rather bad grades and they never went to law school.

I'm Canadian. We've had marriage equality since 2005. The Netherlands beat us - they've had it since 2001. Not complex at all.

> ... I think evolution is too complex for children.

Poppycock. You're slightly different from your siblings. When your parents made you and your siblings, there are small differences - different colour eyes, different shaped nose, and so on. Do this for thousands, of generations, and you can get things like wolves evolving into chihuahuas. Those changes, over many, many generations, add up. Some differences are better than others, depending on the time and place. Some differences lead to people having more children with those good differences, while other differences lead to people having fewer or no children.

I don't think that's something the average 10 year old would find hard to understand at all. There are even books for pre-schoolers on evolution that convey the basic ideas. Even still, if it were hard to understand, that's not sufficient justification for making it illegal to teach. The Scopes monkey trial really fucked things up for science education in the US.

Rick Santorum was interviewed on NPR in 2005 while promoting his book, and the topic turned to the teaching of evolution in public schools. When asked why the teaching of evolution concerned him, he replied

> It has huge consequences for society and it's where we come from. Does man have a purpose? Is there a purpose for our lives? Or are we just simply, you know, the result of chance. If we're the result of chance, if we're simply a mistake of nature, then that puts a different moral demand on us. In fact, it doesn't put a moral demand on us that if, in fact, we are a creation of a being that has moral demands.

Now, he's demonstrating a profound lack of understanding about how evolution works (it's not random) but he's explaining why he and a lot of other religious people are so apprehensive about evolution being taught. It's not because it's hard to understand. If anything, evolution is intuitive, as we can see differences between siblings and we can work out how those differences might be beneficial or not.

> Saying evolution is true also means that most kids are better people than their parents.

Nope. If I give birth to kids that are poorly adapted to their environment, then they are not "better" than me in this sense.

> It also means that we probably shouldn't respect our ancestors too much.

I have no clue why you'd think this. Without meaning to be rude, it sounds like your view is a great argument for better evolution education.

Congrats! Here are a few that came to mind from my childhood:

The Value of Believing in Yourself: The Story of Louis Pasteur

I Left My Sneakers in Dimension X This one's for a little older age range than the others, but still one I remember fondly.

Pierre: A Cautionary Tale in Five Chapters and a Prologue

Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories

The True Story of the Three Little Pigs

[James and the Giant Peach] (http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=james+and+the+giant+peach+book&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=3Cc&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=imvnsb&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&biw=1366&bih=610&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=9505609397904188789&sa=X&ei=xGHOTtO5LuGJsgL89vm1Dg&ved=0CGUQ8wIwAA)

Enh, I've got no desire to prove it to you one way or another. We enjoyed it so much when my daughter brought it home. I was excited to see another version here and thought other people might like seeing one too. My daughter's also reminded me of this book that's one of her favorites.

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie By Laura Numeroff will teach your child a great lesson to think before you act. It is brilliant and I recommend it to everyone of all ages.

It's a Madoka-themed set of artwork for a children's picture book (and modern classic) by the same title. The narration is almost straight from the book itself.

Edit:

I should clarify: the voice acting is entirely original, and there are a fair number of minor changes. The major change is the addition of the "Morning Rescue" man, who apparently is a joke related to a commercial from when Madoka Magica first aired.

Here's a couple I found!

http://www.amazon.com/Hubert-Pudge-A-Vegetarian-Tale/dp/0763619922/ref=pd_sim_b_17?ie=UTF8&refRID=0QY46SG9VYZ2WTWEPY9N

http://www.amazon.com/Thats-Why-Dont-Eat-Animals/dp/1556437854/ref=pd_sim_b_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=16D1S2MA82P23BNVWXGF

I couldn't find any that are like "Here are the facts. Do what you will."

Both of these encourage a vegan diet and some articles have said that they're too brutal for kids... but I think that especially the first one looks very sweet and to be a nice story even without the message.

Go easy on him; he's just a kid. He's probably at least read about bears and things in a book. Reading books about wildlife is pretty much the same as wilderness survival. He even saw an opossum once when he was taking out the trash! He's got this! Let him go out in the woods. Nature will take care of him.

Regading the first part of the quote about dogs thinking that their owner is a god, Washington Post columnist Gene Weingarten (two time Pulitzer winner) wrote a children's book with that concept as its theme. It's called "Me & Dog". It's been described as the first atheist children's book, just released a few months ago. (Weingarten is an outspoken atheist.) It's pretty good. I got it for my 2 year old son and I would recommend it to other atheist parents.

Me & Dog

I see! :) His name was Ping! Named after this book, one of my favorite short books. :)

This seems to be the book you were talking about. I'm honestly surprised that there is such a book! I figured most would be for older children. This is great though! I will be getting this and be on the lookout for anything similar.

Didn't say that. Perhaps you're working in some ironic twist, where you lie and then say 'Haha gotya, lies r bad', but let's discuss this like adults.

I said that individuals should be independent in their research and formation of their views. Biased government and biased corporations should not filter their information based on their own criteria, only the individual voter should do that.
The guise of 'protecting' people from misinformation is often touted by those who can benefit from being the ones to decide what defines it. Not only that, but policies like this are currently being used in other nations, not nice democracies like France or Japan, but Russia, Hungary, the Phillipines, China and similar states. 'Fake news' policies like this cannot be implemented.

It's not that it's difficult to make them happen, it's that there is no one ever capable of determining what is true or false, especially with respect to controversial issues, where the two ideas tend to meld in peoples' minds.

Is claiming your religion is true a lie?

Is claiming your tax policy would save people money a lie, if it's not been done yet?

Is claiming abortion is wrong a lie?

Is claiming Trump looks funny a lie? (He thinks it is, and he's currently in power).

Is claiming facebook is a bad website a lie?

Russia:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-politics-fakenews/russias-putin-signs-law-banning-fake-news-insulting-the-state-online-idUSKCN1QZ1TZ

https://www.npr.org/2019/03/18/704600310/russia-criminalizes-the-spread-of-online-news-which-disrespects-the-government?t=1571746097479

Philippines:

https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/07/25/philippines-reject-sweeping-fake-news-bill

Hungary:

https://www.ft.com/content/1be350e0-8c3b-11e8-bf9e-8771d5404543

If you aren't exactly stellar at reading, and you didn't actually comprehend my first comment there, perhaps you could take a break from these kinds of discussions and start slow:
https://www.amazon.com/Very-Hungry-Caterpillar-Eric-Carle/dp/0399226907/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?keywords=very+hungry+caterpillar&qid=1572705773&sprefix=very+hungr&sr=8-3

This wonderful little book was put out by John Oliver and Jill Twiss with the help of Last Week Tonight.
The episode where they unveiled the book is a gem. Check it out if you want!

EDIT: you can buy it here if you’re interested.

As a vegan parent I do find it important to be able to explain to my child why we have made the choice to be vegan and books like these help do that on their level and give them something to identify with. I have not seen this book before but my daughter has two of Ruby Roths books and she demands that we give a copy of That's Why We Don't Eat Animals to her teachers on the first day of school (she is in 2nd grade). For that I am glad they exist so when they become "moral agents" it will be based on a more solid foundation.

Obligatory plug for the John Oliver's absolutely amazing book A day in the life of Marlon Bundo.
https://www.amazon.com/Tonight-Oliver-Presents-Marlon-Bundo/dp/145217380X

Maybe the best political troll of all time

When I was a kid, I thoroughly enjoyed "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs". Not sure if this counts as the villain winning though. Still, I think it teaches children the valuable lesson that there's always two sides to every story.

This one is a favorite of mine as well. This Is Not My Hat by the same author is also a great book.