Helping Young Children Grow, a seminal book on early child development by local Child Psychoanalyst Erna Furman, is available for Kindle e-readers at the Amazon Kindle bookstore for $9.99. It had previously been out of print.
Published in 1987, the book was the basis of a groundbreaking course in child development, which Hanna Perkins continues to teach. Mrs. Furman, who was known for her her research in the field of child analysis and her writing on child development for lay readers, died in 2002.
Helping Young Children Grow is written in non-technical terms suitable for students, parents, educators, medical students and mental health professionals. It is a clear and practical guide to understanding children, child development and personality development, and is intended for anyone who works with children and parents.
The book has a warm and conversational tone and uses a Socratic approach. Written from a psychodynamic perspective, it has three parts: 1) Relationships in Early Childhood; 2) Learning Self-Control and Coping with Daily Tasks; and 3)Using Inner Resources to Enrich Life. It also includes a chapter on bereavement in childhood. Each of these three sections is also now available as a separate Kindle e-book under the titles Relationships in Early Childhood; Self Control & Mastery in Early Childhood; and Needs, Urges & Feelings in Early Childhood. Cost for each is $3.99.
The book was created as a project by the Cleveland Center for Research in Child Development, with which Mrs. Furman had a long affiliation. She also was associated with The Hanna Perkins Center for Child Development and Hanna Perkins School.
At the time Helping Young Children Grow was written, the research group that worked with Mrs. Furman also collaborated to create a high school course, which was first taught in the Shaker Heights (Ohio) school system and the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. It is currently used as education for teachers themselves, and is offered several times a year through The Hanna Perkins Center for Child Development.
A portion of proceeds from any purchase made through a link on this page will be returned to Hanna Perkins Center for Child Development through the Amazon affiliates program.
It is not necessary to have a Kindle device to read any of the books. A free Kindle app can be downloaded for use on smartphones, tablets, computers and a browser. The app is available here.