This is a collection of the best parenting books recommended by experts. Every parent does the best they can, but there are times when the challenges can feel overwhelming and exhausting. Our growing collection of parenting books recommended by experts is aimed at providing information and good advice for parents to help them to raise happy, confident and resilient children.
This section covers mindful parenting, motherhood, fatherhood, child development, play, education, vaccines, child psychology and more. We have recommended books for before birth, and the infant stage to teenage years.
Inventing Ourselves: The Secret Life of the Teenage Brain was recently featured as one of the best science books to take on holiday.
Our experts include professors and leading figures in their field, so whatever your parenting questions, you are bound to find the answers here.
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1
Family Values: The Ethics of Parent-Child Relationships
by Adam Swift & Harry Brighouse -
2
Wish We Knew What to Say: Talking with Children About Race
by Pragya Agarwal -
3
Raising Feminist Boys: How to Talk with Your Child about Gender, Consent, and Empathy
by Bobbi Wegner -
4
How to Raise Kids Who Aren't Assholes: Science-Based Strategies for Better Parenting, from Tots to Teens
by Melinda Wenner Moyer -
5
How to Talk to Your Kids About Climate Change: Turning Angst into Action
by Harriet Shugarman
The best books on The Ethics of Parenting, recommended by Elizabeth Cripps
The best books on The Ethics of Parenting, recommended by Elizabeth Cripps
What does it mean to be a good parent and what influence do we have on children as they navigate the challenges of the 21st century? Philosopher Elizabeth Cripps, a senior lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, recommends books that shed light on some of the ethics of parenting, including one on how to raise kids who aren’t assholes.
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1
Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race and Family Life
by Annette Lareau -
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How Children Succeed. Grit, Curiosity and the Hidden Power of Character
by Paul Tough -
3
Intelligence and How To Get It: Why Schools and Culture Count
by Richard E. Nisbett -
4
Promises I Can Keep: Why Poor Women Put Motherhood before Marriage
by Kathryn Edin & Maria Kefalas -
5
Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom is Wrong and What You Really Need to Know
by Emily Oster
Parenting: A Social Science Perspective, recommended by Nate G. Hilger
Parenting: A Social Science Perspective, recommended by Nate G. Hilger
We think of parenting as a level playing field because loving your kids and doing everything you can for them comes naturally and isn’t determined by socio-economic status. The problem is that it may not be enough, says economist Nate G. Hilger. Here, he argues for a more activist approach so that kids across society have an equal opportunity to do well in life.
Genevieve Von Lob on Mindful Parenting
Dr Genevieve Von Lob talks to Five Books about the pressures and strains on family life today, and how a mindful approach can help us all.
The best books on Understanding Infants, recommended by Tobias Hecht
The anthropologist explains how infants are socially aware and why behaviour thought inevitable in some cultures, such as tantrums, can be uncommon elsewhere
The best books on Life Before Birth – And Life After It, recommended by Vivette Glover
The professor of perinatal psychobiology at Imperial College, London tells us how our understanding of foetal development and the importance of mother-child bonding has changed in recent decades
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Pricing the Priceless Child: The Changing Social Value of Children
by Viviana A Zelizer -
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Social Development
by H. Rudolph Schaffer -
3
The Roads of Chinese Childhood
by Charles Stafford -
4
The Child in the City
by Colin Ward -
5
The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger
by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett
The best books on Children, recommended by Jo Boyden
The best books on Children, recommended by Jo Boyden
We all know how children should be brought up, and rarely question the cultural norms that underly that certainty. But what does that mean for the policies we try to impose on the developing world? Jo Boyden, professor of international development at Oxford University and director of its Young Lives study, picks books that question our assumptions about how to successfully raise a child.
The best books on Being a Mother, recommended by Amy Chua
The author of the self-satirising memoir on ambitious “tiger mothers” talks us through the books about motherhood that have made the most impact on her.
Best Books About Dads, recommended by Paul Howard
Depictions of fathers in children’s books have leapt forward in recent years, says illustrator Paul Howard. He talks us through his favourite visions of modern dads in books, from the ultimate macho man to fathers at their most vulnerable.
The best books on Child Psychology and Mental Health, recommended by Tanya Byron
Clinical psychologist, author and broadcaster discusses the stigmas attached to mental health problems, and asks whether, as a society, we are really doing what’s best for our children
Deborah Levy on Motherhood in Literature
Aristotle tells us that all politics starts in the family, and nowhere is that more obvious than in the infamously fraught relationship between mother and daughter. Here, the novelist, playwright and poet Deborah Levy chooses five books – or rather, four books and one film – that explore motherhood.
The best books on Educating Your Child, recommended by Peg Tyre
Education writer Peg Tyre says many parents don’t understand how children learn and so don’t know what to look for in a school. She recommends five books to bring parents up to speed.
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The Playdate: Parents, Children and the New Expectations of Play
by Tamara Mose -
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Producing Excellence: The Making of Virtuosos
by Izabela Wagner -
3
Young Money: Inside the Hidden World of Wall Street's Post-Crash Recruits
by Kevin Roose -
4
Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys
by Victor M Rios -
5
Close to Home: A Materialist Analysis of Women's Oppression
by Christine Delphy
The best books on Millennials, recommended by Malcolm Harris
The best books on Millennials, recommended by Malcolm Harris
The Millennial cohort is often characterised as a shallow, social media-obsessed generation that puts avocado toast ahead of the future. But in reality they are overeducated, underemployed and beset by anxiety, says Malcolm Harris, millennial and author of Kids These Days. Here he selects five books that paint a more accurate portrait of the first generation to come of age in the 21st century.
The best books on Happiness for Children, recommended by Vanessa King
What is happiness? Why does happiness matter? Vanessa King, lead psychologist at the charity/non-profit Action for Happiness, discusses how developing ours and our children’s happiness skills can have benefits for our own lives and for society as a whole.
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Risky Lessons: Sex Education and Social Inequality
by Jessica Fields -
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Not Under My Roof: Parents, Teens, and the Culture of Sex
by Amy Schalet -
3
Sex, Teens, and Everything in Between
by Shafia Zaloom -
4
Yes! No! A First Conversation about Consent
by Isabel Roxas, Jessica Ralli & Megan Madison -
5
Speak
by Laurie Halse Anderson
The best books on Sex and Teenagers, recommended by Jennifer Hirsch
The best books on Sex and Teenagers, recommended by Jennifer Hirsch
We have a responsibility to educate our teenagers about sex and intimacy, says Jennifer Hirsch—Professor of Sociomedical Sciences at Columbia University and the co-author of a new book on campus sexual assault. Here she recommends five books that offer parents and teens guidance on how to approach an often fraught topic.
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The Memoirs Of Marguerite De Valois
by Marguerite De Valois -
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Why Not Say What Happened?: A Memoir
by Ivana Lowell -
3
Casting with a Fragile Thread: A Story of Sisters and Africa
by Wendy Kann -
4
The Mighty Queens of Freeville
by Amy Dickinson -
5
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
by Cheryl Strayed
The best books on Memoirs of Dauntless Daughters, recommended by Nancy Goldstone
The best books on Memoirs of Dauntless Daughters, recommended by Nancy Goldstone
In her book The Rival Queens, historian Nancy Goldstone explored the destructive relationship between Marguerite de Valois and her mother Catherine de’ Medici. Here she chooses five different memoirs that best explore the emotionally complex dynamics that characterise mother-daughter relationships.
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Polio: An American Story
by David Oshinsky -
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Vaccine: The Controversial Story of Medicine's Greatest Lifesaver
by Arthur Allen -
3
The Cutter Incident: How America's First Polio Vaccine Led to the Growing Vaccine Crisis
by Paul Offit -
4
Microbe Hunters
by Paul de Kruif -
5
The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic
by Steven Johnson
The Best Vaccine Books, recommended by Seth Mnookin
The Best Vaccine Books, recommended by Seth Mnookin
The history of vaccines is fascinating, and we highly recommend all the books discussed in this interview with Seth Mnookin, author of The Panic Virus and Professor of Science Writing at MIT. These are gripping reads that tell the story of vaccines, medicine’s greatest life-saver, and the risks people took to find them.
The best books on Fatherhood, recommended by Kyle Pruett
Fathers and mothers play very different roles in a child’s development, says Kyle Pruett, Clinical Professor in the Child Study Center at Yale School of Medicine—and both are essential. He recommends books on fathers and fatherhood—for both parents.
The best books on Mindset and Success, recommended by Carol Dweck
If you’ve stepped inside a school recently, you’ve probably heard teachers talking about the importance of a ‘growth mindset.’ Here psychologist Carol Dweck, who pioneered research into this key concept, explains what it’s all about and recommends books—other than her own—that shed light on it.
The best books on The Gender Trap, recommended by Peggy Orenstein
From an early age, girls learn to be pretty in pink while boys are marketed a prepackaged masculinity. The author of Cinderella Ate My Daughter explains how parents can give their children a broader, more imaginative outlook
The best books on Play, recommended by Dorothy Singer
Play is a vital learning experience. But not all play is equal. Some helps children develop their imagination and learn cooperative behaviour. Some doesn’t. The Yale psychologist explains all
The best books on Human Imperfection, recommended by Henry Normal
Poet, writer and Bafta winning TV and film producer, Henry Normal, talks about his experiences bringing up his autistic son, the need for acceptance and why we should all embrace our human imperfections. Along the way he recommends five books that inspired him as a young man and continue to inspire him today.
The best books on Child Psychotherapy, recommended by Judith Edwards
The Consultant Psychotherapist at The Tavistock Clinic explains the history of Child Psychotherapy and walks us through the five books that have influenced her most