Books That Heal Kids: swearing

Showing posts with label swearing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label swearing. Show all posts

Book Review: Little Bird's Bad Word





















Author/Illustrator: Jacob Grant
Interest Level: Ages 4 and Up

From the Book Jacket: Little Bird learned a new word! He loves it so much, he's bursting to share it with all of his friends. BLARK! The only problem is, this isn't a very nice word. Little Bird doesn't realize it, but it might even hurt someone's feelings. With the help of Papa Bird, maybe Little Bird will learn another new word - one that will make things better. 

Why It's On My Bookshelf: Lots of good lessons in this one about language and how we have the choice to be appropriate or inappropriate. Kids quickly learn there are attention getting words and they can make people feel uncomfortable, Little bird almost loses a friend over his behavior.  But the power of an apology and changing his behavior saves the friendship and he learns a big lesson. 

My daughter is learning what words are socially acceptable and she is especially starting to figure out words can trigger reactions and emotions in others. This is a nice reminder for adults - they are not only watching us but LISTENING to everything we say. (Little Bird learns the word from Papa!) This will fit into many lessons at school around kindness and community building and maybe even be part of our No-Name Calling week. I've worked with many students who are heart broken over hurtful things said to them - this is a helpful resource to stop that negative behavior. 



A Link to This Book and Others You Might Find Helpful: 


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Book Review: The Very Inappropriate Word

Author: Jim Tobin
Illustrator: Dave Coverly
Interest Level: Ages 6 and Up

From the Book Jacket: Michael loved collecting words. Big words like smithereens, little words like vast, and fast words like dragster. Then one day, he picked up a new word. A BAD word. An INAPPROPRIATE word. At least that's what his sister said. But Michael kind of liked the word and thought he might try it out. At school. Bad idea.




Why It's On My Bookshelf: We are not going to stop kids from learning inappropriate words. Last week a 2nd grade student was upset with a peer over a small problem. She handled it by getting a piece of paper and wrote one word on it - the F word. Then handed it to the girl. I was a little stunned by her behavior but not shocked. Words have power - especially bad ones. Kids figure this out quickly. The Very Inappropriate Word is the resource I've been waiting for because it's actually helpful. The story ends encouraging children to expand their vocabulary in a positive way. So instead of writing nasty notes we can remind kids there is a world of words they can use to express themselves with dignity and respect. This is a great read aloud for my social skills lessons - but I also cannot wait to use this with my daughter someday. 

A Link to This Book:



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