Parenting books, from around the world
Fifteen books parents talk about, from Tokyo to Copenhagen to the Venezuelan rainforest — what each one is about, and where its ideas come from.
The shelf
15 books
United States
How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk
Adele Faber, Elaine Mazlish · First published 1980
Practical ways to listen, to handle big feelings and to invite cooperation without nagging — with cartoons that show the words in action.
On Open Library: How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will TalkJapan
Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window窓ぎわのトットちゃん
Tetsuko Kuroyanagi · First published 1981
The author’s memoir of her unusual primary school in wartime Tokyo, and the headmaster who let children be themselves. One of the best-selling books in Japan’s history.
On Open Library: Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the WindowMexico · Canada · Tanzania
Hunt, Gather, Parent
Michaeleen Doucleff · First published 2021
A science journalist travels with her young daughter to Maya, Inuit and Hadzabe families, and brings back how they raise calm, helpful children.
On Open Library: Hunt, Gather, ParentUnited Kingdom
The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read
Philippa Perry · First published 2019
A psychotherapist on the relationship between parent and child: feelings, repair after a rupture, and how our own childhood shapes the way we parent.
On Open Library: The Book You Wish Your Parents Had ReadItaly · first published in India
The Absorbent Mind
Maria Montessori · First published 1949
Montessori’s lectures on the first six years of life and how young children take in the world around them — given, and first published, in India.
On Open Library: The Absorbent MindDenmark
The Danish Way of Parenting
Jessica Joelle Alexander, Iben Dissing Sandahl · First published 2014
An American writer and a Danish psychotherapist on what Danish parents do: plenty of free play, honesty, empathy, no ultimatums and “hygge” — time together.
On Open Library: The Danish Way of ParentingFrance
Bringing Up Bébé
Pamela Druckerman · First published 2012
An American journalist raising her children in Paris describes French parenting: patience, meals together, and the “cadre” — a firm frame with freedom inside it.
On Open Library: Bringing Up BébéSweden
There’s No Such Thing as Bad Weather
Linda Åkeson McGurk · First published 2017
A Swedish mother living in the United States on the Scandinavian love of outdoor life, and on letting children play outside in every kind of weather.
On Open Library: There’s No Such Thing as Bad WeatherNetherlands
The Happiest Kids in the World
Rina Mae Acosta, Michele Hutchison · First published 2017
Two mothers raising children in the Netherlands on Dutch childhood: cycling to school, lots of free play, and a relaxed view of achievement.
On Open Library: The Happiest Kids in the WorldDenmark
Your Competent ChildDit kompetente barn
Jesper Juul · First published 1995
A family therapist argues that children are capable from birth, and that families do best on dignity and respect rather than obedience.
On Open Library: Your Competent ChildPoland
The Child’s Right to RespectPrawo dziecka do szacunku
Janusz Korczak · First published 1929
A doctor and orphanage director’s short, passionate case that children deserve respect as the people they are now, not only as future adults.
On Open Library: The Child’s Right to RespectVenezuela
The Continuum Concept
Jean Liedloff · First published 1975
Written after the author’s time with the Ye’kuana people in the Venezuelan rainforest: babies carried in arms, and trust in children’s own instincts.
On Open Library: The Continuum ConceptAustralia
Raising Boys
Steve Biddulph · First published 1997
A family psychologist on how boys develop at different ages, and what they need from the adults around them at each stage.
On Open Library: Raising BoysUnited States
The Whole-Brain Child
Daniel J. Siegel, Tina Payne Bryson · First published 2011
A psychiatrist and a psychotherapist explain in everyday words how a child’s developing brain shapes their reactions, with twelve strategies for the hard moments.
On Open Library: The Whole-Brain ChildUnited States
NurtureShock
Po Bronson, Ashley Merryman · First published 2009
Two science journalists look at research on praise, sleep, lying, siblings and more — and where it goes against common parenting beliefs.
On Open Library: NurtureShock
How this list was made
- These are widely read books from different countries and traditions, chosen so the list isn’t only one culture’s view of raising children.
- Listing a book is not an endorsement of everything in it, and none has been reviewed by a clinician for ParentMind. Take what fits your family.
- Nobody pays to be here, and we earn nothing from the links. Covers are the published covers, from the Open Library cover archive.
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