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10 Great Critical Thinking Books for Children and Teens

10 Great Critical Thinking Books for Children and Teens, children's books that promote critical thinking, picture books to teach critical thinking..

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Today we will talk about 10 Great Critical Thinking Books for Children and Teens. Parents must see it! How to develop your children's logic and critical thinking must be cultivated, and improve children's critical thinking from an early age!

Here we recommend 10 great critical thinking books to improve your children's and teens' critical thinking.

"Critical thinking is an important skill for children to face competition in the future, and it is also the focus of American elementary school teaching! How to learn critical thinking through intensive reading of picture books?"

Critical Thinking is necessary to complete our family baby's daily work, but also the focus of US elementary teaching why emphasize the importance of critical thinking training? My experience is that American education thinks this is a key skill for the future! 
critical-thinking-books-for-kids
Critical Thinking for Kids: Amazon That book has all different themes and topics for math, picture, words, and other really clever puzzles, including some unusually challenging sudokus. 

This was. Children's Books that Promote Critically Thinking Your Fantastic, Elastic Brain: Stretch it, Shape it This book shows children how the brain is flexible and how trying new things, doing things differently, and thinking in new ways is how we stretch the brain. 

While stories about creating something concrete can be used to introduce children to critical thinking, it is important for them to see how critical. Critical Thinking Books for Children and Teens – Apparent Stoic Critical Thinking Books for Children and Teens. 

These books teach children about metacognition and the best books on critical thinking and problem-solvingRaise your child to be a critical thinker and an innovator, and embrace diversity in thinking. 

These books teach children about metacognition. The Critical Thinking Child Our Critical Thinking Boot Camp for Kids learning tools allow you to do just that, through a series of fun, effective, and intriguing thinking questions. Picture Books for Developing Critical Thinking Skills.

When we think of bringing up kids to succeed and put emphasis on avoiding. Critical Thinking Through Children's Literature - we suggest how these behaviors can be developed through children's literature. 

Examples of learning experiences are noted in relation to two children's books. 10 of the Best Critical Thinking Books for Boosting Brainpower

The best critical thinking books can stimulate your interest and greatly expand your knowledge and skills. 

Critical Thinking Skills - Focus on the Family Teaching children to think critically, whether in books or about what people say, is a skill. It was the first step in teaching my kids the critical-thinking process. 

How Reading Improves Critical Thinking - Critical thinking is an important skill for children to develop as they grow. Good critical thinking skills can be attained in a variety of ways. Reading mystery books. 

10 Great Critical Thinking Books for Children and Teens  of All Time


Critical Thinking: A Key Foundation for Language and Literacy. Conversely, as children's language development progresses, their ability to think critically grows as well. Literacy − To truly understand the meaning of a book, Will A Horse Eat A Hamburger (Critical Thinking Kids Book 1.)

What our children will face is such a world that we have never experienced before and cannot provide them with experience and advice. 

Therefore, how to master the ability of human unknown knowledge, that is, the ability to innovate, will be the focus of modern education, and it is also a skill that Children's Books that Promote Critical Thinking of this generation need to master. 

Parents can do this kind of developing critical thinking skills in kids through the following best critical thinking books and children's intensive reading.

I recommend 10 books to improve children's logic and critical thinking to parents who have searched for this question, to help children build strong logic and critical thinking and develop the strongest brain!

This article is dry, please share it before collecting it, thank you all. 



1. Children's Book of Philosophy 


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Children's Book of Philosophy: An Introduction to the World's Great Thinkers and Their Big Ideas by DK

College students look at this a bit shallow. A brief introduction to the lives, thoughts, and social issues of some philosophers is suitable for elementary school students.

Learn to think big and tackle life's trickiest questions, such as "What am I here for?" and "Who decides what's right and wrong?".

Children’s Book of Philosophy is a perfect introduction to the great thinkers who’ve tried to make sense of the world. From ancient times to the modern day, people have asked questions such as “Who am I?”, “Is the world real?”, and “Is it ever right to tell a lie?”. 

Meet famous philosophers from history including Socrates, Confucius, Immanuel Kant, Simone de Beauvoir, and many others who have studied the complex issues of everyday life. 

Using simple text and fun illustrations to get your mind working, the Children’s Book of Philosophy will make big ideas easy to understand. Examine the problems that have puzzled people for hundreds, or even thousands, of years – and ponder your way through them in clear and logical stages. 

The book's lively approach is designed to encourage children to start thinking for themselves and to show them that anyone can be a philosopher.



2. 101 Fresh & Fun Critical-Thinking Activities 



Engaging Reproducibles and Activities to Develop Kids' Higher-Thinking Skills Help students of all learning styles and strengths begin to think critically.

Includes 101 cross-curricular activities to reinforce specific skills such as recognizing and recalling or inferring, and drawing conclusions. Complete with reproducible suggestions for integrating the activities into your curriculum.



3. 81 Fresh & Fun Critical-Thinking Activities 



Engaging Reproducibles and Activities to Develop Kids' Higher-Level Thinking Skills. 81 creative cross-curricular activities designed to help students of all learning styles think critically. 

Each activity reinforces a specific critical thinking skill such as recognizing and recalling, evaluating, and analyzing. Comes complete with student reproducible and suggestions for integrating the activities into your curriculum with ease.



4. The Cartoon Introduction to Philosophy 



In my impression, this book seemed to be seen at the International Book Fair, because I thought it was great when I saw it. I should buy it soon, or I should read it as soon as I bought it. Logically speaking, it should be read in twos or twos. The book, why I took so long time, I myself find it very mysterious.

But I really like this book! I like everything! Not only is the style of painting good but also the various ideas and theories are perfectly integrated into a continuous story. It is like watching a montage movie. 

The fragments are seamlessly connected, and the landscapes that look like embellishments are metaphors of meaning. As a person who only has pure text functions and lacks the ability to understand images, like a notepad, I am fascinated by the fact that the author can use such a clever example to transform concepts into pictures and be clean and clear. How can XD come up with such an expression? 

And as a pure word processor(?), I think this is great because the text content of this book is also excellent. In the simplest way, XD is very elegant and popular, and it is easy to lift weight. The way XD expresses this is humorous and humorous, without compromising the profoundness of the connotation. 

Although it is only a brief introduction to the point, it has already outlined the leading thesis, which is the destination that one wants to reach, that is what the individual has to think about. What happened, just like the river is used as a metaphor in the whole book, the whole process of boating, the mind is quite responsive. 

The translator must be praised here. On the whole, the translation is very tasteful, which guarantees a smooth and pleasant trip on the water. Also, taking water as the axis is always the point that my wife pokes in me.

I sincerely recommend this exciting fantasy drifting trip.



5. The Fallacy Detective 


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The Fallacy Detective: Thirty-Eight Lessons on How to Recognize Bad Reasoning by Nathaniel Bluedorn

An introductory book to logic. A summary of various fallacies, concise content, easy-to-understand, and easy-to-understand, is not the same as stacking terms of many similar books, which are boring and lengthy. Avoid children’s brains from becoming a must-read for others’ minds. Suitable for children and adults over 12 years old. 

The Fallacy Detective has been the best-selling text for teaching logical fallacies and introduction to logic for over 15 years.

"Can learning logic be fun? With The Fallacy Detective, it appears that it can be. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who wants to improve his reasoning skills."--Tim Challies, curriculum reviewer

"Cartoon and comic illustrations, humorous examples, and a very reader-friendly writing style make this the sort, of course, students will enjoy."--Cathy Duffy, homeschool curriculum reviewer

"I really like The Fallacy Detective because it has funny cartoons and silly stories, and teaches you a lot!"--11 Year Old

What is a fallacy? A fallacy is an error in logic a place where someone has made a mistake in his thinking. This is a handy book for learning to spot common errors in reasoning.
  • For ages twelve through adult.
  • Fun to use -- learn skills you can use right away.
  • Peanuts, Dilbert, and Calvin and Hobbes cartoons.
  • Includes The Fallacy Detective Game.
  • Exercises with answer key.



6. The Art of Argument 



Junior high-aged students will argue (and sometimes quarrel), but they won't argue well without good training. Young teens are also targeted by advertisers with a vengeance. From billboards to commercials to a walk down the mall, fallacious arguments are everywhere you look. 

The Art of Argument was designed to teach the argumentative adolescent how to reason with clarity, relevance, and purpose at a time when he has a penchant for the why and how. It is designed to equip and sharpen young minds as they live, play, and grow in this highly commercial culture. 

This course teaches students to recognize and identify twenty-eight informal fallacies, and the eye-catching text includes over sixty slick and clever, ?phony advertisements. for items from blue jeans to pick-up trucks, which apply fallacies to a myriad of real-life situations.



7. A Rulebook for Arguments 



The language of this book is easy to understand, and the subject matter is also my favorite. I have read "Beyond Feelings" before. It is about critical thinking, and this book happens to be the same. Since you want to be critical, it will inevitably cause controversy. Therefore, this book is about controversy. It teaches you to better argue and master critical thinking. 

Speaking of this book, to form an argument, you need to have arguments and arguments. If the arguments are very correct, or you have to debate your arguments, the arguments should be chosen well, and the arguments should be simple and accurate. Usually, a conclusion can be explained by many arguments, but the arguments should be representative. 

If you have cited a few examples and reached a conclusion, you can find out whether there is a counterexample by yourself, and find out that you can modify your argument according to this counterexample. 

The example in the book is: all fast food is junk food, usually we can cite countless examples, such as fried chicken legs, Coca-Cola, etc., but if you think about counterexamples, for example, the vegetable-based burgers in the book, this one Can't be called junk food. 

At this time, based on counterexamples, the conclusion can be changed to Many fast foods are junk food, so taking counterexamples is a very good way to understand and modify your arguments more deeply.

And some arguments can be used as an analogy. For example, there are no humans in outer space. You can use an analogy. Because there are many galaxies in outer space, there will definitely be some galaxies like our solar system, and there may be life in stars like the Earth.
        
I don’t feel much about the resource part. What I am more impressed with is that the author tells us to be cautious when using online resources, because many of them are not very rigorous, so you have to use your sharp eyes to find them.

There is also the knowledge of logic, which I have learned in many mathematics books, that is, inverse negation propositions and the like.

This book is short and concise, very practical, and can be turned over from time to time, it is recommended.



8. Rhetoric Alive!: Principles of Persuasion 



A one-semester or yearlong course for students in grades 10-12. Rhetoric Alive! Book 1: Principles of Persuasion, written by Alyssa Barnes, an experienced rhetoric teacher with a Ph.D. in rhetoric, is a clear, compelling, and delightful text on rhetorical theory and practice. 

The highly engaging Rhetoric Alive! explores the principles of winsome speech as developed in the foremost text on persuasion, Aristotle's Rhetoric. The fifteen chapters of Rhetoric Alive! step through the essential components of persuasion: the three appeals; Ethos (speaker's credibility), Pathos (audience's emotion), and Logos (argument's reasoning), the three types of speech; Deliberative (exhort or dissuade), Ceremonial (praise or blame), Judicial (accuse or defend), and the five canons; Invention, Organization, Style, Memory, Delivery. 

Each chapter includes an exemplary classic text for analysis and discussion, spanning from Pericles's 'Funeral Oration' to Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, 'Letter from Birmingham Jail.' Students also have plenty of practice developing their own rhetorical skills through weekly workshops, imitation assignments, and oratory presentations.


 

9. Mastering Logical Fallacies 


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Mastering Logical Fallacies: The Definitive Guide to Flawless Rhetoric and Bulletproof Logic by Michael Withey

After reading this book, you feel that politicians, celebrities, and news media, especially couples quarrels, are full of loopholes.

Logic is a field with a long history, but unfortunately, it seems that the popularization of logic in the current society is very insufficient, whether at home or abroad. Logic teaches how to make yourself a rational person. 

Although behavioral economics demonstrates that irrationality is an undeniable and important part of human nature, logic is the best way to help everyone overcome irrationality to the maximum. 

Tools are of extraordinary significance. The format of this book is quite simple. It is listed in alphabetical order of the logical fallacy names. Each fallacy is dealt with in a unified thematic structure of formal explanations, practical examples, degree of influence, and coping methods, so you can read one without any problems. 

Instead of using more than a dozen pages a chapter at a time, it is obviously more suitable for short-term activities such as riding in a car and sitting in the toilet. 

The author did not include all the fallacies, this book is not enough to fit 200 pages, but the fallacies listed are all visible in daily life, which is of reference value and entertaining. In short, it's not a textbook, but you can read it when it's okay.



10. What Do You Do With a Problem? 



This book was created by Kobi Yamada. He is a dad who is keen on innovation and experimentation. In the book, he tells his two children that “one idea can change everything.” This belief makes Him write his own thoughts into the story and passed them on to more children. 

At the same time, this book was recognized by the American publishing industry, was awarded the "Independent Publisher" award, stood out from many children's picture books, and quickly made it to the best-selling list of Amazon in the United States. No wonder the Americans would give it as a gift to the British King George.

If you have an idea, how would you treat it? Especially different, risky, or crazy ideas? Would you hide it? Walk away from it? Pretend it’s not yours?

This story is about a great idea and the kid who brought that idea to the world. The self-confidence of the child increases and this idea also develops.

Images full of symbolic meaning and narrative function combine fragments and abstract concepts with coherent and concrete situations to create a charming imaginary space and atmosphere. 

The egg-shaped character represents the idea, symbolizing the smallness and fragility of the idea when it is born, and at the same time it contains the potential for growth and change, creating a charming imaginary space and atmosphere, and the image tension accurately expresses the emotional depth and dramatic effect.

This story is dedicated to readers (regardless of age) who once thought their ideas were too big, weird, and too difficult. This story inspires you to embrace your idea, give it room to grow, and then see how it develops. Your thoughts will not disappear. In fact, it has just begun...

How can we improve a child's logic and critical thinking abilities?

Speculative ability, that is, critical thinking ability, is considered by the international community to be the core literacy necessary for talents in the 21st century. In the process of promoting critical thinking education, we found that parents are confused about critical thinking. Today’s children’s critical thinking science popularization responds to 7 key questions, hoping to solve the confusion of parents.

This article will answer some basic questions: What are the problems with children’s common ways of thinking? What exactly is critical thinking? Why develop children's critical thinking skills?

Will also answer the " how-to " question: What are the criteria for critical thinking skills? How do European and American countries do critical thinking education? How can we cultivate it?

It will also respond to the common misunderstanding of critical thinking: Does the test require critical thinking? With the ability to think critically, will children be out of gregariousness?

Selection and Reading Suggestions of critical thinking books

The above books are also suitable for teachers to use to teach critical thinking courses, preferably for students 15 years old and above. Due to the limited information, I focus on, there are currently not many books on critical thinking that are suitable for children under the age of 15.

It’s also important to stress that critical thinking skills are only one of three things to do well in a field. We also need extensive encyclopedic knowledge and extensive experience in that particular field.

Critical thinking skills may be enhanced through months of coursework, while encyclopedic knowledge requires years of active self-study. 

As for extensive experience in a particular field, this is inherently unteachable and can only be achieved through years or even decades of accumulation. No one can become an expert in a field overnight. 

I believe the below frequently asked question will give you a systematic understanding of critical thinking.


FAQ: Great Critical Thinking Books for Children and Teens


What's wrong with children's common way of thinking?

Students are constantly making judgments every day, and the quality of judgment determines their lives. When taking the test, you must judge how to answer, how to deal with others, how to solve problems when you encounter difficulties, what opinions are credible when you read, and how to choose a major, occupation, life partner, and lifestyle in the future.

Most students often rely on authority when making judgments—what do teachers, parents, textbooks, experts, and the media say?

Or blindly follow the crowd-what do classmates and friends do?

Or subject to emotions or desires-what is the best way to meet the mood of the moment?

On the surface, such children may get high scores by brushing questions or memorizing knowledge, and they can avoid conflicts with teachers or parents because of obedience.

But you need to look a little longer, after all, what children will have to deal with is the future of society.

College entrance examination reform trend more and more obvious, from the study of knowledge, into a comprehensive investigation of students' ability, literacy, knowledge and values, "and thinking ability is the focus of study, in the near future, will get high marks by brush title It is getting harder and harder, but students who can think and learn are more likely to stand out.

Social changes are also getting faster and faster. Globalization, technological development, material and spiritual conflicts, social polarization, and emergencies such as the epidemic all pose more and more challenges to individuals.

Classic books such as "Influence" and "Thinking, and Fast and Slow" use a large number of cases to prove that people often make wrong judgments because of these inefficient ways of thinking, leading to serious consequences, falling into financial crisis, self-deception, and authoritative design. The trap...


What students need to learn is the method of judging wisely.

This kind of judgment needs to be cultivated from an early age and can be formed through continuous practice, just like learning mathematics or language. 

The long-term lack of independent thinking will make children develop inertia and inertia of thinking; for children who have grown up, it is difficult for them to grow up and suddenly become unique insights.


How do European and American countries do critical thinking education?

Critical thinking ability is generally regarded as the core literacy required of talents in the 21st century in the international community.

In the Common Core curriculum standards in the United States, all age groups have specific requirements for critical thinking skills and are integrated into the teaching of various subjects.

For example, 5th-grade students are required to understand deductive arguments, ask questions that explore causes and consequences, take the initiative to obtain information from different sources, identify the structure of the argument, and express logically and structured...

Compared with teaching in China, American students will receive more systematic training, get in touch with argumentative articles earlier, and pay more attention to analysis and expression.


How to judge a child's critical thinking ability?

Children with strong critical thinking must be able to do the four thinking stages :

Asking questions: Can accurately ask high-quality questions, hit the key points, and promote in-depth thinking;

Obtaining information: able to actively acquire and understand reliable and sufficient information, distinguish problematic information, and accurately refine key information;

Analysis and judgment: can distinguish facts and opinions, can identify and avoid all kinds of common thinking fallacies, can analyze in depth according to specific and complex topics and situations, respond to different opinions, conduct high-quality arguments, and form reliable and unique Insights;

Expressing information: Able to communicate in spoken and written language logically and clearly in structure.

We further refined the thinking ability corresponding to these four stages into more than 80 specific thinking ability points, and children of different ages should master the corresponding ability.


Will children with critical thinking skills be out of gregariousness?

Critical thinking is not blindly negative, the result of independent thinking may also be recognized and supported; it is also not disregarded emotional, emotions and rational interaction, factors to be considered are the judges; critical thinking than people do fine bars thorn, Also consider the occasion and way of expression.

There are three keywords for critical thinking :

The first is questioning. The question here is not to say that I am always picking others up bitterly, it is more of introspection. I always question my blind faith, intuition, impulse, and preconceptions, and recognize and acknowledge my limitations.

The second is pluralism. It is necessary to look at complex issues more comprehensively with an open mind, treat different perspectives equally, respect people who hold different views, come from different cultural backgrounds, and enjoy different identity labels.

The third is rationality. Abandon blind obedience to authority, the public, and tradition, identify and control your own emotions, adhere to the empirical spirit, and insist on seeking truth from facts.

Critical thinking pursues truth-seeking, knowledge-seeking, open, and fair thinking qualities, requiring people to be introspective, humble, and curious, and to maintain empathy and kindness towards others. This is more conducive to the establishment of interpersonal relationships.


How do cultivate students critical thinking?

There are two basic ideas: dark lines and open lines.
Dark lines refer to ways to encourage students to think deeply through questioning and supplement knowledge from different perspectives, but they do not directly teach specific thinking methods. 

Training students' thinking ability through the dark line runs through the teaching of all ages, and it is especially the main method of training young children's thinking. 

This requires teachers or parents to have a deep understanding of what is being taught, have strong questioning skills and information literacy, and be able to provide students with the necessary support.

Open lines refer to methods of teaching critical thinking clearly in instructional design, such as what is weighing argumentation, inductive argumentation, how to evaluate argumentation with three standards, and how to express it in a pyramid structure. This is more suitable for students above the fourth grade because at this time the child's abstract and logical thinking begins to develop rapidly. 

Moreover, it is very necessary to teach thinking methods directly, which can quickly improve the quality of students' thinking and reduce unnecessary inefficient thinking. This requires teachers or parents to be proficient in critical thinking methods and be able to apply them flexibly in combination with different topics and teaching content.

Specifically, combining reading and writing, using open lines to train children's critical thinking ability and wise judgment ability is more effective. Some high-quality teaching in the world has been doing this. 

Without deliberate training, children often only pay attention to the plot of the story when they read by themselves, and cannot understand the deep meaning behind the classic books; without reading and thinking as a basis, writing is easily emotionally empty and lacks insight.

For example, reading Mark Twain's famous book "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" can train critical thinking skills by evaluating characters and evaluating key events.

"What kind of person do you think Tom Sawyer is? What adjective would you use to describe him? Do you recognize something Tom Sawyer did? If it were you, what would you do?"

Evaluating people or events is a frequently appearing question in the exam, and should also be focused on when reading. It reflects the depth of students' understanding of people and things. 

Learning to evaluate people or events better can also help children understand themselves and others more deeply, reflect on some practices of themselves and others, and establish a moral system that they believe in.

However, students often encounter some difficulties: putting the wrong label on the character just because of one or two things, forming a stereotype; not seeing the complexity and richness of the character; not knowing what criteria or principles should be used to evaluate one thing.

Combining critical thinking in reading and writing, students will learn to use high-quality inductive argumentation, see the laws of character behavior, and accurately grasp the character's characteristics;
  • Learn the fallacy of over-generalization, and be wary of stereotypes of Tom Sawyer and other people in life;
  • Learn to return to factual evidence, look at problems from different angles, and understand that people are complex and changeable;
  • Learn to use high-quality trade-offs to demonstrate and evaluate one thing;
  • Learn structured attribution to analyze the causes of Tom Sawyer’s character or the reason behind a problem in the book;
  • Learn to present the argumentation process through writing ;
  • Learn the pyramid structure to make oral expression and writing logical and clear;

How to become a critical-thinking person?

If you want to be a critical thinking person, or you want your child to have critical thinking, you can practice according to these steps.
 
Let children learn how to ask questions. If you encounter a problem, write down the problem in a notebook or paper. You may find that the problems are endless, so let them guide you!

Let children have a curiosity. Curiosity is the desire to learn and explore. It can come in handy in occupations such as explorers, detectives, scientists, artists, journalists, and teachers. 

They need to learn by asking questions. Asking the right questions can reveal the core of things. Spending more time in the critical thinking phase can make the other steps more successful.

Let children learn how to collect evidence. Once you figure out what questions to ask, you should start collecting evidence so that you can learn more about the topics you are interested in. 

You must have your favorite books, magazines, web pages, and blogs, and even know a librarian who can help you learn new projects, but you must also expand your search for answers and pay attention to evidence that may contradict you.

The steps of collecting evidence are: searching for information, establishing contact, and drawing conclusions from the contact. The process of collecting evidence is like completing a continuous puzzle. In the process of parent-child companionship, you can complete the steps of collecting evidence together.

Let children learn how to draw conclusions. At this point, you have basically completed the process of critical thinking, and in the process of drawing conclusions, there are still very important points: review the original problem, review the evidence and what you have learned, and consider your values. It is not easy to think independently. Sometimes it is too tiring. It is also a good thing to let the brain rest.

Critical thinking is not only about finding answers or drawing conclusions but also about learning and growth. Practicing independent thinking in real life.


Conclusion of the Great Critical Thinking Books for Children and Teens

Thinking determines the choice, and choice determines life. To change, we must start with speculation.

May every child, in the rapidly changing 21st century, have the ability to make wise judgments, so as to bring inner stability and realize their potential.

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