Posted: 5 December 2024

Montessori and Child Development Books

Our Head of School, Michel Cappobianco, recommends some of her favourite books on Montessori education and child development

MONTESSORI EDUCATION

  • Montessori Madness – Trevor Eissler
  • Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius – Angeline Lillard
  • The Montessori Toddler – Simone Davies
  • Understanding the Human Being – Silvana Quattrocchi Montanaro
  • Montessori Learning in the 21st Century: A Guide for Parents & Teachers – M. Shannon Helfrich
  • Montessori Speaks to Parents – Maria Montessori
  • The Child in the Family – Maria Montessori
  • What You Should Know About Your Child – Maria Montessori
  • Children Who Are Not Yet Peaceful – Donna Bryant Goertz
  • Montessori From the Start: The Child at Home, From Birth to Age Three – Paula Polk Lillard
  • Montessori Today: A Comprehensive Approach to Education from Birth to Adulthood – Paula Polk Lillard

BRAIN DEVELOPMENT

  • What’s Going on in There? – Lise Eliot
  • The Scientist in the Crib: What Early Learning Tells Us About the Mind – Alison Gopnik, Andrew N. Meltzoff, Patricia K. Kuhl
  • Good Start in Life: Understanding Your Child’s Brain and Behavior –  Norbert Herschkowitz, Elinore Chapman Herschkowitz
  • Inside the Brain – Ronald Kotulak
  • How the Mind Works – Steven Pinker
  • Spark, A User’s Guide to the Brain – John J. Ratey
  • The Teenage Brain: A Neuroscientist’s Survival Guide to Raising Adolescents and Young Adults – Frances E. Jensen, MD
  • Inventing Ourselves: The Secret Life of the Teenage Brain – Sarah-Jayne Blakemore

LANGUAGE

  • How Language Comes to Children – Bénédicte de Boysson-Bardies

PARENTING

  • Under Pressure – Carl Honoré
  • Punished by Rewards, Unconditional Parenting – Alfie Kohn
  • Hold on to Your Kids – Gordon Neufeld & Gabor Maté
  • Simplicity Parenting – Kim John Payne
  • The Village Effect – Susan Pinker
  • How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk – Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish
  • Born For Love – Maia Szalavitz and Bruce D. Perry, M.D., Ph.D.
  • The Self-Esteem Trap: Raising Confident and Compassionate Kids in an Age of Self-Importance – Polly Young-Eisendrath, Ph.D.
  • How Children Succeed – Paul Tough

TECHNOLOGY

  • The Child and the Machine – Alison Armstrong & Charles Casement
  • The Big Disconnect: Protecting Child and Family Relationships in the Digital Age – Catherine Steiner-Adair
  • The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains – Nicolas Carr
  • Endangered Minds, Your Child’s Growing Mind, Failure to Connect – Jane Healy
  • Screenwise – Devorah Heitner, Ph.D.

NATURE AND THE OUTDOORS

  • Vitamin N – Richard Louv
  • Last Child in the Woods – Richard Louv
  • Sharing Nature with Children – Joseph Cornell
This is an evolving resource; we welcome any recommendations you feel would be a nice addition to the list.

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