This article is a book review of A Teacher's Guide to Philosophy for Children, and while no doubt well-intentioned, this book would have served a much wider purpose had it been an open access online resource rather than being an expensive eBook. Erin Corrigan Smith describes it as "a short, comprehensive approach to coaching and engaging students in the process of thinking for themselves." This too is valuable, and I would certainly hope thinking for oneself is not limited to philosophical questions. Looking at the chapter headings gives me cause for concern, though: they include such things as "Thinking Development, Emotional Intelligence and Spiritual Intelligence, The Seven Steps to Philosophical Inquiry: Lesson Plan, and The Three Stages of Development." None of this was part of the philosophy (or philosophical method) that I studied, and I wonder is there isn't another agenda at work in the book. But I can't tell, because (again) it's not open access. What would be better? Lesson plans and resources from the Center for Philosophy for Children at the University of Washington, where you can view the resources and discuss them openly.
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