This a very well structured and useful book. I think it makes most sense to use with children who are already quite anxious and/or children who ask questions about bad things that happen, or who live in a place where bad things happen regularly.

It’s written in such a way that children could read it on their own or read it together with an adult. There are things to ponder and exercises to complete, to help understand what’s happened, why it happened, how one and the people around oneself feel about what happened and what to do about it.

I would recommend this book.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

How do you help children and young people cope with and process the bad 'somethings' they hear or see on the news? This book gives the answers. To be read with or close to a trusted adult, this book introduces the book for adult readers, then takes a younger reader through short chapters explaining the likelihood of these things happening, how they are often far away and how to focus on the things that are close and safe.

The book focuses on 'something bad' through out so that it can be used for all manner of news and helps children to work through their own thoughts, feelings and responses to the 'something' they have heard about or seen.

Easily one of the best books I have found so far to help young children understand the sometimes-scary world we live in. It does a phenomenal job showing that, even though these events are frightening, there are always people to help you figure out what is going on, and to process it. The book is a fantastic guide for parents on how to protect and inform their children, at the same time. It is also purposely general in order to encompass pretty much any 'bad thing' that you can imagine having to try to explain to your child.

This book would be useful for so many - parents, teachers, counselors, social workers, pediatricians, pastors/youth/children's ministers, basically anyone who cares for children in any capacity. To be clear, it is NOT for children/families who have been directly involved in a traumatic event. The author makes a point to directly state this. It is for those trying to process events that did not impact them directly, but have impacted their world in general, if only by the way adults are acting/behaving/speaking/not speaking, etc. We need to be able to guide our children through what seems to be increasingly turbulent times and this guide is a great starting point to do just that.

I thought specifically of Sept 11 when I first saw this book on NetGalley - not only for my students, but first for Eleanor. She is six and a half, and loves the Who Is/Who Was/What Is/etc series - you know, the books where the subject on the cover has a GIANT head and itty bitty body. The book about the Twin Towers is one that we own and we did start it months ago, but at one point Eleanor said she wanted to take a break from it because it made her sad. We will revisit it sometime in the future whenever she is ready, and with this book I will be even better prepared to help her understand the life-changing/world-changing event that occurred long before she was born, whose impact is still seen and felt today.

Additionally, every year on Sept 11, I teach my students about it. I have taught 3rd-6th grade and I appreciate the author's push for discussion and dialogue. I use material from kid-friendly, age-appropriate websites (such as readworks.org and BrainPop) to present the material to them, and give them the opportunity to ask as many questions as they need or want in order to make sense. It truly is so hard even for 6th graders to understand that day, the destruction on such a massive scale. After reading this, I have ideas on how to incorporate its suggestions into the lesson for my future students.

The introduction really helps adults understand how to use the book, and the author gives seven tips to help guide the conversations. The following chapters then focus on various points in the process - from finding out the bad thing that happened, calming oneself, learning information, identifying those who can help, dealing with a variety of emotions, caring for oneself, and finally - perhaps one of the most important - healing the world. Most of the chapters are 6-7 pages. The longest chapter is also one that it critically important - that of explaining the likelihood of a bad thing happening to someone. This is so crucial because it can help calm a child's worst fears, help them to understand that even though this bad thing happened, it does not mean it will happen to them. I like the examples that the author used, along with the illustrations, of using marbles in a jar to demonstrate possible vs likely.

It is sometimes so hard to know what or how much to say to younger children when something bad does happen. They will likely hear about it at some point, maybe from kids at school with older siblings, or overhearing a conversation between parents, etc. We have only so much ability to control what our children hear and when they hear it, and this book goes a long way in helping guide that process of understanding when a tragic event has entered their radar.

Highly recommended.

This is written for children to be read with or near a trusted adult.

I feel like its a good start to open the topic of how to talk about bad things that are happening but I feel like its very much just an introduction.

4.5 stars

A very thoughtful book to help kids - and parents - discuss something bad or scary that might have happened in the news. It's designed to be very flexible, so you can use it for whatever purpose you need, whether that's a natural catastrophe, a community problem or anything else.

It gives good guidelines for parents (and kids) how to best use it, explains that sometimes people say things that aren't true or share details you don't need, and that even the news gets it wrong sometimes. (These are good points for grownups to remember too.) And then it goes on to explain that when something bad happens, good people from around the world join together to help make it better and stop it happening again... and there might be a way you can help.

The part I liked the most was where it explained about risk and the likelihood of something you heard about <i>actually happening to you</i>. Again, this is something grownups need to remember too.

The only reason I took off 1/2 star is because the "fill in the blanks/draw a picture" parts mean this is essentially a single-use book if you use it as instructed, though obviously parents can use it to start conversations over and over. You can even use it to explain why they shouldn't be trying to watch the TV programs you're watching when they should be in bed!

One caveat from the ARC: the Kindle version I had suffered from some formatting issues, but I'm sure those will be corrected in the main copy.

Its sad we need books like this but the way this book is set up, it can help for such a vast array of. "Bad things". This is a must-own book for parents for sure.

What a great read! I can wholeheartedly say that I will be recommending this book to parents and kids I minister to. It is an amazing book with lots of practical tips and understandable for kids to read.

It's a shame we even need a book like this, but it's very lucky we do. I think this will help parents, teachers, anyone who works with or lives with children 6-12, help children deal with the scary things that are going on in the world today. It's hard to protect even the youngest children from hearing frightening news about wars, murders, abductions, etc... This book will help ease the discussion and calm frightened kids. When my generation was that age we were far more protected by our parents, teachers, and other adults. Whenever they were talking about something that wasn't meant for young ears, they clammed up. Not so much when we had our own kids. We talked about everything with the kids RIGHT THERE WITHIN EAR SHOT. But for the most part, we didn't have school shootings, 911, suicide bombers, etc... This book would make a great gift for any adult who has or works with children. It can smooth the discussions and calm the fears.

It is always difficult to decide how much or what to say to children in your life when something unsettling happens in the world. Sometimes the event is on such a scale that you cannot shield your 6-12 year olds from it, and they will hear about it at school or among peers even if you decide not to discuss it. This book is a good resource for parents to use when their children begin to question events that happen in the world. It is one to keep on hand for just such an occasion.

This book is nice resource for how to navigate the conversations when something bad does happen. It is written for all ages and I could see this being useful to many who work with children. This is would be a title that could be used by social workers with groups, by teachers with students, by clubs supporting students, and the list could go on. Parnets will find the information useful also. I will be adding this to my collection.

I was provided an advance copy by NetGalley for an honest review.

I received an electronic ARC from Jessica Kingsley Publishers through NetGalley.
How do you help children cope after traumatic events? Huebner has written a book for parents to read with children 6 - 12 years old. It's deliberately generic so readers can use it in various situations.
Adults need to read the opening chapter offering tips and guidance for helping kids move through the emotional responses to such events. I appreciate her emphasis that this is not a book for children and families who have been directly involved in traumatic events. Rather, it's a guide to open dialogue and discussion.
The rest of the book is broken into ten chapters for children to read. Huebner takes readers through steps to cope with the aftermath of "bad events." Through short statements and engaging activities, families can process their emotions and responses and move to actions to relieve stress and fears.
The print is small but written in short paragraphs. Kids could read on their own with an adult nearby or read together with the adult in their lives.

An interesting idea, offering adults with responsibility for children ways in to discussing some of the more difficult and upsetting issues that are raised in the media today. Tackled in more general terms, Huebner attempts to provide adults with a rough script to help them tackle a range of different news stories that children are likely to encounter - the 'script' (I term it this loosely) is easy to adapt to suit your children's needs and understanding of the world without scaring them. Huebner encourages discussion as a tool for exploring the aspects that children are likely to find scary and most worrying. A little patronising in places, but adaptable and useful in a Primary classroom context.

Firstly, thank you to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I liked the whole idea of this book, as a mum to two young children and the state our world is in, i thought great something I can use to help explain when questions get asked. I loved the ideas of reading the book together but I feel like there wasn't much for the child to grasp on to apart from some mindfulness meditation.. I will definitely give it a try though with my eldest (aged 9) hears anything on the news and asks questions.

This book means well. It is a good concept too. I remember how hard it was to explain the attacks on 9/11, when my daughter was in elementary school. It was scary, and it was hard to explain.

So the thought of a good that might have helped that situation, sounded like a fabulous idea.

And while the book does address being scared, the whys and wherefores, and it addressing feeling helpless, it does so in a clinical way.

<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-5043" src="https://g2comm.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Screen-Shot-2019-03-21-at-12.28.01-AM.png" alt="Something bad happened" />

We learn what addreneline is and fight or flight.

We learn to know when something is near or far away.

And we learn about likelihood, how likely something could happen to you.

But in all of this, I didn't feel there was anything that kids could latch on to, other than mindful meditation,.

I do like that the book recommends being an activist and find somethings you can do around the house and its world.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

This book was a gentle approach to learning how to cope with bad news. It was non-specific so as to be adaptable in a variety of situations. It was uncomplicated and concise. It did what it was meant to do.

Unfortunately, it didn't do it in a way that I feel like will keep a child's attention. The idea is very good but the execution could have used a little more life injected into it.