Book Review by Mitch Hall
 This Hurts Me More Than It Hurts You: In Words and Pictures Children Share How Spanking Hurts and What To Do Instead
 by Nadine A. Block, M.Ed. with Madeleine Y. Gómez, Ph.D.
 Published by the Center for Effective Discipline, 2011

This beautifully produced book is a marvel of genuineness, poignancy, and significant cultural importance. It features the emotionally evocative, full-color drawings and poetically expressed words of children, ranging in age between 6 and 15 years old. Organized lucidly into three meaningful parts, the book brilliantly appeals to the hearts and minds of readers to recognize with empathy and compassion how the punitive physical punishment of children hurts them physically and emotionally, how they learn better from nonviolent approaches to discipline, and what resources are available to help parents learn to raise children effectively and nonviolently. Parts 1 and 2 are constructed in parallel with five chapters each. In Part 1, readers can learn from the first-hand visual and verbal testimony of children how spanking (1) causes physical pain and damage; (2) leads to sadness, depression, and despair; (3) erupts from anger and is part of a cycle of violence; (4) induces fear, not respect; and (5) leads to other feelings of concern as well. Part 2 gives a sensible definition of discipline as serving the purpose of teaching a child right from wrong; shows nonviolent ways of helping children reflect about what they did and how to act better; advocates the fair use of appropriate consequences; affirms the value of making amends through community service to practice caring for others; and shows age-appropriate ways to talk with children and cultivate the use of reason. The four chapters of Part 3 provide frequent questions about spanking and answers to them; cite valuable Web sites with information about child rearing; list child discipline books worth reading; and give information on brochures, handouts, and DVDs on child discipline. The book is remarkable for its concision, thoroughness, and humaneness. Also, it gives a message that is consistent with the findings of the overwhelming majority of scientific research, nationally and internationally, about the effects of physical punishment on child development. Chapter 3 of Part 3 also refers readers to research reports of the scientific studies. It is to be expected that any book of this kind that calls into question a long-established pattern of “normative” cultural violence will provoke hostile reactions, as evidenced by some of the negative reviews on the Amazon Web site. Significantly, in response to scientific findings and to the awakening of compassionate feelings and growing recognition of the human rights of children, between 1979 and 2011, 33 nations, starting with Sweden, have enacted legislation to protect children from all physical punishment. It is to be hoped that this progressive trend will continue as part of humanity’s nonviolent evolution. This book, This Hurts Me More Than It Hurts You: Children Share How Spanking Hurts and What To Do Instead, makes an elegant contribution to this cause and the greater good of all. This reviewer gives it five stars.