Appropriate Book for a 3 yr old? "I Dissent - Ruth Bader Ginsberg, makes her mark"

Chickenlady

Mouseketeer
Joined
May 5, 2000
A Facebook friend of mine's daughter just turned 3 and was given this book. She was proclaiming that it was the best book for her baby and that the kid loved it and they had read it several times. Now, my kiddo is way more than 3 and I haven't read the book, but I'm thinking something more along the lines of a good old fashioned story book or a disney book. Why do kids have to be pushed into politics at 3? Any one read the book or know what it's about before I go nutso thinking about this.
 
A quick visit to Amazon provides not only a description and reviews, but that it's rated for grades P to 3. https://smile.amazon.com/Dissent-Ru...UTF8&qid=1498709705&sr=8-1&keywords=i+dissent
One part of the Amazon page shows it as being for grades P - 3, but the School Library Journal review listed it as being for grades 3 - 5, which would make more sense given that the subject matter is a Supreme Court justice biography, not something most preschoolers can comprehend.

I'm an elementary school teacher, and can say that this is just a typical biographical book for kids, meant both to educate and inspire. There's nothing wrong with reading it to a 3 year-old, but most 3 year-olds won't really understand it. I'd personally wait until the child was older for that reason.

Why do kids have to be pushed into politics at 3? Any one read the book or know what it's about before I go nutso thinking about this.

I looked at excerpts of the book online and didn't see anything controversial or political in there. It showed how Ginsberg resisted racism, anti-Semitism, etc. in the early portion of her career. That certainly isn't controversial in 2017.
 
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Appropriate is a decision best made by the child's parent/s or caretaker/s. A quick visit to Amazon provides not only a description and reviews, but that it's rated for grades P to 3. https://smile.amazon.com/Dissent-Ru...UTF8&qid=1498709705&sr=8-1&keywords=i+dissent
It's a picture book.

I don't get a vote because I don't have kids but what I got from the op is she wanted options is if you would let your kid read the book not a amazon review the op can feel free to correct me if I'm wrong
 


I don't get a vote because I don't have kids but what I got from the op is she wanted options is if you would let your kid read the book not a amazon review the op can feel free to correct me if I'm wrong
The PP was mentioning that the Amazon page had a suggested age range for the book. The OP had said that she thought the book might be inappropriate for a 3 year-old. That's why the Amazon listing came into discussion.
 
I don't get a vote because I don't have kids but what I got from the op is she wanted options is if you would let your kid read the book not a amazon review the op can feel free to correct me if I'm wrong
It appears to more the OP is basing opinion solely on the book's title - hence the Amazon link so she can get more information about the book before making an assessment.
One part of the Amazon page shows it as being for grades P - 3, but the School Library Journal review listed it as being for grades 3 - 5, which would make more sense given that the subject matter is a Supreme Court justice biography, not something most preschoolers can comprehend.
I saw that. It's a 40 page picture book, with text. It looks as if it can be read with a preschooler/early reader, as well as by an older child. Check, if we're longer I'd buy it for myself. Still might. Just added to my Wish List :)
 


A Facebook friend of mine's daughter just turned 3 and was given this book. She was proclaiming that it was the best book for her baby and that the kid loved it and they had read it several times. Now, my kiddo is way more than 3 and I haven't read the book, but I'm thinking something more along the lines of a good old fashioned story book or a disney book. Why do kids have to be pushed into politics at 3? Any one read the book or know what it's about before I go nutso thinking about this.

I haven't read the book, but here's my thoughts on the matter...

There's no such thing as too many books. And even if it turns out to be over your child's head, it certainly won't harm their delicate psyche to have this read to them. Based on the Amazon listing, this is definitely something I'd have read to my children.

With young children, regular visits to the library should be part of your routine. You should be walking out of there with armfuls of books, and not just "good old fashioned story books or disney books" either. This is the perfect time to introduce them to the world they live in, including the idea that there are such magical creatures as Supreme Court Justices, and someday, if you become one of these, you can try to make the world a better place for everyone.

That's not "pushing a child into politics"! That's getting them engaged and excited about the world they live in.

At three, among my daughter's favourite books were a series of giant picture books about the planets, an early reader about Clive Tombaugh, discoverer of Pluto, the CMA's Children's Book of Symptoms, and Cyberantics (which begins “There once was an ant, a very special ant. Instead of chitin, glands and organs, this ant was made of chromium, lithium circuits, and optic cable only a fraction of the diameter of a hair..."). Did she understand it all? Of course not! But she loved listening to me read these ones over and over.

And I have to say, they were a heck of a lot more interesting to me, than "All the Colours of the Wind" with Pocahontas. Which she also loved, and which I initially thought was okay, but which made me want to claw my eyes out after the sixtieth reading.

(In retrospect, I may have pushed her into science... she says she does not object to this. :laughing:)
 
A Facebook friend of mine's daughter just turned 3 and was given this book. She was proclaiming that it was the best book for her baby and that the kid loved it and they had read it several times. Now, my kiddo is way more than 3 and I haven't read the book, but I'm thinking something more along the lines of a good old fashioned story book or a disney book. Why do kids have to be pushed into politics at 3? Any one read the book or know what it's about before I go nutso thinking about this.

Why would you go nutso, this is not your child so its none of your business.
I'd rather have my 3 year old hear "stories" about a successful woman who paved her way in the world instead of story after story of a princess needing to be saved by a prince in those good ole' Disney books ::yes::
 
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A Facebook friend of mine's daughter just turned 3 and was given this book. She was proclaiming that it was the best book for her baby and that the kid loved it and they had read it several times. Now, my kiddo is way more than 3 and I haven't read the book, but I'm thinking something more along the lines of a good old fashioned story book or a disney book. Why do kids have to be pushed into politics at 3? Any one read the book or know what it's about before I go nutso thinking about this.

Kudos to the mom for introducing the daughter to strong female role models rather than princesses who wait for a man to save them!
 
Kudos to the mom for introducing the daughter to strong female role models rather than princesses who wait for a man to save them!

I feel that you'd enjoy "The Paper Bag Princess" by Robert Munsch (not the same sort of book as in the OP, but definitely a princess who didn't wait for a man to save her.
 
But of course, take your toddler into the bookstore and I'm sure that's the one they will insist they must take home.

Pretentious boast and bid for attention is all that is.

Anybody who's ever been a parent or spent much time with small kids has done more time than we ever want to remember with Chicka, Chicka, Boom or something else equally maddening. Hopefully if you keep offering selections you can eventually reach the point where you can guide them into very good reading material that causes them to become very curious about lots of things, leading them to their own path of discovery. IMO that kind of forced molding described in the OP either doesn't work out -- or is the image the parent is desperate to peddle.
 
Okay, I guess I was wrong. We read to our 3 year old and he was even starting to read on his own at that age but we read "fun" things. He was exposed to science (way more science than he wanted, I've been told) and art along with silly, goofy kid stuff. Knowing that our kid was sensitive and serious by nature, we never tried to push controversial or political topics until he would understand what was being read to him. There was plenty of time in his life for him to ponder and examine the serious side of people and history. Until he was able to understand, we just let him be a kid....treat everyone like you would like to be treated and go on with your life.
 
Why would you go nutso, this is not your child so its none of your business.
I'd rather have my 3 year old hear "stories" about a successful woman who paved her way in the world instead of story after story of a princess needing to be saved by a prince in those good ole' Disney books ::yes::
this. At that age we would let the kids pick some books and we would pick some books. We would pick some that people may say are political - Ruby Bridges, MLK, Sonya Sotomayor bios, but they were good stories my girls related to and that lead to questions about race and civil rights that as a mixed-race family we need to address. They also show my daughter people that look like her doing something positive and using their brains.
 
Okay, I guess I was wrong. We read to our 3 year old and he was even starting to read on his own at that age but we read "fun" things. He was exposed to science (way more science than he wanted, I've been told) and art along with silly, goofy kid stuff. Knowing that our kid was sensitive and serious by nature, we never tried to push controversial or political topics until he would understand what was being read to him. There was plenty of time in his life for him to ponder and examine the serious side of people and history. Until he was able to understand, we just let him be a kid....treat everyone like you would like to be treated and go on with your life.

I guess I'm just not understanding how a biography (written for children) of a Supreme Court Justice is controversial or political. I've spent a lot of time in school libraries, and they're full of biographies of important people in our country's history. I remember a whole series of bios of people like Thurgood Marshall in my elementary school library.
 
But of course, take your toddler into the bookstore and I'm sure that's the one they will insist they must take home.

Pretentious boast and bid for attention is all that is.

Anybody who's ever been a parent or spent much time with small kids has done more time than we ever want to remember with Chicka, Chicka, Boom or something else equally maddening. Hopefully if you keep offering selections you can eventually reach the point where you can guide them into very good reading material that causes them to become very curious about lots of things, leading them to their own path of discovery. IMO that kind of forced molding described in the OP either doesn't work out -- or is the image the parent is desperate to peddle.

From knowing ONE FB post and ONE book that the child has been read, you can conclude that (a) the mom is a pretentious boaster and (b) is force molding her child.

First, I see nothing pretentious or boastful about that book (and, yes, I have read it - it caught my eye at the bookstore). It's not like she said that the child read herself "War and Peace". And we have no idea what other books the child is being read so have no idea idea if or how she is being force molded.
 
From knowing ONE FB post and ONE book that the child has been read, you can conclude that (a) the mom is a pretentious boaster and (b) is force molding her child.

First, I see nothing pretentious or boastful about that book (and, yes, I have read it - it caught my eye at the bookstore). It's not like she said that the child read herself "War and Peace". And we have no idea what other books the child is being read so have no idea idea if or how she is being force molded.

We have (saved from my childhood) a series of books on various "heros" with each highlighting a "value". We've been reading them to the kids since they were about two - do I think that they remembered who Marie Curie (value of learning), Abraham Lincoln (value of respect), or Louis Pasteur (value of believing in yourself) were? No. But they were good books and ones they've gravitated to as they grew older. Would I be a pretentious boaster who was force molding my child if I mentioned on Facebook that I was reading my child a book about Jackie Robinson?


Sorry, meant to edit my first post, not write a new one.
 
Some of the answers here... Yikes!

If you don't think a book is fun, then don't read it to your kid. Storytime is supposed to be fun for everyone, including mum and dad!

Your child should be picking books, absolutely! You may be surprised at some of the books your non-reader will gravitate to. What's to say a small child might not grab the Ginsburg book for no other reason than because she looks like grandma? Just please, never ever do what I've seen parents in bookstores do... exclaim, "Ugh! That's boring! You don't want that! Here's this one's got kitties. You like kitties, right?"

YOU should be picking books, too. Because, as a parent, it isn't just your job to cater to your child's interests. It's also to introduce them to things that interest and excite you, as well. If the mere thought of the Supreme Court makes you gag, then by all means - pick something else! See above, storytime is supposed to be fun for everyone.

It's not an either/or. Chicka-chicka-boom-boom and Moo-baa-la-la-la absolutely have their place on your child's bookshelf. But there's also room for the Ginsberg bio, and the Existential Giraffe, and Kat Kong and whatever else catches your eye and tickles your (adult) fancy. You don't even have to read children's books to your child! Read whatever you like. Read from your new copy of National Geographic. Read them the history of the world. It doesn't matter, because ultimately if you're enjoying what you're reading, your child will almost certainly enjoy it, too. There's absolutely nothing "pretentious" about sharing your interests with your child.

I used to read selected bits of the newspaper to my kids in the morning. Sometimes they listened, sometimes they didn't. Whenever we didn't know what to do, they'd grab a favourite book and we'd read. Many times a day. My daughter's first sentence was, "Read to you?" (She meant to say "read to me?", but didn't understand the difference between "you" and "me" yet.)

And if your child finds what you're reading at bedtime a bit boring... you know what happens then? They drift off to sleep to the sound of your voice. And that's the best ending to a story I can possibly imagine.
 
I don't see what is wrong with introuting (eta: introuting? What is THAT samsung!? Should be introducing) your child to politics at a young age. When I vote, I take my kids with me. We make a day out of it. We go in the morning then go out for breakfast. I even pull them from school for half a day to bring my older ones. It is important to me that they understand that their most important responsibility as a US Citizen is exercising their right to vote, so I make a fun day out of it. I tell them, if they ask, who I am voting for and why.

And, yes, I would absolutely buy this gift for my kids. I read them chapter books at bed time (my 4 yo-8yo) and tell them to close their eyes and imagine. We are getting ready to start A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle because I think girls need to be encouraged to pursue science and math. Ruth Bader Ginsberg is inspirational, regardless of whether you agree with her politics or not. Encouraging children to get involved in the world around them at a young age is a terrific thing!
 
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