This is a truly delightful, little
book. Little because it is only seventy seven pages long — it is, after, all
written for children of ten plus years. Delightful because, well, it has an
almost fairytale element about it. The author used to be a high school teacher,
a university teacher of English, a children’s librarian, and an editor. She now
teaches adults at a Unitarian center in Florida and that is the clue as to
where she is coming from in this book.

The fairytale monster is the range
of fundamentalist Christian sects with their frightening dogmatism, intolerance
and bigotry. The unlikely heroine is Mrs. Green, a class teacher of thirty two
youngsters many of whom unthinkingly hold their parents’ appallingly extreme Christian
views. As a teacher my heart went out to Mrs. Green — she is so patient and
understanding. As a tolerant person I shared her quiet horror at the bigotry
which had been indoctrinated into the minds of her pupils: Chad — "all good people are religious"; Jesse — "how can they be good if
they don’t go to church? … I’ll bet all Humanists are Jews! … they are bad
people because they killed Jesus." Steve — "I think teachers who don’t
believe in God should be fired!" Mary — "some people will go to
heaven no matter what they do. They are called the ‘elected’". I have to
admit as someone who has lived in the Middle East for the last six years that
Fundamentalist Christianity worries me as much as Fundamentalist Islam so this
book certainly resonated with me. Mrs. Green may not kill the monster in this
story but she certainly goes a long way towards taming him in the hearts of
some of her pupils.

The story is set round the occasion
when the pupils ask to pray for one of their classmates who has been injured in
an accident. Mrs. Green explains that they are not allowed to pray in class.
This leads to an explosion of questions about the separation of state and
religion which in turn evokes the expressions of intolerance quoted above. The
children want a religious discussion which has to be conducted out of class
time so letters get sent home and six permission slips come back. The bulk of
the book is the discussion which then takes place. Mrs. Green carefully
explains the Humanist position on a wide range of issues. There is no fairytale
solution – real life is unfortunately messier. However, the Humanist position
is very clearly and appealingly stated.

The book is beautifully written and
produced for children. It has some Humanist poems, some very interesting
questions and a bibliography for both adults and older teens. I cannot
recommend this book too highly. If you the reader have a child of ten years or
more and you want her/him to grow up to be a good and tolerant person — please
make a present of this book.

© 2007
Kevin M. Purday

Kevin
Purday is a consultant in international education working mainly in Europe,
Africa and the Middle East. His main focus is on helping schools to set up the
International Baccalaureate Middle Years and Diploma Programs. He has taught
both philosophy and psychology in the I.B. diploma program.

Categories: Philosophical, Ethics, Children