Carpendale, J: Development of Children's Thinking

With minimal jargon, clear language, and plenty of examples, the authors offer both a tour of social and communicative development, as well as a comprehensive argument regarding how development should be conceptualized. Drawing from relational views of development tracing back from George Herbert Mead, Jean Piaget, and Lev Vygotsky, to more modern thinkers and theories, this book argues convincingly for placing the developing child within a developmental system.

Students and other readers will also relish in the organization of the book, which traces development from the first moments infancy to the social complexities of childhood.

This text does an excellent job uncovering the assumptions that underlie theories in development psychology, such as those regarding knowledge, meaning, language, and morality. This feature is particularly valuable for students as it provides the tools for evaluating future theories in light of their philosophical assumptions, not just by what empirical evidence there happens to be. Beau Wallbridge