Book Reviews: Sticking With It and Worrying Too Much

One thing we can all agree on in our family is that we love to read!  My husband and I enjoy fantasy books, like Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series.  We also enjoy various historical, self-improvement, and humorous reads, among others.  Reezle has a penchant for animal books, from birding to caring for cats, and other non-fiction.  And Little G can't get enough of his children's human body and science books, when he isn't toting around his favorite math workbook.

Since reading is a well-received way of learning new information for my kiddos, I like to get them books that help them through various things they may be struggling with.  Recently, I bought my daughter a workbook on anxiety.  While her brother is the type to shrug off most things, she tends to worry, worry, worry about the smallest things.  And since worries tend to grow over time, I thought it would be wise to address it now and provide her with tools to manage the feelings of stress.  Among those tools is What To Do When You Worry Too Much: A Kid's Guide to Overcoming Anxiety by Dawn Huebner, Ph.D.  It's full of brilliant metaphor and exercises to help children understand and manage their fears.  I would give it 5 stars and would absolutely recommend it to anyone who wants to help a child who may be prone to worry.  Recommended reading level: age 6 or grade 1 and up.  Mama Bonn's thoughts: I think this is a suitable workbook for children through elementary school.

Little G, our easily-frustrated kiddo, often has little to no patience with himself any time he doesn't already know how to do something.  Learning, though not difficult for him, causes frustration because the little dude feels like he should know it already.  My goal with him is to help him realize that making mistakes is part of the process of learning, and actually helps us retain our knowledge better if we don't allow the frustration to be the focus.  My mantra with him has been everyone makes mistakes, and that is perfectly okay!  He doesn't seem to be convinced, so I looked around for, of course, a book. I found a winner!  Try And Stick With It by Cheri J. Meiners, M. Ed. discusses the very issues Little G is struggling with and offers useful suggestions.  We have several of Cheri J. Meiners' books, and they're all wonderful so far.  They even have a section in the back of the book with information on how parents (grandparents, teachers, etc.) can discuss various sections of the book in more depth.  Again, a 5 star book that I would highly recommend.  Recommended reading level: Reading level states 4 years and up.  Mama Bonn's thoughts: For independent readers, I would say it's a great book for 1st graders, so the age range on this is probably preschool through grade 2 or 3, generally speaking.