We can get along A child's book of choices

Ages 4^-7. Payne's attractive paperback reminds children how it feels when you get along with others--and how it feels when you don't. Each prettily and intricately bordered spread offers a message about treating others well on one page and then reiterates that message more simply on the facing page, resulting in a narrative that can be read alone. The basic message is to use one's own feelings as a guide to treating others: "I know how I don't like to be treated. I don't like to be teased, called names or yelled at." Within the borders, which feature such kid-appealing images as dinosaurs, stars, and baby chicks, are a multi-cultural group of children learning these important lessons. The book can help teachers, librarians, and parents find many ways for children, alone or in groups, to learn these lessons as well. --Ilene Cooper

PreS-Gr 3‘Written with clarity, authority, and empathy, this text explores the universal feelings of children in the area of getting along with one another. Good times such as laughing, working, and playing together make them feel happy and safe, while quarreling, hitting, bullying, and teasing make them angry and afraid. These are the givens of everyday life. The empowering theme here is that individuals choose how to behave. Everyone can share, respect others, think before speaking, work out problems, and enjoy many types of friends. Caring adults can be consulted in times of puzzlement and trouble. To make this didactic message lively and appealing, the short blocks of text are enclosed in double-page frames of imaginative and charming illustrations done in pen and ink and bright markers. Children of all races are shown in a variety of ordinary activities, with exuberant backgrounds and borders of interesting items. This expression of the Golden Rule in sensible, easily understood language could be used in any setting, with a group or one-on-one, to address individual behavior or peacemaking techniques in general.‘Patricia Pearl Dole, formerly at First Presbyterian School, Martinsville, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.