My review of Am I Forgiving? by Jeannie St. John Taylor...
Posted by:
Michelle Sutton on
August 18, 2007 at
10:37AM EST
Product Description:
Gold Medallion finalist Jeannie St. John Taylor returns with her
engaging character, Erik. Erik is afraid that he has lost his best
friend when Chuck ignores him and plays in the snow with Todd. To make
things worse, Erik breaks his arm when his sled swerves into a tree
after trying to avoid their snowballs. Even though Erik thinks he will
never forgive them, he learns that forgiving feels better than trying
to get even . . . and it makes his friends feel better, too.
My review:
While geared toward children ages 4-8, Am I Forgiving?
is an engaging story with an important lesson for kids of any age. It
deals with emotional reactions to teasing and the games kids play (like
ignoring you when they are with other kids) that hurt feelings. I
remember having two friends when I was five and six. We could never all
three be friends at the same time, but it was me with one of them or
them leaving me out. Must be things kids do at that age. I would've
loved to have learned a similar lesson about forgiving or I wouldn't
have spent so much time being mad at them for not including me.
Developmentally this is a perfect story to read to any child before
they start school or to prepare them regarding friendship problems and
how to deal with rejection and teasing. The core lesson in the story is
about what true forgiveness is and what it isn't. Having worked with
abused kids for many years, I found this particularly beneficial.
There is a parents' guide at the end that gives parents suggestions on
how to explain the lesson to their children. It says this... Forgiveness does not require that you to trust or become good friends with the person who you.
Excellent advice! This should prevent victimization due to ignorance of
the meaning of true forgiveness. And some of the words are hard enough
that the story will expand the kids vocabulary, too. But beyond the
storyline, the best part of the book is the adorable pictures. The
author has inserted random cute animals throughout the pages and some
illustrations are downright hilarious!
Am I Forgiving? was published by Kregel Kidzone and is being released August 2007.
