Part of having strong character is having strong relationships with your family and friends. These relationships grow strong
when you put effort into them: you build relationships by contributing your time, kindness and honest feelings. It’s also important to recognize the relationships
you have and be grateful for them. You
can show that you appreciate your family
and friends by spending time with them
and respecting them.
A Special Trade
Author: Sally Wittman
Age Group: 3-7
Summary: Nelly and Bartholomew are neighbors. When Nelly is small, Bartholomew pushes her in the stroller. They CHAARRRRRGE! through Mrs. Pringle’s sprinkler. They BUMP over Mr. Oliver’s driveway. The neighbors call them “ham and eggs” because they are always together. As Bartholomew gets older, things start to change. But Nelly is older, too, and the change is really a trade—a special trade. The droll text and whimsical illustrations combine perfectly in a story about friendship for young children.
Help! A Story of Friendship
Author: Holly Keller
Age Group: 3-8
Summary: Hedgehog discovers Mouse covering himself with leaves, trying to hide from their friend Snake because ‘snakes are very dangerous to mice’. Although Hedgehog dismisses the news as silly gossip, Mouse continues to worry and, distracted, stumbles into a deep, narrow hole. For various reasons, Squirrel, Rabbit and Hedgehog cannot help their fallen friend, but trusty Snake devises a way to retrieve Mouse without scaring him.
Best Friends (Owen and Mzee)
Author: Isabella Hatkoff
Age Group: 4-8
Summary: This is the extraordinary true story of a baby hippo named Owen and a giant tortoise named Mzee. In December 2004 a frightened young hippo, separated from his family by the devastating tsunami in Southeast Asia, adopted a 130-year-old tortoise as his “mother.” And the tortoise remarkably accepted the baby hippo as his own. Owen and Mzee are now inseparable and their story has captured hearts everywhere. With bold photographs from the original book and new simple, sweet text, Owen and Mzee is perfect for young children and families.
A Secure Base: Parent-child Attachment and Healthy Human Development
Author: John Bowlby
Summary: Stresses the importance of early childhood bonds with parents in providing psychological stability, and discusses the role of fathers, the origins of depression, and communication between
psychotherapists and their patients.
Adult Children: The Secrets of Dysfunctional Families
Author: John C. Friel, Ph.D.
Summary: It is estimated that as many as 34 million people grew up in alcoholic homes. But what about the rest of us? What about families that had no alcoholism, but did have perfectionism, workaholism, compulsive overeating, intimacy problems, depression, problems in expressing feelings, plus all the other personality traits that can produce a family system much like an alcoholic one? Countless of us struggle with these kinds of dysfunctions every day, and until very recently we struggled alone. Pulling together both theory and clinical practice, John and Linda Friel provide a readable explanation of what happened to us and how we can rectify it.