Books to Grow With: A Guide to Using the Best Children's Fiction for Everyday Issues and Tough Challenges - Softcover

Cheryl Coon

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0974802573 ISBN 13: 9780974802572

Publisher: Lutra Press, 2004

Synopsis

A comprehensive guide for parents, teachers, counselors and librarians to 500 children's fiction books that portray more than 100 common issues kids face, from bullies, siblings and fear of the dark to divorce, moving and chronic illness. The only comprehensive source of great children's books on nearly every issue kids experience.

About this title

About the Author

Cheryl Coon has worked with both gifted and learning-disabled children since 1991. Her work with individual children led her to research children's literature and to compile a comprehensive list of books on more than 100 topics. Through her experiences, she came to the realization that children's books can be immensely helpful to children struggling with both common and more unique issues.

Cheryl holds a B.A. from Bryn Mawr College, a J.D. from Boston University School of Law and an LL.M. from the University of Washington School of Law. During her career as a lawyer, Cheryl spent many years working on public policy issues in Congress and most recently served as a Senior Assistant Attorney General in the Oregon Department of Justice.

Cheryl presents workshops on the use of books to help children. She has lectured with Peggy Sharp at the annual What's New in Children's Literature Institute, presented at schools and at meetings throughout Oregon, and spoken at the annual conferences of the Oregon Educational Media Association and the Oregon Association for the Education of Young Children.

Cheryl Coon, formerly Cheryl Coodley, lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband Jim, two children and three dogs.

From the Back Cover

"What a fantastic resource for parents and those who work with children! Coon's book is a must have resource for every parent, pediatrician, counselor, teacher, and child therapist. I especially appreciated her sensitive guidance on how to use the rich world of literature to help our children grow and change. You'll use it year after year, as the topics are well chosen to enrich the parent child relationship in every way." --Meg Eastman, Psy.D, child psychologist, author of Taming the Dragon in Your Child: Solutions for Breaking the Cycle of Family Anger (John Wiley & Sons, 1994)

"Every teacher knows the power of a story. Children find comfort, excitement and challenge and affirmation when the "right" books speak to them. A story can tell a child, You can do it! You re not the only one! You have a friend. Cheryl Coon has done the footwork for teachers and parents searching for that certain powerful book to pull a child through the tough times that are part of every childhood as well as those exceptional challenges that might lead a child to feel isolated and different from her peers. Unlike similar texts, Cheryl has carefully screened the included selections readers can be assured that only the best quality children s books are listed in her guide. "Books to Grow With" should be part of every home and school collection. I am sure that the early childhood teachers I work with will turn to this reference over and over again." --Ellie Justice, Director, The Helen Gordon Child Development Center, Portland State University

"An invaluable resource for parents that is sensitive to the needs of different age groups, family situations and childhood issues. I will highly recommend Books to Grow With to my patients." --Jennifer Trachtenberg, M.D., pediatrician, faculty at the Mount Sinai Medical Center, NY

"I recommend this book to all parents of young children who want a trustworthy guide to choosing books for their kids. Hopefully I won t have to consult it for other, more serious topics, like parents getting divorced, alcoholism, childhood illnesses and the death of a loved one, but it s good to know that sections of Books to Grow With addresses them." --Adrienne Ehlert Bashista, Chatham Journal

"To help the rest of us find children's books that address children's issues, Coon has compiled Books to Grow With. It recommends more than 500 books that address everything from learning to swim to divorce, from comfort objects to chores for children up to about age 10." --Susan Reimer, Baltimore Sun, Feature Section

From the Inside Flap

"Books to Grow With will be an invaluable tool for every parent, teacher and librarian who believes that sharing the right books with children can help them find relief from the sometimes frightening and always challenging adventure of growing up. I will place a copy in both the parent and professional collections in my school library and share it with colleagues, teachers, parents, guidance counselors, friends everyone who loves books and cares for the well-being of children." --Diane Oesau, Library Media Specialist, Cherry Hill, N.J. "A well-researched and parent-friendly guide to picture books and fiction that can facilitate conversations in families about ordinary, everyday issues. The books indexed here present starters for grand and meaningful conversations. Parents who not only bring home the books, but also delight in the reading will discover much wisdom about the tough challenges of parenthood as well." --Sarah Borders, Licensed Professional Counselor, Faculty at Appalachian State University

"A valuable tool for parents, educators and others. This resource will help children and their parents come to terms with the many and varied challenges facing children today." Brynna Hurwitz, Executive Director,Children s Diabetes Seminars and Support Network, Adjunct Faculty in Education Lewis and Clark College, Portland, OR

Reviews

Coon, an attorney who has volunteered in classrooms, has gathered together suggested fictional titles with fewer than 100 pages and organized them by issue (such as sharing, starting school, siblings, etc.) rather than by age group. Author, illustrator, title, and subject indexes are included as are lists of multicultural books and titles available in Spanish. However, for the latter, only the English title appears. Each entry includes the title, author, publisher, number of pages, type of illustration, a paragraph summary, a suggestion for use as a read-aloud or a beginning reader or both, and possible availability. Many titles are out of print, yet the author naively states that parents can find them in local public libraries or used bookstores either in town or online. The bibliotherapeutic belief that some well-chosen picture books can "help children cope with changes in their life" is admirable. However, this book will best be used by parents, teachers, or day-care providers who do not have regular access to John T. Gillespie's Best Books for Children (Libraries Unlimited, 2003), Carolyn W. and John A. Lima's A to Zoo (Greenwood, 2001), or other professional bibliographic tools.–Blair Christolon, Prince William Public Library System, Manassas, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Noting that her book is not a substitute for a trained bibliotherapist, Coon identifies books about issues that parents may want to discuss with their young children. Although lacking a formal background in children's literature, Coon has definitely done her homework, bringing together a solid selection of (mostly) picture books and middle-grade novels by a number of well-regarded children's book authors. There isn't much here to answer kids' many questions about physical development, but there is plenty about other important topics--from anger and bullying to moving and dealing with the death of a parent. Annotations are straightforward, if sometimes awkwardly drafted, and there is only brief mention of the artwork that is so vital to successful picture books. But it's the subject matter, after all, that matters most in the context of dealing with specific real-life issues, and Coon delivers a practical guide to finding resources that will help children develop life skills and, perhaps, feel more confident in a confusing, difficult world. Author, title, and some too-general audience guidelines head each book description. Stephanie Zvirin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Lutra Press
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0974802573
• ISBN 13: 9780974802572
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336