Twelve is too old

Author: Peggy Mann

Type or emotional/crisis issue(s) addressed:Problems with parents and family

Year of Publication: 1980

Publisher & Location: Doubleday & company, inc: NY

ISBN#: 978-0385050999

Target Age Level: middle school

# of Pages:140 pages

Quality of Illustrations: NA

Brief Summary: Eleven-year-old Jody, living with her divorced mother and pot-smoking older sister, dreads her twelfth birthday and the adolescent problems it may bring. It tells about how she deals with her problems from a first person bases

Personal Comments/Biases, and/or Things to Consider When Using This Book With Children:

Deals with some adult issues but in a good way.

Activity:

Have a child keep a journal and compair their experiances with Jody's.

Looking For Normal

Author:Betty Monthei

Type or emotional/crisis issue(s) addressed: Suicide, Death of Parents, Family Relationship Problems, Grief
Year of Publication: 2005

Publisher & Location: Harper Collins

ISBN#:0060725052
978-0060725051

Target Age Level: Mature Teen

# of Pages: 192

Quality of Illustrations: none

Brief Summary:

After being called out of class by the principal, 12-year-old Annie is told that her father shot and killed her mother and then turned the gun on himself. Annie and younger brother Ted experience all the stages of grief (shock, denial, sadness, acceptance) as they transition to living with grandparents who hated their father. Rather than pulling together, the family's healing is slowed by Grandma's drinking and misplaced anger, Grandpa's increasing absences from the home, and the children's disenfranchisement from their friends. Only after Grandma spirals out of control does the family finally begin to deal with its problems.

This book deals with some serious issues.

Riding the Bus with My Sister

Author: Rachel Simon

Type or emotional/crisis issue(s) addressed: Mental Illness, Metal Retardation, Siblings of Individuals with Disabilities, Sisters, Family Relationships,

Year of Publication: 2003

Publisher & Location: Penguin Group, Inc., New York, NY

ISBN#:

• ISBN13: 9780452284555
• ISBN: 0452284554
• BINC: 7215469

Target Age Level: Young Adult and Adult

# of Pages: 296

Quality of Illustrations: None

Brief Summary: This book follows the author's journey to better understand her sister in adult hood. Her sister, Beth, is in her thirties and has mental retardation. She spends her days riding buses. She challenged Rachel to ride the buses with her for one year. Rachel accepted the challenge, and spent every few weekends for the next year, riding the buses with Beth. Along the way, Rachel explores the things she loves and dislikes about her sister and experiences many flashbacks about what life was like growing up with a sister with a disability.

Personal Comments/Biases, and/or Things to Consider When Using This Book With Children: I felt that this book did a really good job portraying all of the mixed emotions and thoughts of a sibling of an individual with a disability, who is an oft-forgotten group in literature.

1. Activity: While reading this book with/to a group of teenagers or adults with disabilities, you could have them plan out a bus trip and list all of the things they will need in order to find the right buses to take them to the right spots.
2. While reading this book with/to a group of teenage or adult siblings of individuals with disabilities, you could challenge them to increase the amount of time they spend with their sibling with a disability and document the time in a journal or diary.
   

Amazing Gracie

Author: A.E. Cannon

Type or emotional/crisis issue addressed: mental ilness emotional instability of parent

Year of Publication: 1993
Publisher and Location: Laurel Leaf
# ISBN-10: 0440215706
# ISBN-13: 978-0440215707
Target Age Level: young adult
# of Pages: 224
Quality of Illustrations: no ilustrations
Brief Summary: Ever since Gracie was seven and her mother's severe depression caused her to go to the state hospital, it seems the girl's chief function is to keep her mother from being sad. So Gracie should be delighted that her mother is going to marry Pete, but he often seems extremely irresponsible. When Pete moves Gracie, her mother and his own obnoxious son Sinjin from their hometown to Salt Lake City, Gracie's mother sinks into unhappiness, and Gracie must watch after Sinjin and be the adult in the family. Despite its lighthearted title, the novel takes a fairly grim look at dysfunctional families, hard responsibility and the solid value of pursuing one's dreams. Cannon writes about weighty concerns for young people, but with a humorlessness that keeps the characters at arm's length. Her strengths here lie in describing Gracie's maturation and in offering a realistic sense of hope even in the face of serious difficulty.
Personal Comments/Biases, and/or Things to Consider When Using This Book With Children:
This book provides a story teenagers can identify with. A little sad, but real.

Activity: Charades

The Step-Tween Survival Guide: How to Deal With Life in a Stepfamily

Author: Lisa Cohn

Type or emotional/crisis issue addressed: relationship with parents

Year of Publication: 2008
Publisher and Location: Free Spirit Publishing, Minneapolis, MN
# ISBN-10: 1575422972
# ISBN-13: 978-1575422978
Target Age Level: 9-12
# of Pages: 121
Quality of Illustrations: very good

Brief Summary:
This book lets teens know they are not alone, helps them identify and express their feelings, and teaches them how to effectively communicate their wants and needs. The format includes illustrations, quizzes, advice from other stepkids, "survival tools" to use when the going gets rough, and suggestions for what to do when nothing else seems to be working.

Personal Comments/Biases, and/or Things to Consider When Using This Book With Children:
With The Step-Tween Survival Guide, tweens will gain the skills and inspiration to both survive and thrive in a stepfamily.

Activity:
. complete the quizzes on the book
. Mini-dramas – present a conflictive situation and allow students to prepare a quick play showing a solution to the conflict.
Posted by Nalu de Araujo Nunes

Beyond the Tears: A True Survivor's Story

Author: Lynn C. Tolson

Type or emotional/crisis issue addressed: mental ilness emotional instability of parent

Year of Publication: 2003
Publisher and Location: The Book Peddlers
ISBN-10: 1410724174
Target Age Level: high-school
# of Pages: 304
Quality of Illustrations: no ilustrations

Brief Summary: This is a story of a young woman who attempted suicide and her journey towards recovery. It’s a true story that shows cycle of abuse and provides a great message of hope.

Personal Comments/Biases, and/or Things to Consider When Using This Book With Children:
This book is a great resource for survivors of abuse – sexual, physical and emotional. It’s an inspiring story of courage that may empower minds and spirits.

Activity:
1)Have the students read the book and discuss in groups.
2) Mini-drama: groups select a scene from the books and prepare a quick dramatization of the scene.
Posted by Nalu de Araujo Nunes

What Every Kid Should Know

Author: Jonah Kalb & David Viscott, M.D.
Type or emotional/crisis issue(s) addressed: Parent/child relationship problems, feelings, making friends, self-esteem, divorce
Year of Publication: 1976
Publisher & Location: Boston: Houghton Mifflin
ISBN#: 0395629837 
Target Age Level: Late elementary, junior high
# of Pages: 127
Quality of Illustrations: some simplistic sketches added throughout
Brief Summary: Discusses the problems of growing up and gives suggestions on coping with various emotions, understanding oneself, getting along with others, and dealing with parents.
Personal Comments/Biases, and/or Things to Consider When Using This Book With Children: Written in 1976, so may be a bit outdated.

Activity: Have the student compile a "Bill of Rights for Kids" like was done in the book. He/she makes a list of rights that are important to him/her (examples include "right to pick my own friends," "right to privacy," "right to my own opinion). Discuss each one and why that is important. Talk about how the student could discuss these rights with his/her parents, especially when they disagree.

An Mei’s Strange and Wonderous Journey

Author: Stephan Mol-nar-Fenton

Type or emotional/crisis issue(s) addressed: Adoption into a different culture/ethnicity

Year of Publication: 1998

Publisher & Location: DK Publishing, New York, NY

ISBN#: 0-7894-2277-0

Target Age Level: Lower Elementary

# of Pages: 28

Quality of Illustrations: Excellent

Brief Summary: A girl from china who was abandoned by her mother tells of the journey that she took as she was adopted by parents and taken back to their county.

Personal Comments/Biases, and/or Things to Consider When Using This Book With Children: This is a good book-emphasizes child’s cultural background and the love her and her new parents have for each other.

Activities: Have students write a book about their “journey” emphasizing important parts of the culture they came from.

The Divorce Express

Title: The Divorce Express

Author: Paula Danziger

Type or emotional/crisis issue(s) addressed: Divorce, parent-child relationships

Year of Publication: 2007 (reprint)

Publisher & Location: Penguin Young Readers Group

ISBN#: 9780142407127

Target Age Level: Upper Elementary, Junior High

# of Pages: 148

Quality of Illustrations: none

Brief Summary: Phoebe’s parents have recently been divorced. That means she now needs to ride “the divorce express”, a bus form the suburbs to the New York City. This book follows Phoebe’s thoughts and emotions as she tries to understand and deal with the separation of her parents and the resultant changes in her life.

Personal Comments/Biases, and/or Things to Consider When Using This Book: This book is well written and talks about real life situations involving parental separation and divorce. Parents of some children may not want their children to read this book.

Post Reading Activities: Have students compare and contract the similarities and differences between Phoebe’s parents divorce and the child’s parents divorce. You may also want to select some passages that describe Phoebe’s emotions and then have the child describe how their emotions are similar or different.

Crank

Title: Crank

Author: Ellen Hopkins

Type or emotional/crisis issue(s) addressed: Substance Abuse, Addiction, Drugs, Rape, Teen Pregnancy

Year of Publication: 2005Publisher & Location: Simon Pulse; New York

ISBN#:

• 689865198
• 978-0689865190

Target Age Level: high school, young adult

# of Pages: 537

Quality of Illustrations: none

Brief Summary: Eighth grader, Kristina Snow becomes instantly addicted to drugs after her first encounter with “the monster.” This novel is written in poem format and tells how a young girl’s life changed once she entered the fast-paced, controlling world of addiction.

Personal Comments/Biases, and/or Things to Consider When Using This Book: This text uses many analogies, but also uses some explicit language. Readers should also be conscious of the graphic nature when describing the drug use and situations that the main character finds herself in.

Post Reading Activity: While reading this book, adults may want to guide a discussion to help teens understand the imagery and analogies used. It may also be helpful to facilitate discussions about peer-pressure, substance abuse, rape, teen pregnancy, and parent-teen relationships.

A Family that Fights

Type of emotional/crisis issues addressed: Abuse

Author/authors: Sharon Chelser Bernstein

Year of Publication: 1991

Book Title: A Family that Fights

ISBN #: 0807522481

Age level: Lower elementary

# of pages: 28

Quality of illustrations: okay

Brief summary (a short paragraph is sufficient): The story is told from the view of a young boy who has a younger brother and sister. Their father physically abuses their mother, but not them. However, the boy fears that one day he will hit one of the kids. He is upset at his mother for ignoring the abuse, is angry with his father, and confused about his family. The book does not have a magical ending, but ends with some hope. The pictures are a little outdated, but it is well written.

Activities: Have the child draw a picture of his or her family and talk about his or her feelings about each family member. Help the child process these feelings.

Sad Days, Glad Days

Author/Authors: DeWitt Hamilton

Type or emotional/crisis issue(s) addressed: MENTAL ILLNESS

Year of Publication: 1995

Publisher & Location: Albert Whitman & Company, Morton Grove, IL

ISBN #: 0-8075-72004-4

Target Age Level: Lower elementary, Upper elementary

# of Pages: 29

Quality of Illustrations: Good illustrations that depict the feeling of depression

Brief Summary:
Amanda is the only child of a family. The mom suffers from depression. This story is about her learning to cope and understand her mom’s depression and how some days are glad days and some days are sad days. She learns that it is not her fault and that her mom does still love her. In the end of the story Amanda’s mom lets her keep a cat that she has been taking care of when he brings her a mouse. Amanda’s dad comes up with a game to describe her mom’s mood by color. This seems to help Amanda better understand the depression.

Post reading activity:
If working with a child who is trying to understand his or her parent’s depression, have them come up with a description of different days based on colors. Have the child describe how the parent acts on those days. Have the child list what kinds of things he or she could do on the different days. For black or blue days have the child think of some things he or she could do to keep from getting sad as well. For example, maybe that would be a good day to go to a friend’s house to play.

Hunting Grandma's Treasures

Author: Gina Willner-Pardo

Type or emotional/crisis issue(s) addressed: Death, Grandparent, Family Relationship

Year of Publication: 1996

Publisher & Location: Clarion Books: New York

ISBN#: 0-395-68190-1

Target Age Level: Upper Elementary

# of Pages: 35

Quality of Illustrations: Colorful, but do not show a lot of detail.

Brief Summary: Kevin's grandmother is dying, but before she dies, she leaves a secret with him. After her death, Kevin reveals that the secret is a treasure hunt that all the grandchildren will go on during the summer at Wrigley Lake. During their time at the lake, Kevin and his family talk about what things are different and are the same after Grandma's death.

Personal Comments/Biases, and/or Things to Consider When Using This Book With Children: This is a short chapter book that does a good job at describing how the different family members respond to their grandmother's death in different ways.

Activities:

1. Have the students write down things they remember doing with person that passed away, or things they learned from that person. Discuss how although some things may be different because of their death, other things stay the same.
   
2. If your loved one sent you on a treasure hunt, what would your treasure be? Have the students create their own treasure hunt.

A Mama for Owen

Author: Marion Dane Bauer

Type or emotional/crisis issue(s) addressed: Natural Disaster, Adoption

Year of Publication: 2007

Publisher & Location: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, NY

ISBN#: 0-689-85787

Target Age Level: Pre-K, Lower Elementary

# of Pages: 15

Quality of Illustrations: Excellent!

Brief Summary: Based on a true story, a young hippo loses his mother during a tsunami. A young turtle who reminds the hippo of his own mother, becomes his adopted mother. The hippo sees similarities a differences between his hippo mother that was killed and his new ‘mother’ and briefly dealing with changes as an after math of the tsunami.

Personal Comments/Biases, and/or Things to Consider When Using This Book With Children: The illustrations are excellent and the storyline simple.

Activities: Discuss how hippo must have felt when the tsunami hit. If students have more then one parent they can talk about the good similarities and differences of each one.

The Terrible Thing That Happened At Our House

Author: Marge Blaine

Type or emotional/crisis issue(s) addressed: Family Relationships

Year of Publication: 1975

Publisher & Location: Scholastic, New York

ISBN-10: 0590403559

ISBN-13: 978-0590403559

Target Age Level: Lower Elementary, Upper Elementary# of Pages: 29

Quality of Illustrations: Good

Brief Summary: “My mother used to be a real mother.” Written in first person, the main character’s mother goes back to work teaching science. The girl is upset because her mother has gone back to work and they no longer do the things they used to. She used to take them to the park, they came home for lunch, and after school her mom would give them a snack and ask about their day. Now, the girl and her brother are rushed to get ready in the morning, they have to eat lunch at school, and after school her mom has a headache and doesn’t ask about their day. Her father’s role has changed as well. Instead of playing games after dinner, he cooks dinner and does the dishes. The girl is not happy about all the changes. One night at dinner she explodes. The family discusses how things have changed. They make adjustments so that they can still do some of the things they used to. It’s a little different, but they’re happier.

Personal Comments/Biases, and/or Things to Consider When Using This Book With Children: I think my parents got this book when my mom when back to work to be a teacher. So, it holds some sentimental value for me. It’s a great book to discuss change in a family that may disrupt the previous norms and how the family adjusted.

Activity: Read the book with the child. Discuss how things in the family changed. Discuss how the family made changes that helped them return some things back to “normal".

Sometimes My Mommy Gets Angry

Type of emotional/crisis issues addressed: Mental illness of a Parent/Gardian

Author/authors: Bebe Moore Campell

Year of Publication: 2003

Book Title: Sometimes My Mommy Gets Mad

ISBN #: 0399239723

Age level: Lower Elementary

# of pages: 28

Quality of illustrations: Very good

Brief summary: A little girl struggles because one day her mommy is cheerful and makes her pancakes and other days she locks herself away and yells at the neighbors. She talks to her grandma about it who tries to help her understand what is going on. She deals with the difficulty by talking to her grandma on the phone everyday and learning to be a big, brave girl.

Personal thoughts: This was a very realistic story with beautiful pictures. Although it was very sad, it was a realistic way for someone to deal with something so difficult. This book is probably best with children who have parents with depression or bipolar disorder.

Activity: Have the child draw a picture of another family member who can be a support for them. With the child, talk about how that person can help them.

My Brother's Keeper

Author: Patricia McCormick

Type or emotional/crisis issue(s) addressed: Drugs, Divorce, Family Relationships

Year of Publication: 2005

Publisher & Location: Hyperion Books

ISBN#: 0-7868-5173-2

Target Age Level: Junior High, High School

# of Pages: 187

Quality of Illustrations: None

Brief Summary: Toby is thirteen and his family is unraveling. His father left and they had to move to an apartment. His mother is battling depression. His brother, Jake, is starting to use drugs and alcohol. Toby tries to keep is family together and doesn't want to alarm his mother. He makes excuses for Jake, cleans up after him, and doesn't tell his mom that he knows Jake is using drugs. He also hides bills from his mother to try to alleviate her financial stress. As Toby continues to try to keep the family together, things continue to unravel. Jake's behavior becomes more and more dangerous and he is eventually arrested. Everything comes out and his mother decides to start focusing on her family again.

Personal Comments/Biases, and/or Things to Consider When Using This Book With Children:

It's written from Toby's perspective. He relates his thoughts as he's trying to restore normalcy to his home. It does talk about a human sexuality class that Toby has to attend, however nothing explicit is discussed. Mostly it talks about Toby's embarrassment of having to be there.

The Day I Saw My Father Cry

Type of emotional/crisis issues addressed: Grief

Author/authors: Bill Cosby

Year of Publication: 2000

Book Title: The Day I Saw My Father Cry

ISBN #: 0-590-52197-7

Age level: Lower Elementary

# of pages: 31

Quality of illustrations: Good

Brief summary: Little Bill and his family have a neighbor die, but they are able to deal with it by remembering the good things about their neighbor.

Activity: Have the child draw a picture of the person that they lost and explain why they loved them. Ask the child what their favorite characteristic of the person was and help them think of a way they can remember that characteristic.

I Have a New Family Now

Author: Robin Prince Monrow, Illustrated by Nancy Barnet

Type or emotional/crisis issue(s) addressed: blended families

Year of Publication: 1998

Publisher & Location: Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO

ISBN#: 56-1863 0-570-05039-1

Target Age Level: Pre-K, Low Elementary

# of Pages: 31

Quality of Illustrations: Excellent

Brief Summary: Book from the series "Comforting Little Hearts", helps children to understand blended families. I'ts interactive and children can express their own experience by answering questions, drawing or circling an answer on the book. It provides hope, comfort and ideas on how to deal with the change of having a new family. Last two pages, under the title "How Parents can Help", were written by a family counselor and provide ideas for parents to deal with their own issues about a new marriage as well as ideas on how to help their own and their step-children.

Personal Comments/Biases, and/or Things to Consider When Using This Book With Children
This book uses several passages of the Bible to inspire confidence and comfort. It makes several references to Jesus Christ, including that Jesus also had a step-parent - His true father was God and he lived with his stepfather Joseph, while he was growing up. Great book for Christian children. Evaluation of religious beliefs is recommended before assigning this book as part of the bibliotherapy process.

The Runaway Bunny

Author: Margaret Wise Brown; Pictures by Clement Hurd

Type or emotional/crisis issue(s) addressed: Parent/Child relationship problem

Year of Publication: 1942

Publisher & Location: HarperCollins Publisher; New York, NY

ISBN#: 0-590-99634-7

Target Age Level: Lower and Upper Elementary

# of Pages: 40

Quality of Illustrations: Black & White with words (story), alternating with color pages with no words

Brief Summary: "Within a framework of mutual love a buny tells his mother how he will run away and she answers his challenge by indicating how she will catch him. Warmth prevails." --School Library Journal

Personal Comments/Biases, and/or Things to Consider When Using This Book With Children: Good to use to have parent read to child. The bunny wants to be away from home/parents for an unknown reason and the parent, in a loving way, tells the child how she will catch up with the child. Can be very healing in a parent/child relationship that is suffering IF parent can be genuine when reading book to child.

Activity:
The best thing would be to have the parent read this book to the child every night (or however frequently is decided by you and the parent). Have the parent discuss with the child why they thought the bunny wanted to run away, and why the parent bunny did not want the child to run.