A Novel Mind » Reviews

The Complete Idiots Guide to Child & Adolescent Psychology

Kimberly — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 17:07:15 +0000

The past several Saturdays have been dedicated to books for educators. This weeks book is not written just for educators, but is a book that parents and teachers can benefit from reading – The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Child & Adolescent Psychology.

If you’ve every taken an educational psychology book (I’m talk to the teachers out there), you now just how confusing it can be to learn about children’s psychology, but The Complete Idiot’s Guide breaks it down and makes it so easy to understand.

If you are a teacher, your teaching can become so much more powerful if you understand how the children in your room think. If you are a parent, you will find that your relationship with your child can be so much stronger if you understand what they are going through on a day to day basis as they grow up.

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Child & Adolescent Psychology covers the child’s life from birth to eighteen years. And while it does a great job of covering the average child, it also covers many special circumstances that the child in your classroom or home may be dealing with such as mental disorders, learning disorders, or being abused or neglected.

About the Authors

Jack C Westman, MD, MS has published 10 books and over 140 professional articles. He served as Director of the Child Psychiatry Division of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin Medical School.

Victoria Costello is an Emmy Award-winning writer. She also writes a blog, Awakening Psyche which appears on PsychologToday.com.

Purchase

Want to purchase The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Child & Adolescent Psychology? You can purchase it from Amazon for only $13.63 (or for Kindle at only $9.99)

30 Things He Told Me But Can’t Tell You

Kimberly — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 13:59:24 +0000

30 Things He Told Me But Can’t Tell You Because You Won’t Listen by Mischa P. Green is a how to book for women who feel the need to communicate with the men in their lives. Women often find men to be lacking in communication. The fact is simply that men and women communicate differently and this can cause many a breakdown in relationships.

When I first read the title, I wasn’t sure where it was going, but after reading it, I could see that it really is meant to help women understand their men and to open the lines of communication between men and women. It is meant to save relationships.

Each of the 30 chapters starts with a quote from a husband and is then followed by a commentary by Mischa where she expands on what that quote means and shares more of what the husband said when he said this short statement to bring clarity to women to what a man is really thinking about the actions we take and words we say, and finally is the “What Might Be Helpful” where you’ll find advice and how to maintain a healthy relationship.

Mischa Green worked hard to make this book seem more like a conversation between two women than a textbook.

What does he think about your makeup? Why doesn’t he tell you he needs you more often? Why does he look at other women?

Mischa gives insight to his and 27 other issues in a very easy to read format.

No related posts.

No Teacher Left Behind!

Kimberly — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 16:54:11 +0000

This week I reread a book that I am excited to say I won this year during a presentation by the author. No Teacher Left Behind by Bryan Fiese. I was interested in the beginning because of the title. Yep, after so much emphasis has been put on the No Child Left Behind Legislation, I was anxious to read about making sure No Teacher Left Behind.

Product Description

The script has flipped. With such highly active, independent, impatient, creative, intelligent and demanding minds filling today’s classrooms, it is now the teachers who are, in a sense, at risk of being left in the academic dust. Gone are the days when teachers could educate and command respect by ruling with an iron fist. “Motivation via intimidation” no longer works. With Generation Next, we have reached the Age of empowerment. These individuals seek coaches and mentors, not autocrats. Thus, educators who continue to cling tightly to traditional teaching tactics, theories and philosophies will fail.

In this day and age, the student seems to change every few years, and it’s harder and harder to reach the kids, keep up with technology, and still teach the material you need to teach. Bryan discusses the need to change our methods to adjust to Generation Next so we can motivate them, engage them, and maintain classroom discipline while also maintaining our own sanity.

While the book is not as entertaining as listening to Bryan speak, it is pretty dang close.

I have been reading a lot of educational theory books lately, and more bore me in the first few chapters and end up not being read than the ones I actually read. No Teacher Left Behind is a keeper that I’ll be sharing with coworkers.

If you’d like a copy, you can buy it from Amazon (not yet on Kindle, but I clicked the “request” button) for $14.99.

For the Love of Children

Kimberly — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 07:45:38 +0000

Embraced by hundreds of thousands of parents across Europe and Scandinavia, For the Love of Children is now available in English.With a combination of step-by-step instructions, For the Love of Children provides parents with the information, inspiration, and confidence to create and maintain a flock where children can enjoy life and be enjoyed.

The book is meant to be a handbook for parenting from birth to sixteen years old, and talk about comprehensive – it is over 700 pages of guidance. The first year of live is covered month by month, and then the remainder of the book is divided by years through the sixteenth year. The final section covers topics that could happen throughout a child’s life such as siblings and punishments. It also covers parenting when your marriage is on the rocks and even single parenting.

About the Author

Anna Wahlgren was born in 1942. She is a Swedish writer, author, mother of nine, and grandmother of fourteen. She is one of the most trusted authorities on children in Scandinavia and is renowned for her sleeping ‘cure.’

Purchasing

You can purchase For the Love of Children from Amazon for $30.36 (hardback). Kindle owner? It’s only $9.99 on Kindle.

Review: Ben Behind His Voices

Kimberly — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 17:26:31 +0000

Ben Behind His Voices: One Family’s Fourney From the Chaos of Schizophrenia to Hope is the “story” of Ben who starts out as a normal every day child, but then things change during his teenage years. Ben is struck by schizophrenia. He has seven psychotic breaks and seven hospitalizations before he is diagnosed.

The focus of Ben Behind His Voices is the life of Ben, his mother, and his sister as they learn of his illness and then learn to deal with this awful situation.

Before reading Ben Behind His Voices, I knew very little of schizophrenia besides a basic dictionary definition of the illness, but after reading Randye Kaye’s story of her child, Ben. But after reading how her family had to deal with the tragic events that led up to Ben’s diagnosis and then the years that followed the diagnosis as they all learned to deal with his illness, I feel so much more educated, and it was such an interesting read.

From Publisher’s Weekly:

In this must-read for any family struggling with mental illness, Kaye offers a gripping account of her son’s battle with schizophrenia. Until Ben was 15, Kaye believed that patience, structure, therapy, and love were the solutions to Ben’s academic and social challenges, mood swings, and drug and alcohol abuse. Having struggled to find help for Ben as his illness went unnamed and incorrectly diagnosed, Kaye provides helpful and informative guideposts throughout the book. Now a teacher for, and advocate of, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Kaye covers everything from helping siblings understand a new family dynamic, to managing involuntary commitment proceedings, to getting patients ‘into the system.’ Kaye readily acknowledges that no one learns this information voluntarily and reminds readers that it’s impossible to reason with mental illness. Along the way, she shares her fundamental belief in love, humor, and hope. This well-written, well-researched, and brutally honest book will provide information, inspiration, and encouragement for many parents.

About the Author

Randye Kaye is a national voice talent and actress, also currently heard as part-time newscaster and classical music host on NPR affiliates WSHU-FM and AM. Prior to that, while raising her children, she was a full-time morning personality for a top-rated Connecticut radio station in addition to her voiceover, on-camera and theatre work. During that time, her son Ben was going through confusing and often terrifying changes: what she later learned had been the symptoms of gradual-onset schizophrenia. So at work, her job was to make people laugh – but her “hobby” became mental illness. She finally found education and support through NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, and became a teacher and the Connecticut State Trainer for its Family-to-Family educational course.

After leaving Morning Radio (and the 3:15 AM wake-up calls) behind, Randye was asked to write about Ben’s illness and recovery, and how it had affected her family. The result is “Ben Behind His Voices: One Family’s Journey from the Chaos of Schizophrenia to Hope.”

Purchase

Ben Behind His Voices can be purchased from Amazon in Hardback and Kindle versions.

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Just for Preteens

Kimberly — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 14:56:46 +0000

My daughter is 11 going on 30, and I am always looking for books for her to read. She likes the traditional books of girls her age, but I also like to encourage her to read more than just everyday fiction. Being a fan of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, I was delighted when we received Chicken Soup for the Soul: Just for Preteens.

I immediately gave it to her to start reading. She was a little overwhelmed at first because it is such a thick book, but when she realized that it was actually 101 different short stories, she jumped right in and started reading. And then she carried it to school every day. She read it on the way to school, during free time at school, and on the way home from school virtually every day until she had read the entire book. She asked me the other day if we could buy some for her to give to her best friends for Christmas.

There are stories about Feeling Good About Yourself, New Faces and New Places, Learning Lessons and Doing What’s Right, Crushed, The Kindness of Others, When the Going Gets Tough, Finding Your Passion, That was Embarrassing, Family Ties, Bullies and Bully Payback, and Friendships to Last a Lifetime.

Product Description

Being a preteen is harder than it looks! School is more challenging, bodies are changing, relationships with parents are different, and new issues arise with friends. But this collection will help preteens, showing them they are not alone. Readers will be encouraged and inspired by stories from other preteens, just like them, about the problems and issues they face every day.

Purchase

Chicken Soup for the Soul Just for Preteens can be purchased from Amazon for only $10.98. If your tween has a Kindle, you can buy them the Kindle version for only $9.99.

The Essential Guide to Baby’s First Year

Kimberly — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 18:30:40 +0000

As a new grandmother, I have been looking for good parenting books for my daughter. While there are some of the traditional ones, I’ve also looked for titles that I haven’t read before.

The Essential Guide to Baby’s First Year by Erika Landau, MD and Abigail Brenner, MD is one of the books that I’ve found that I think is worthy of passing on to all first time parents (maybe even some parents who aren’t first time parents).

It is divided into six sections – starting with the “new world” of the birth of baby and then divided into 3 month periods (1-3, 4-6, etc). The final chapter even discusses things to come during the second year.

While the book is very informative, it is also easy to read and a lot more matter of fact than some of the other parenting books I’ve read that push their own way of thinking. Landau and Brenner do a great job of showing both sides of parenting decisions such as breastfeeding or formula, to give a pacifier or not, and letting the parent decide which decision is best for their baby.

It also includes some great recipes for baby food to be used during months 9 to 12.

Over the years I have gathered a list of essential baby shower gifts. I give every new mom a box of diapers and wipes, a few certain toys, and I think now I’ll pass on The Essential Guide to Baby’s First Year.

The Essential Guide can be purchased at Amazon for $13.22. Own a Kindle? You can pick it up for $9.99 in Kindle version.

About the Authors

Erika Landau, MD is a pediatrician in New York. She has been in private practice since 1999. Dr. Landau is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Director of the Student Health Center at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine.Dr. Landau is a proud mother of a daughter and lives in New York with her family.

Abigail Brenner, MD attended New York Medical College and completed her internship and residency in psychiatry at New York University-Bellevue Medical Center. A board-certified psychiatrist in practice for more than 30 years, Dr. Brenner is a Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. Dr. Brenner lives in San Franscisco and New York, is married, the mother of two, and a grandmother of four.

Review: Dr. Riley’s Box of Tricks

Kimberly — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 17:08:25 +0000

Do you sometimes wish you had a “box of tricks” when it comes to parenting?

Dr. Douglas A Riley has created just that, a box of out of the ordinary solutions to everyday parenting solutions. From how to deal with your child’s mouth when you don’t like what’s coming out of it, door slammers, messy rooms, liars, slackers, and siblings fighting, Dr. Riley has an uncommon solution for you.

My favorite was his solution for a child who refuses to keep their room clean – ground them FROM their room. Yep, that’s right. Do not allow them to hang out in their room.

As you can tell this is not your typical parenting book, and I loved all of the unique ideas.

Another favorite of mine was a solution for the child who takes forever to get ready in the morning. Buy them 2 pairs of khakis and 2 polo shorts and take everything else out of the room – no more clothes options. After all, since it takes too long to pick out clothes, he/she must have too many right? GENIUS!

Do you feel at your wits end from time to time parenting? Check out Dr. Riley’s Box of Tricks: 80 Uncommon Solutions for Everyday Parenting Problems for some new ways to parent. You can purchase it from Amazon for $10.95 in paperback or $9.99 for Kindle.

About the Author

Douglas A Riley, EdD is a licensed clinical psychologist with more than thirty years of experience working with children, adolescents, and parents. He practices in Newport News, Virginia.

Review: The End of Molasses Classes

A New Twist on Great Expectations

Kimberly — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 12:34:40 +0000

When I taught Pre-AP English, I always started my students with reading Great Expectations so when I heard about The Great Expectations School: A Rookie Year in the New Blackboard Jungle by Dan Brown, I was interested in reading it before evening knowing more.

Product Description

At the age of twenty-two, Dan Brown came to P.S. 85 as an eager, fresh-faced teacher. He was even as-signed his own class: 4-217. Unbeknownst to him, 4-217 was the designated “dumping ground” for all fourth-grade problem cases, and his students would prove to be more challenging than he could have ever anticipated. Intent on being a caring, dedicated teacher but confronted with unruly children, absent parents, and a failing administration, Dan was pushed to the limit time and again: he found himself screaming with rage, punching his fist through a blackboard out of sheer frustration, often just wanting to give up and walk away. Yet, in this seeming chaos, he slowly learned—from the more seasoned teachers at the school and from his own mistakes—how to discipline, teach, and make a difference. The Great Expectations School is the touching story of Class 4-217 and their teacher, Mr. Brown. But more than that, it is the revealing story of a broken educational system and all those struggling within and fighting against it.

Review

This one took me a little longer to read than some of the other books I read, but that’s because it was filled with great detail that I wanted to really know, really wanted to take to heart. The story of Dan Brown is truly motivating. I think I felt a certain connection being a high school English teacher (as Mr. Brown is). I would love to know Dan Brown. I would love to work with Dan Brown.

While the book is very informative, it is also very emotional. You’ll be near tears at times and then laughing out loud at other times.

I’ve never taught in a situation like Dan Brown. His experiences are in a big city, mine are all in rural communities (and probably will always be), but I was still able to relate to so many of the problems he faced.

We have an “adult” section in our school library that is not what you think of when you think of “adult” books. Instead they are just books that no one but us teachers would be interested in reading. I have already donated my copy of The Great Expectations School to that section of the library for other teachers to enjoy.

The Great Expectations School can be purchased from Amazon in paperback for $10.06 and in Kindle format for $9.56.

Review: When Parents Text

Kimberly — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 15:40:53 +0000

Kids wrote the rule book on texting. Now parents are trying to learn the rules, and Lauren Kaelin and Sophia Fraiolo are here to record all of the mishaps that happen when “old fingers meet tiny keypads.”

I had never heard of this website (www.whenparentstext.com) until I received the books to review, and now I have to admit to checking it out when I need a laugh. There are so many crazy texts. Some just typos, some meant for people other than their children, and some that make you just want to hit your forehead and say , “WHY?”

A couple of my favorites from When Parents Text are

Mom: I’ve been farting all day because I have to get bloodwork done tomorrow.

Me: Did you mean fasting??

Mom: Oops. I meant to hit the button four times.

————————————————————————————————————

Dad: In order not to forget how to send text messages, I just practice sending it. There is nothing special. Pls ignore this text.

————————————————————————————————————

When Parents Text makes a great conversation starter. I plan to take it to Thanksgiving as I know my family will love passing it around and sharing the texts in this book.

Purchase

When Parents Text is available from Amazon for $8.76 for a paperback or for slightly cheaper, $8.32, for Kindlee.