|
|
| |
Book ReviewsUnderstood Betsy |
|
|
Book: Understood Betsy
Written by: Dorothy Canfield Fisher Kimberly Bulcken Root |
Publisher: Henry Holt & Company
Average Customer Rating: 5.0 / 5
|
|
Shaped all my ideas on child rearing...
Rating:
5 / 5
I loved this book as a child, and young as I was, I was able to understand the lessons of allowing a child the freedom to explore, to experience, to take responsibility. I even remember noticing the children I knew who were being overwhelmed, like Betsy in the first part of the book, by well-meaning parents/guardians who did everything for them.
I do not exaggerate that this book, by the woman who was instremental to bringing the Montessori method to the US, I understand, defined my thinking about how to rear a child.
One of my very favorite children's books
Rating:
5 / 5
Oh how I wanted to be Elizabeth Ann when I was little and first read this book! First of all, I thought that Elizabeth Ann was far and away the most beautiful name I had ever heard in my entire life. And I definately identified with the dull suburban upbringing, though perhaps my parents weren't quite so hypochondriatic. How I wished that some distant relatives with a farm would suddenly appear, and take me away so that I could eat maple sugar candy and learn how to churn butter and rescue kittens and go to a one room school house!
Twenty years after I first discovered this book, it is still one of my favorites. Written by a leading advocate for Montessori-style teaching, this book empahises the importantes of self-reliance and self-teaching. Although I recognize the moralizing, now that I'm a grown-up, I never felt it when I was a kid and simply delighted in reading (over and over and over again) about the adventures of Betsy and her eccentric Vermont relatives.
Deep and fun
Rating:
5 / 5
This story is beautiful and wittily written. Watching Betsy grow as a person is a wonder. I found myself challenged in the kind of parent I want to be, the kind of person I want to be. While my girls have been thoroughly enjoying Elizabeth Ann's adventures, I've been gaining indirect advice to make me a better mom. This one is a winner.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|