Pixie (novel) by Matthew Lipman

Authors

Matthew Lipman, Montclair State University

Files

ISBN

0-916834-17-4

Publication Date

1981

Publisher

The Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children

Number of Pages

97

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Summary

Pixie is an elementary school student perplexed and delighted by many aspects of her experience. This novel emphasizes relationships (logical, social, familial, aesthetic, causal, part-whole, mathematical, etc.) as well as competence in dealing with such relationships. Ethical concepts include sibling-rivalry, personhood, respect for others, friendship, secrets, promise-keeping, parent-child relationships, obedience, teasing, and autonomy. Readers will find the pages of Pixie strewn with philosophical ideas and puzzles that lead to lively classroom deliberation. The text includes some blank pages for young readers to try their hand at book illustration.

Excerpt

Excerpt from Pixie, Chapter 7, episode 1, pp. 49-50

On Saturday afternoon, my father and mother had to go visit my father's boss,

who was in the hospital. They said they didn't want to take Miranda and me with them, and we said, "Fine, we'll stay home! We didn't want to go anyhow!"

As they were leaving, my mother said, "Remember, now, you'll be here alone, and I don't want you to let anyone in. That's a rule you mustn't break!"

They said they would be back in two or three hours. Daddy patted me on the head, and they were gone.

I did a little dance around the kitchen table, and Miranda said, "What's with you?"

"We're free!" I yelled. "The house belongs to us!"

"You're crazy," said Miranda. "Nothing's changed. You know perfectly well that there are family rules, and they stay the same whether Mom and Dad are here or not."

"Free, free, free," I sang. "Free, free, free! Everything's possible!"

Miranda wrinkled up her nose, like she always does, and said, "You're disgusting!"

I said, "I'm going right to Momma's closet and put on her good dress that comes down to the floor."

It'll swallow you," said Miranda. "But maybe that's good!"

Just then there was a knock at the door. I didn't take off the chain; I just called out, "Who's there?" and I heard Isabel say, "It's Isabel - and Connie."

Miranda said, "Pixie, you heard what Momma said. We're not supposed to let anyone in. Rules are rules!"

"But Momma didn't mean we should keep out people we know!" I insisted.

Miranda said, "There are lots of kooks we know that Momma wouldn't want us to let in."

Just then Isabel called from the other side of the door, "Pixie, don't worry about us. We just stopped by to say hello. See you tomorrow!"

I didn't want a big argument with Miranda. So I went up in Momma's closet, and sat down on the floor, among the shoes, and thought about my mystery creature and my mystery story. I grumbled to myself, "Can you imagine, this is the only place I can be free to be me!"

Editions

Pixie, by Matthew Lipman; published 1981 in Montclair, New Jersey by The Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children

Translations

• Arabic translation (Israel): Lipman, Matthew (2006) نور [“Nur” (the light)]. Translated by سلمان الأمير عامر (Salman Elamir Amir). Jerusalem, Israel: The Israeli Centre of Philosophy for Children and Self-Remaking.

• Australian Edition. Lipman, Matthew (1981/1989) Pixie. Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia: Australian Council for Educational Research.

• Catalan translation (Spain): Lipman, Matthew (1989) Pimi. Llibre de l'estudiant. Programa Filosofia del llenguatge [Pimi. Student book. Philosophy of Language Program]. Translated by Josep-Maria Terricabras. Barcelona: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. ISBN 9788476026977.

• Chinese translation (PRC): Lipman, Matthew (1997) 思思 [Si Si]. Translated by 李尚武 (Shangwu Li). 太原: 山西教育出版社 [Tai yuan: Shan xi jiao yu chu ban she].

• Chinese translation (ROC): Lipman, Matthew (1985) 靈靈 [Lingling]. Translated by 楊茂秀 (Maoxiu Yang). 台北市: 王子出版社 [Taipei City, Republic of China: Prince Press].

• Danish translation by Holger Scheibel, published 1985. [Need title & publication information.]

• French translation (Quebec, Canada): Lipman, Matthew (1983) Pixie. Translated by Arséne Richard. Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada: Éditions d'Acadie. ISBN 9782760001671

• German translation (Austria): Lipman, Matthew (2007) Das geheimnisvolle Wesen. Philosophieren mit Kindern [The mysterious being. Philosophizing with Children]. Edited and translated by Daniela G. Camhy. Sankt Augustin, Germany: Academia Verlag. ISBN 9783896654380. (First published October 1986 in Vienna, Austria, by Holder, Pichler & Temsky).

• Hebrew translation (Israel): Lipman, Matthew (2006) נוּר [“Nur” (the light)]. Translated by Dafi Agam-Segal. Jerusalem, Israel: The Israeli Centre of Philosophy for Children and Self-Remaking.

• Hungarian (Hungary): Lipman, Matthew (1995) Pixi: gyermekek filozófiája [Pixie: children’s philosophy]. Translated by Tamássy Györgyi. Budapest: Krónika Nova Kiadó.

• Icelandic translation (Iceland): Lipman, Matthew (1989) Aśa. Translated by Hreinn Pálsson. Reykjavík, Iceland: Heimspekiskólinn.

• Italian translation (Italy): Lipman, Matthew (1999) Pixie. Adapted, edited and translated by Antonio Cosentino. Naples, Italy: Liguori Editore. ISBN 9788820728755.

• Italian: in translation by Donatella Semproni. [Need title & publication information.]

• Korean translation (ROK): Lipman, Matthew (1999) 혼이의 비밀 [Honyi's Secret]. (Translator not indicated.) 서울시 : 한국철학교육 아카데미 출판부 [Seoul, Republic of Korea: Korean Academy of Philosophy Education Press].

• Persian translation (Iran): Lipman, Matthew (1386/2007) Pixie and its instructional manual Looking for Meaning. Translated by قائدی، یحیی [Qaedi, Yahya]; حسین نژاد، غلام رضا [Hossein Nejad, Gholam Reza]; قضاوی، فاطمه [Qazawi, Fatemeh]. مطالعات برنامه درسی (تهران) [Curriculum studies (Tehran)] 7: 151-171.

• Persian translation (Iran): Lipman, Matthew (2013/1392) Pixie. Translated by یحیی قائدی (Yahya Ghaedi) and اسفندیار تیموری (Esfandiar Teymouri). Tehran, Iran: پژوهشگاه علوم انسانی و مطالعات فرهنگی (The Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies).

• Portuguese translation (Brazil): Lipman, Matthew (1995) Pimpa. Translated by Sylvia Judith Hamburger Mandel. São Paulo, Brasil : Centro Brasileiro de Filosofia para Crianças.

• Romanian: (2000) Ruxi: filozofie pentru copii [Ruxi: philosophy for children]. Trans. and adapted Doina-Olga Ștefănescu and Veronica Focșenescu. Bucharest, RM: Humanitas Educațional.

• Spanish translation (Argentina): Lipman, Matthew (2000) Pixi. Translated by Walter O. Kohan and Vera Waksman. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Universidad de Buenos Aires Facultad de Filosofía y Letras.

• Spanish translation (Argentina): Lipman, Matthew (2006) Pixi. Translated by Cecilia Caputo and Andrea Pac. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Novedades Educativas. ISBN 9789875380066

• Spanish translation (Chile): Lipman, Matthew (2017) Pixy. Translated by Celso López S. and Ana María Vicuña N. Santiago, Chile: Ediciones Universidad Católica de Chile. ISBN 9789561421998

• Spanish translation (Chile) by Ana Maria Hartman. [Need title & publication information.]

• Spanish translation (Colombia): Lipman, Matthew (2003) Pixie. Translated by Diego Antonio Pineda Rivera. Bogotá, D.C.: Editora Beta.

• Spanish translation (Mexico): Lipman, Matthew (1998; 2013): Pixie. Translated and adapted by Claudia Hernández de Ponce de León and Eugenio Echeverría. ISBN 9786078301195

• Spanish translation (Spain): Lipman, Matthew (1989) Pixie. Translated by Manuel Miragaia. Madrid, Spain: Ediciones de la Torre. ISBN 9788479600693.

• Ukrainian translation (Ukraine): Lipman, Matthew (2002) Руся [Pixie]. Translated by М.І. Данілко [Margarita I. Danilko]. Edited by Ю.Ф. Скляниченко [Y.F. Sklyanychenko]. Kirovograd, UA: Кіровоградський державний педагогічний університет імені Володимира Винниченка [Kirovograd Volodymyr Vynnychenko State Pedagogical University].

• قائدی، یحیی [Qaedi, Yahya]; حسین نژاد، غلام رضا [Hossein Nejad, Gholam Reza]; قضاوی، فاطمه [Qazawi, Fatemeh] (1386/2007). پیکسی و راهنمای آموزش آن: به [Pixie and its instructional manual Looking for Meaning. مطالعات برنامه درسی (تهران) [Curriculum studies (Tehran)] 7: 151-171.

Disciplines

Education | Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education

Academic Research on the Pixie Curriculum

• Lipman, Matthew (1982) Sessions with Pixie in P.S. 87: A Classroom Log. Analytic Teaching 3(1): 19-25.

• Berrian, Annette (1984) Pixie: Classroom Discussions Following Exercises in the Pixie Manual. Analytic Teaching 5(1): 18-21.

• Martens, Ekkehard (1984) Pixie for Fourth Graders. Thinking: The Journal of Philosophy for Children 5(3): 15-18.

• Burdette, Pat (1985) Pixie: Looking for Meaning and the Third Grade. Analytic Teaching 6(1): 31-33.

• Lamb, Brain (1986) False Trees and Missing Teeth. Analytic Teaching 6(2): 34 [Student Papers].

• Riordan, Terry (1986) Simple and Complex Ideas. Analytic Teaching 6(2): 50 [Student Papers].

• Martin Elrod, Peggy (1986) Pixie: A New Experience. Analytic Teaching 7(1): 33-35 [Student Papers].

• Stephens, Carol (1985) A Third Grade Experiment with Pixie. Analytic Teaching 7(1): 39-41 [Student Papers].

• Tweddale, Marilyn (1986) Pixie in Everyman. Analytic Teaching 7(1): 42-44 [Student Papers].

• Schleifer, Michael, Pierre Lubuis and Anita Caron (1987) The Effect of the Pixie Program on Logical and Moral Reasoning. Thinking: The Journal of Philosophy for Children 7(2): 12-16.

• Keele Martin, Cinda (1988) A Report on Pixie, Analytic Teaching 9(1): 52-62.

• Lipman, Matthew (1988) Preparing Teachers to Teach for Thinking. Ch. 12 of Philosophy Goes to School, 151-59 (Philadelphia: Temple University Press).

• Meyer, John J. (1989) A Quest of the Possible? Evaluation of the Impact of the Pixie Programme on 8-10 Year Olds. Analytic Teaching 9(2): 63-75.

• Velasco, Monica (1989) Brian! You are Talking. Analytic Teaching 10(1): 10-14.

• English, Lyn and Karen McIntosh (1991) Now it's My Turn: Andrew's Encounter with the Pixie Program. Thinking: The Journal of Philosophy for Children 9(4): 37-38.

• Lindop, Clive (1993) Pixie, Metaphor and Aboriginal Education.Thinking: The Journal of Philosophy for Children 10(4): 6-14.

• Turgeon, Wendy (1994) Pixie Problems: A Methodology Check. Thinking: The Journal of Philosophy for Children 12(1): 18-l9.

• Lindop, Clive (1995) Thought and Talk: Some Reflections from Pixie, Chapter 2. Analytic Teaching 16(1): 1-3.

• Sharp, Ann Margaret and Ronald F. Reed (Eds.) (1996) Studies in Philosophy for Children: Pixie. Madrid, ES: Ediciones de La Torre.

• عفتی کلاته، مریم [Efati Kaleteh, Maryam]; بهرنگی، محمدرضا [Behrangi, Mohammad Reza]; منفردی راز، براتعلی [Monfaredi Raz, Barat Ali] (1397/2018). زبانی دانش آموزان دوزبانه از مراحل الگوی مدیریت آموزش فلسفه برای کودکان با محوریت اجتماع [The effect of the steps of the philosophy for children's management model centered on the community of philosophical inquiry on the development of bilingual students’ language skills]. (تهران) فصلنامه تعلیم و تربیت [Education Quarterly (Tehran)] 135: 121-141.

Archival Materials Related to the Pixie Curriculum

• “Spine” of philosophical issues and skills

• Lipman, Matthew (1996) Sources and References for Pixie. In Ann Margaret Sharp and Ronald F. Reed (Eds.) Studies in Philosophy for Children: Pixie, 316-404. Madrid, ES: Ediciones de La Torre.

Comments

Target Grades: 3-4

Recommended Citation

Lipman, Matthew (1981) Pixie. Montclair, NJ: Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children. URL https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/iapc_primary_schl_curriculum/1.