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Thinking in Stories: Reviewing Philosophy in Children’s Literature

Since 1979, Thinking in Stories has provided reviews of children’s and young adult literature containing philosophical perplexities ripe for inter-generational dialogue. The column was created by the late American philosopher Gareth B. Matthews, who initiated the study of philosophy in children’s literature. In his role as contributing editor for , Matthews wrote 58 Thinking in Stories reviews between 1979 and 2006. The column was continued by Dr. Peter Shea and became a weblog in 2020. Those interested in contributing a review should read and follow their instructions for submission.

Copyright for Thinking in Stories reviews published in the IAPC journal Thinking (1979-2014) is held by the IAPC and requests for reprint permissions should be sent to iapc@montclair.edu. Copyright for reviews published on this weblog (since 2020) is held by Dr. Peter Shea and requests for reprint permissions should be sent to shea0017@umn.edu.

Two other websites devoted to philosophy in children’s literature (created by colleagues of Matthews) areÌý (PLATO: Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization) and Ìý(Prindle Institute for Ethics at DuPauwÌýUniversity).

Reviews Alphabetical by Title
Reviews Alphabetical by Author
Reviews with Reading Level
Author & Title Grade Level Developmental Reading Assessment Level Guided Reading Level Lexile Measure
K-2 n/a n/a AD420L
Catalanotto: Emily’s Art K-2 20 L AD530L
Heide: The Shrinking of Treehorn K-2 n/a n/a AD480L
Klevin: The Puddle Pail K-2 20 L 590L
Lobel: Frog and Toad Together K-2 16/18 K 330L
Mahy: The King’s Toys K-2 14/16 E/F 225-250L
Martin and Marx: Now Everybody Really Hates Me K-2 30 O AD600L
McKee: Not Now, Bernard K-2 10 F 200L
Miller: Three Stories You Can Read to your Cat K-2 18 I/J 390L
Seuss: The Sneetches and Other Stories K-2 n/a n/a NP
Simmonds: Fred K-2 n/a n/a NP
Simmonds: Lulu and the Flying Babies K-2 n/a n/a NP
Thurber: Many Moons K-2 38 P 790L
Wilbur: The Pig in the Spigot K-2 n/a n/a NP
Williams: Albert’s Impossible Toothache K-2 20 L 570L
Wiseman: Morris the Moose K-2 8 E 130L
Zolotow: I Know a Lady K-2 14 H NC750L
Author & Title Grade Level Developmental Reading Assessment Level Guided Reading Level Lexile Measure
Fox: Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge K-2, 3-5 18 K AD760L
Gerstein: The Mountains of Tibet K-2, 3-5 34 O 650L
Gerstein: The Wild Boy K-2, 3-5 38 P/Q 675
Keller: Fiona’s Bee K-2, 3-5 24/28 L/M 550-620L
Ahlberg: Burglar Bill K-3 30 O AD550L
Hoban: Monsters K-3 24/28 L/M 550-620L
LeGuin: Leese Webster K-3 24/28 L/M 550-620L
Lobel: The Great Blueness and Other Predicaments K-3 30 O 625L
Lobel: The Turnaround Wind K-3 20 K 400L
Ryan: Hildilid’s Night K-3 34 O 625L
Segal: The Story of Mrs. Lovewright and Purrless Her Cat K-3 28 L/M 550L
Steig: Rotten Island K-3 28 M 550L
Steig: Yellow and Pink K-3 24/28 L/M 550-620L
Carlson: Time for White Egret 2-3 24/28 L/M 450-550L
2-3 30/34 N/O AD630L
Keller: Fiona’s Bee 2, 3-5 24/28 L/M 550-620L
Anno and Mori: Socrates and the Three Little Pigs 3-5 38/40 P/Q 675L
Benton: Franny K. Stein: Mad Scientist – The Fran That Time ForgotÌý 3-5 289/30 N 850L
Cole: The King at the Door 3-5 38/40 O/P 650-700L
Gantschev: Two Islands 3-5 34 O/P 625-675L
Paley: Wally’s Stories 3-5 n/a n/a 530L
Rumford: Island Below the Star 3-5 30/34 M/N 680L
Selznick: The Invention of Hugo Cabret 3-5 40/44 T/U 820L
Steig: The Real Thief 3-5 50 U 960L
Steig: Shrek! 3-5 30 N AD670L
Usher: Wise Guy: The Life and Philosophy of Socrates 3-5 44 V 900L
Author & Title Grade Level Developmental Reading Assessment Level Guided Reading Level Lexile Measure
Babbitt: The Search for Delicious 3-5, 6-8 50 U 910L
Babbitt: Tuck Everlasting 3-5, 6-8 60 W 770L
Mills: Standing Up to Mr. O. 3-5, 6-8 38 P/Q 690L
Patron: The Higher Power of Lucky 3-5, 6-8 50 W 950L
Saint-Exupery: The Little Prince 3-5, 6-8 60 X 710L
Stockton: The Bee-Man of Orn 3-5, 6-8 44/50 W 850L
Konigsburg: The View from Saturday 3-5, 6-8, 9-12 50 U 850L
Mahy: Raging Robots and Unruly Uncles 4-6 40/44 Q/R 760-800L
Parsons: The Upside-Down Cat 4-6 44/50 S/T 775-875L
Babbitt: Knee-Knock Rise 4-7 40 S 760L
Baum: Ozma of Oz 6-8 n/a Z+ 1070L
Ende: The Neverending Story 6-8 44 X 930L
Pearce: Tom’s Midnight Garden 6-8 50 V 860L
Singer: The Cat Who Thought She Was a Dog and the Dog Who Thought He Was a Cat 6-8 n/a W/X/Y 975-1025L
Asher: Thirteen Reasons Why 8-12 n/a Z+ HL550L
Plato: The Ring of Gyges 8-12 n/a Z+ 1100-1200L

*The leveling of these titles was made by Marlene Aviles-Solivan