Under Pressure and Coloring Outside the Lines

Before I wrote The Case Against Homework, I rarely corresponded with authors about their books and ideas. But since the publication of my book, I’ve heard from thousands of readers and I’ve been inspired to write to other authors as well.

Last week, I exchanged books with Carl Honore, author of Under Pressure: Rescuing Our Children from the Culture of Hyper-Parenting. Honore is also the author of the best-selling In Praise of Slowness: Challenging the Cult of Speed. Under Pressure is an easy-to-read, common-sense musing on how parents’ natural instinct to want the best for their children has backfired, turning childhood into a rat race.

I’ve also corresponded with Roger Schank, author of Coloring Outside the Lines. Schank, the Founder of the renowned Institute for the Learning Sciences at Northwestern University, explains that being smart doesn’t necessarily mean getting straight A’s, and he writes about the importance of, among other things, nurturing our children so that they can speak convincingly and eloquently, think on their feet, create original ideas that push the boundaries, be willing to risk failure, and feel free enough to color outside the lines.

These books are all worth reading.