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Reviewed by Irene S. Roth, for the National Writing For Children Center

Title: You are Friendly
Author: Todd Snow
Illustration: Melodee Strong
Reading Level: Ages 4-6
Soft Cover: 22 pages
Publisher: Maren Green Publishing, Inc., 2008
ISBN: 987-1-934277-18-8

Todd Snow’s book is a wonderfully crafted story about friendliness. The author shows the many ways individuals can be friendly. Kids will absolutely love Snow’s way of illustrating emotions and gestures of friendliness. What the reader finds out is that there are so many ways of being friendly. And friendliness makes other people feel warm and good. Friendliness also makes people happy. And sometimes, when we are friendly, we make another person’s day.

Being friendly is free and takes very little effort. All you have to do is to want to be friendly. For some people, being friendly is easy, while for others it’s much harder. However, it is never impossible to be friendly, if we’re willing and eager to try.

The illustrations in the book draw the reader into the attitude of friendliness. The kids in the illustrations look so happy and content because they are friendly. Most of the readers would try to be friendly after reading it. It is so enticing and mesmerizing. I found the book to be very encouraging too. I recently read the book to a group of four and five-year-old children. They were entranced by the book and wanted me to read it a second time.

About the Author: Todd Snow lives in Minnesota with his wife, author Peggy Snow, and their young daughter. He is also the author of Manners are Important for You and Me,
Feelings to Share from A to Z, Kindness to Share from A to Z, and the You are Important book series.

About the Illustrator: Melodee Strong draws inspiration from her South American heritage and the African American Community. She has received awards from the Society of Illustrators. Melodee also illustrated Colourful World and the You are Important board series.

About the Reviewer: Irene S. Roth is a freelance Writer for kids and young adults. Her work has been published in Girls’ Life and Boys’ Life. Roth is also a reviewer for the Muse Book Reviews and The National Writing for Children Center. Visit her website at www.sites.google.com/site/irenerothfreelancewriter.

Reviewed by Irene Roth for the National Writing for Children Center

Title: Hope Is an Open Heart
Author: Laurie Thompson
Reading Level: Ages 4 - 8
Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: Scholastic Press, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-545-03737-2

Lauren Thompson’s book is an uplifting story about hope. We’ve all had days when we felt hopeless. Hope sometimes seemed to be so far away, and the world was cold and dark. Thankfully, hope can come to us in many different ways. And Thompson illustrates this excellently in her
wonderfully crafted book.

Thompson’s book was motivated after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. She had to help her four-year-old son feel safe again in his city and in the world. She wanted him to realize that while bad things sometimes happen, the world is nonetheless a good place to be,
full of people who want to help. Thompson also wanted to let her son know that it was okay to feel scared, sad and mad about the September 11th attacks. Those feelings are part of being human.

As Thompson was helping her son rekindle hope, she did the same for herself. That experience is what inspired her to write this book. She came to realize that hope is a contagious feeling that can be transmitted to others.

All the people illustrated in the book suffered some major losses, some from Hurricane Katrina and others from the tsunami of December 2004. Each of the pictures illustrates how an individual can derive hope after losing everything.

Thompson believes that by opening our hearts often, crying when we need to, giving a hug or a helping hand when we can, we nurture hope in ourselves and in others. And that makes the world a better place for all of us. After all, hope is always inside of each of us, waiting for us to nurture it and let it unfold. We just need to pay attention to it and let it motivate our actions and attitudes, despite the violence and hardship that our world gives us. Thompson shows that although hope seems to be far away sometimes, it’s always there if we only reach for it. It will be there to support us one way or another. What a great message to pass along to
our kids!

About the author: Lauren Thompson is the author of several New York Times bestselling children’s books, including the much-beloved Little Quack series and the award-winning picture book Polar Bear Night. She is also the author of The Apple Pie that Papa Baked and Ballerina Dreams: A true Story. Lauren lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband, Robert, and their son, Owen.

About the Reviewer: Irene S. Roth is a freelance writer for kids and young adults. Her work has been published in Girls’ Life and Boys’ Life . Roth is a reviewer for The Muse Reviews and The National Writing for Children Center. Visit her website at: www.sites.google.com/site/irenerothfreelancewriter.

Title: Lucy and the Bully
Author: Claire Alexander
Reading Level: Ages 4 - 8
Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-8075-4786-1

Claire Alexander’s book is a sad but uplifting book about bullying. Bullying has become a real problem in today’s culture, and because of this, this book is of extreme importance to kids. Alexander’s story is simple and has wonderful illustrations. It will help young children talk openly and honestly about bullying. But most importantly, Alexander assures the reader that bullies can be stopped and something can be done about this growing problem.

The main problem with bullying is that bullies are great at hiding their actions and intentions from others. The only person who really knows that they are being bullied are the victims. And that is really sad. Alexander shows what some of the criteria of bullying are. And that in itself is very
important because most kids don’t even know that they are bullied.

I asked my five year old niece a few weeks ago which actions constituted bullying. At first, she wasn’t able to tell me. Then I read Alexander’s book with her, and all of a sudden she understood what bullying meant a lot better. Not only that but when I was visiting at her school a few days later,
she pointed out a real case of bullying to me. Now that was real progress.
According to Alexander, bullying is the use of aggressive, intentional, and often repetitive behavior in order to expert power over another person. A bullied child feels defenceless and intimidated. The victim may even feel uncertain about whether or not (s)he should seek help.

Sometimes, the bullied child may not even know that he/she is being bullied because the bully usually plays mind games with the victim.
Alexander’s message is that bullying should be dealt with right away. It’s essential for the victim to seek help from an adult as soon (s)he suspects that (s)he is being bullied. Than the adult must strive to ‘work it out’ with the bully. The victim need not feel responsible for stopping the bully him/herself.

The harmful effects of bullying can be lessened if adults are attuned, available, and accessible to their children. Adults must try and find a way to talk to children about bullying early on because bullying is becoming a problem at an increasingly earlier age.

Since most children learn by example, sharing stories about bullying situations and how to overcome them through successful resolutions is a wonderful learning tool for kids to not be victimized by bullies in their school or neighbourhoods. It also allows kids to imagine similar situations and it may even help kids make sure that they don’t become bullies themselves. Reading such stories with children can create a safe environment and connection between the parents and children by addressing a difficult topic in a friendly manner. This certainly occurred when I read the book to my niece. And I also now know that she will know how to tell whether she is being bullied and will seek help from teachers or other adults.

I was absolutely mesmerized by this book. It wonderfully illustrates the viciousness of bullying and how the victim feels. What an important book for our times! Thank goodness for authors who take important topics like this one and make it child-friendly!

About the author: Claire Alexander lives in England, where she studied art at the Kent Institute of Art and Design. In addition to her work as a children’s book author and illustrator, she is an
acclaimed portrait artist, with paintings in private collections in Europe, Australia, and the United States.

About the Reviewer: Irene S. Roth is a freelance writer for kids and young adults. Her work has been published in Girls’ Life and Boys’ Life. Roth is a reviewer for The Muse Reviews and the National Writing for Children Center. Find out more about her at www.sites.google.com/site/irenerothfreelancewriter.