Smart and Capable: Supporting Children's Agency in a Complex World
Jennifer Keys Adair
Dec 2026 · Penguin Random House Audio · Narrated by Kristen Kallen-Keck
headphones
Audiobook
7 hr 14 min
Unabridged
family_home
Eligible
info
infoThis book will become available on December 1, 2026. You will not be charged until it is released.
About this audiobook
A global perspective on early childhood learning and education – giving us clear evidence that children are smart and capable, and why agency is so important for children’s learning
Young children are smart and capable. They already have most of what they need to learn and grow. Author Dr. Jennifer Keys Adair, a Professor of Early Childhood Education and a preschool teacher-turned-cultural anthropologist draws upon 20 years of stories and scientific evidence to show why agency is so important for children’s learning, even in a society that can be dangerous and complicated.
Using examples from many different countries and communities around the world – from Austin, Texas to Bangalaru, Karnataka - this book offers nine core experiences that honor and support young children’s agency: Exploration, Participation, Caring for the Natural World, Conflict, Difficult Discussions, Caring for People, Multilingualism, Multiplicity, and Protection.
Adair emphasizes that the nine experiences have endless variation and will look different depending on where you live, what you have access to, and the types of realities you face. This book is not a manual or a "how to” for teachers and parents, because there is no one best way to support children’s agency. To make this case, Adair includes stories of infants, toddlers, and young children in parks, homes, childcare programs, preschools, elementary classrooms and community centers using their agency in a variety of circumstances.
The heart of the book is a hope that adults will find their own ways to create environments in which children can enact their agency early and safely, so children can shift the world they are inheriting to the world they want.
Young children are smart and capable. They already have most of what they need to learn and grow. Author Dr. Jennifer Keys Adair, a Professor of Early Childhood Education and a preschool teacher-turned-cultural anthropologist draws upon 20 years of stories and scientific evidence to show why agency is so important for children’s learning, even in a society that can be dangerous and complicated.
Using examples from many different countries and communities around the world – from Austin, Texas to Bangalaru, Karnataka - this book offers nine core experiences that honor and support young children’s agency: Exploration, Participation, Caring for the Natural World, Conflict, Difficult Discussions, Caring for People, Multilingualism, Multiplicity, and Protection.
Adair emphasizes that the nine experiences have endless variation and will look different depending on where you live, what you have access to, and the types of realities you face. This book is not a manual or a "how to” for teachers and parents, because there is no one best way to support children’s agency. To make this case, Adair includes stories of infants, toddlers, and young children in parks, homes, childcare programs, preschools, elementary classrooms and community centers using their agency in a variety of circumstances.
The heart of the book is a hope that adults will find their own ways to create environments in which children can enact their agency early and safely, so children can shift the world they are inheriting to the world they want.
A global perspective on early childhood learning and education – giving us clear evidence that children are smart and capable, and why agency is so important for children’s learning
Young children are smart and capable. They already have most of what they need to learn and grow. Author Dr. Jenni...
Discover more
About the author
Jennifer Keys Adair is Professor of Early Childhood Education at The University of Texas Austin. For more than 20 years, she has taught undergraduates, graduate students and educators about children’s agency and the ways in which injustices impact children’s early learning experiences. Dr. Adair is the author, along with Dr. Kiyomi Sánchez-Suzuki Colegrove, of the award-winning book, Segregation by Experience: Agency, Racism and Early Learning (The University of Chicago Press, 2021). She is a former preschool teacher, trained cultural anthropologist, mother of three, and someone who likes to walk in cities and hike by oceans.
Jennifer Keys Adair is Professor of Early Childhood Education at The University of Texas Austin. For more than 20 years, she has taught undergraduates, graduate students and educators about children’s agency and the ways in which injustices impact children’s early learning experiences. Dr. Adair ...
Listening information
Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can read books purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
