Douglas Harris

Elle the Humanist Douglas Harris

Elle the Humanist is a beautifully illustrated book by nine-year-old Elle Harris, presenting humanist ideas and ethics in a way that's warm, welcoming, and accessible for young readers. It features a foreword by renowned philosopher and author Daniel Dennett. Elle had a small problem. Growing up in a secular household, but in a community dominated by one religion, Elle was one of the few kids in her third-grade class who wasn't religious. When she talked to friends and classmates, she found that many of them had a hard time imagining someone who didn't go to church or pray. Some others wondered how Elle could know right from wrong without religious leaders or sacred books to tell her. The conversations Elle found herself having weren't judgmental or contentious, but the result of honest curiosity. After school, Elle would ask her dad to help her explain what she believed and how she felt in a way that would make sense to the other kids at school. From those talks came ideas that eventually became Elle the Humanist a warm, clearly expressed introduction to humanism for young readers.