Pint-Sized Reads for Pint-sized Philosophers

by Kris Kahrs

I started this week writing a post about Intentionality and Process which eventually made my brain hurt and was such a theoretical morass that even firing Jeff Zucker wouldn’t have saved it. So, I decided to post about a new line of kidlit that introduces basic Philosophy concepts to children.

The series of books is called, Deep Thoughts for Big Thinkers and is published by the Wee Think Big imprint of Bob’s Books, a division of Random Publishing which is a subsidiary of McDonalds.

JP’s Bad, Horrible, No-Good Day: In this riveting PB, 6 year old Jean-Paul Sartre knocks his mother’s vase off the table and is grounded for the week. JP weeps, mopes and throws tantrums until his strict, authoritarian grandfather announces, “You did it to yourself, boy!” At which point, JP retreats to his room and commences his life’s work, “Being and Nothingness”. Illustrations by H.P. Lovecraft.

Can You Believe Your Eyes?: Uh, oh, Rene Descartes is in trouble with the Schoolmaster again. He won’t use the red crayon because he can’t prove that it is really, really the color red. The Schoolmaster says that Rene must stay after school until he learns his colors. Will Rene stop doubting his eyes and rejecting the Crayola 64 color box?

Click, Clack, Choo!: Mr. Kant wants to take the train to Stuttgart to buy some strudel, but needs to know what time it will leave the station. The Stationmaster assures him that the train leaves Konigsberg at precisely 9 a.m. daily. Mr. Kant says, “No, no, no, it is only 9 a.m from your point of view. What time would it be from my perspective?” While the Stationmaster has a lie-down, Immanuel Kant attempts to work out the time for himself. Will he reach Stuttgart before the bakery closes?