Surplus Cats

There are two things that frustrate me to no end:

1. The attitude that because I am have no faith in a deity, that I couldn’t possibly be a good person.
2. The frequent attempts by radical religious organizations to remove science from the classroom, thus ensuring their ignorance will continue in future generations (and contribute to more of the attitude in point #1).

It’s occurred to me that there is a way to work toward easing the stress of both with one positive activity: a book donation drive. It’s pretty obvious and fits perfectly into my usual stress relief methods.

See, when some news item regarding point #2 upsets me, I walk to the local bookstore, browse for a fun and factual children’s book (typically something on dinosaurs, because every kid loves dinos) that I promptly buy and then give to the first known parent I see, usually a coworker or a neighbor. It’s not a big deal, and it doesn’t exactly even things out, but I feel like it could spark one life-long love of science in a child, starting her on a path to research and exploration. That’s always been good enough for me.

But I’m sure I could do more. Why not collect lots of awesome, exciting books for kids and donate them to the school district and the local library? Why not all sorts of good books with positive messages? Children that read become adults who read. Above all, the ability to read and a love of books is what I, personally, wish for everyone. I’m always excited about books and I want to share that joy. What? The faithless don’t experience joy? Total bunk! Me and my book drive will show you, naysayers!

In a stroke of excellent timing, Greg has posted about two perfect children’s titles in the dino department — exactly the sort that I gift to my friend’s children. And a couple days ago David at The World’s Fair posted about one of my favorite kid-fic authors Mo Willems and one of my favorite books, “Edwina, The Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct.”

Let’s make a list of excellent books for kids and young adults that promote science and critical thinking! I’ll start with two:

• The City of Ember, by Jeanne DuPrau (a trilogy now, soon to be 4 book series) – YA, exploration of ethics in science
• What Do You Do with a Tail Like This? by Robin Page/Steve Jen – ages 4-8, bio for beginners

Eventually I’ll toss everything into a spreadsheet organized by reading level and the type of science or humanistic areas the book covers, and work it into a separate blog that includes reviews of the books, and information on the authors. I think it would be useful to have reviews from professionals in each subject area, like Greg’s post on Wenzel’s dinosaur books, aiding people in finding quality science books for the young readers in their lives. Who’s in?