trbrady

The Junior Philosophical Society
Tony Thorne MBE
Etcetera Press
ISBN: 0-905-119-14-2
Contemporary
Reviewed by Tami Brady

The Junior Philosophical Society contains a series of minute meetings of the Junior Philosophical Society made up of a group of pre-teens and diary excerpts of the group’s eleven year old founder. These accounts are meant specifically to educate parents and give them a reality check about what their children actually know and the questions that these youngsters want answered.

The topics discussed by these children are quite surprising. Meeting topics include everything from evolution, religion, and the beginnings of the universe through time travel, space travel, and the supernatural to computers, the future, and politics. Moreover, the children talk candidly about parental rules of behavior, asking parents questions, and the hypocrisy of adult behavior.

I found reading The Junior Philosophical Society interesting on a number of levels. As a parent, I was reminded that true parenting involves sometime answering the difficult questions and engaging in conversations that I’d hoped I wouldn’t have to deal with. However, this book also took me back to a time when I wanted to ask the questions and was put off. Our kids have so much curiosity and wonder, it’s truly amazing.