Children, Youth and Environments Vol. 15 No. 2 (2005) ISSN: 1546-2250 Rethinking Childhood Pufall, Peter B. and Unsworth, Richard P. (2004). New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press; 292 pages. $23.95. ISBN 0813533651. Are adults—especially those who study and work with young people—capable of rethinking childhood? Armed with research and rigorous training, we tend to look at children through the lenses of our specific disciplines, focusing on one small aspect of those we observe and filtering out what falls beyond the limits of our neat models. We conduct tests and interviews; we generate tables of statistics. We devise clever ways of tidying up the messy world of children’s own actions and values and speak authoritatively on the problems they face today. Meanwhile, children go about their lives, thinking, speaking and acting in ways we would never expect. Our studies and approaches are too often irrelevant to those we mean to assist. Our paradigmatic glasses need new lenses. Editors Peter B. Pufall and Richard P. Unsworth, together with 18 colleagues trained in a variety of social science and humanities fields, compiled Rethinking Childhood in an attempt 418 to sharpen our perspective on who children really are as human beings and how best to work and learn with them. They make the case for a new paradigm—one based on a foundation of practice, active listening and true interdisciplinary discussion grounded in an understanding of children as fully human now; human beings, not human “becomings.” The book emerged from a collaborative process during which contributors discussed and critiqued each others’ work, made connections between the ideas in each section and chapter, and cut through academic jargon to keep the writing accessible and relevant. In both process and product, Rethinking Childhood models ways for us to do just that. At the heart of Rethinking Childhood, write the editors in their introduction, is an effort to “put the experiencing person at the center of our inquiry” (14). The contributors focus on children’s voice and agency from a variety of perspectives, engaging not only children’s experiences but also insights offered by colleagues in different disciplines. The result is a groundbreaking book that contributes to a new model of “applied developmental science”—a pragmatic perspective that takes its research questions from real-world situations, working from practice to theory and back again. While action research and programs that emphasize children’s participation have helped to bring awareness to the ways in which children solve problems and exercise their agency, applied developmental science goes further. It transcends the specific problem at hand and allows for a broader understanding of who children are and how their responses to and actions within different situations indicate programs can best serve their needs and interests. Working from an applied developmental science perspective requires humility of adults, and a willingness to let children lead the way. The book offers several concrete examples of how to go about rethinking childhood. In his chapter on “Children as Philosophers,” Gareth Matthews recounts his profound philosophical conversations with groups of primary school students, based on dialogues he adapted from classic 419 philosophy texts. Not only do the children understand the essential nature of these long-standing human quandaries, but they also come up with connections Matthews himself didn’t expect. Instead of filtering out their unexpected insights as incorrect or ignoring them altogether, Matthews describes his excitement about the children’s ideas and humbly admits when they see through his oversimplified rendition of one dialogue. He discusses the many rewards of having philosophical conversations with children and points out why we so often fail to engage them in such meaningful dialogues. “We don’t think of our children as being capable of having philosophical thoughts or as being interested in pursuing them,” he writes, but that is to our detriment, as well as theirs (53). We also do not tend to think of children as being aware of or capable of expressing spiritual needs. In the chapter, “Children as Theologians,” Eileen W. Lindner provides much evidence to the contrary, including results of research with pastors and children that illustrate the disconnect between the two groups’ perspectives on when children need...