Child-Safety Books

Thorough, concise, powerful. Examines the idea that school safety is about much more than just the school building and grounds. This is a must read for all educators - particularly members of school safety teams.

This very good book presents school safety concerns from three perspectives: (1) the high salience of current safety issues; (2) in-depth discussion of seven standards for school safety; and (3) questions that parents, teachers, and safety experts ask about school safety. He concludes with an appendix which gives the list of seven school safety standards and specific recommendations for each.

I thought this writer was clear, dispassionate, very informative, and useful. He does not have a "theory of discipline," but instead incorporates the best of both reflective and "conservative" disciplinary procedures. He is keen on building student self-discipline and safety through appropriate use of information (rules themselves), consequences (logical), resolution, and restitution; but he does not shy away from considering alternative programs. He was very informative about safety for Special Education youngsters.

Most readers for this book will be professional educators in training. It is more helpful for curriculum specialists and administrators than for teachers, but the integration of classroom rules to school-wide rules receives serious consideration.

Working for an organization dedicated to reducing violence in schools, I've had the opportunity to read many books in the past three years on this topic. Creating Safe Schools for All Children is the single best resource I've found, to date. The material was presented in a systematic way with key points for each chapter, call out boxes for case studies and recommendations, and a thorough presentation of some of the most important points of current research. I'd recommend every principal and school board member put this book at the top of their reading list.

Excellent introduction for law enforcement regarding encountering individuals with autism. I recommend it be used along with Dennis Debbaudt's book: Autism, Advocates and Law Enforcement Professionals: Recognizing and Reducing Risk Situations for People With Autism Spectrum Disorders. Davis covers topics in a personal and user-friendly way, though real-life interaction and in depth-training is certainly required to avoid tragedies such as taser deaths.

Superb! Bill lifts the veil off of a very difficult subject and explains in plain English the things that every emergency responder in the world ought to know about autism.

Parents... Buy this book and force it into the hands of your local police/fire/rescue departments. The more you educate your community about autism, the less risk your autistic child will face in the instance of an emergency.

This is an invaluable resource...

Joe Peifer

Bill Davis does it once again with Dangerous Encounters. If you have a child with autism, young or old, this is an invaluable book for your family. The book is an incredible resource on how to make your child(ren) and family as safe as possible in many different situations.

If there was a fire in your home, would your local firefighters know how to respond properly to your child? What about the police if you were in an accident and your child was unable to speak?

Bill provides plain and simple answers to the questions none of us want to answer or think about. But when the unthinkable happens, you need to be prepared and so does your community.

Get a copy of this book today and visit Unlocking Autism's website ... to get a safety packet as well!

I'm a middle school guidance counselor and I wish every student had to read this. It's a very realistic story of an internet predator. It's written from a 13 year-old girl's perspective so is really poignant for teenagers. There is not anything really graphic or horrible but parts are a little intense.

When Maxine received "Jo," her journal, as a present for her birthday, she never imagined that she would use it to chronicle the most terrifying of events...

Since her own parents refused to install the internet in their home, Max spens a lot of time over at her best friend, Leah's. How dangerous could it be, especially if they never used their real names or told anyone where they lived? Together, the two girls create a fake online persona to flirt with folks they met on their favorite music forum.

Caught by her mother, Max's fun on the internet ends, but Leah's spins out of control. Max is aware that Leah's online relationship is getting serious, but she's as powerless as everyone else when Leah disappears.

Max's entries in "Jo" follow her as she learns to deal with Leah's abduction, and the knowledge that she could have just as easily been the one taken. Although this book manages to be rather preachy at times, I still found it to be an interesting look at survivor's guilt and depression, and stayed on the edge of my seat until the book's conclusion.

Two friends are swept into a world that they never knew could hurt them in many ways and make them regret their actions.

Maxine has always been the good girl with the overprotective parents and the annoying siblings. She doesn't know why her parents are so restrictive on things such as the Internet. Then there is Leah, the only child who is beautiful and who usually gets whatever she wants. So when she gets the Internet she decides to share it with Maxine.

The Internet seems pretty safe to them, like the parts where they are able to talk in forums and log onto the hangouts where everyone at school goes to. But when they meet a guy who sweeps them off their feet, they decide that in order for them to keep talking to him they must lie about their age and anything else that would jeopardize the relationship.

Each girl begins to talk to different guys, writing to them every day; Maxine by relaying the messages to Leah through the phone and at school, and Leah, who does it secretly. The relationships begin to deepen as the guys begin to charm the girls. For Maxine, her mistakes are caught in time -- but for Leah, it was too late.

DEAR JO begins six months after Leah goes missing and Maxine, who is not only vulnerable but didn't even know that her best friend's "relationship" with her guy was getting so serious, is trying not to lose hope that one day her friend will return.

Written in diary/journal entries, DEAR JO is compelling and intriguing and focuses on an issue that most of us do not think of as serious. Christina Kilbourne writes a novel that will leave anyone who discovers it speechless.

Reviewed by: Randstostipher "tallnlankyrn" Nguyen

My Grandson has loved this book since he was one. He's three now and still loves to look at the rescue Trucks and the rescue people. He could name all of them by the time he was two. The pictures are great! Highly
recommend for learning and entertainment!!!

This is "the" book for any toddler obsessed with fire trucks and other emergency vehicles. Thanks to this book, my kid can accurately identify any rescue vehicle from 100 yards - even the obscure ones.

The Priddy books in this series are great. This one is nice because it not only has the great, bright, big pictures but also has different rescue professionals doing things with their cool helicopters, ambulances, etc.... The "action" shots seemed to really excite my daughter and her buddies. Stury board book, large for when they want a big bold book.

This is a cute book for kids with no martial arts experience. For those who are experienced it may provide a few moves that they may not know. All in all it's a good little book.

If you are looking for a book to help kids understand the basics of self-defense, this one works. I use this in our own martial arts school as a supplemental reading source for your youth programs. It's also great for workshops, or simply to share with a child for individual reading. The concepts are well explained with text and pictures, and the techinques demonstrated are simple to learn and execute.

From Jack Pistella.
Having been involved in the Martial Arts for over 25 years and an instructor since 1984, I have had the opportunity to read many books on self-defense. What impressed most about your book is you have deleted the useless material that is included in most other books. The book is clear, concise and easy to read, especially to children. The detailed photographs also make it understandable for children who cannot yet read.

We are dealing with a case of bullying in my daughter's international school in South East Asia in which my daughter is the target of harassment/bullying what ever you want to call it.
Even though the school pointed out the bullying to us, they have been less then helpful so I thank GOD for Evelyn's book. She is just SO spot on with things! This weekend I worked with my daughter, who is 6 & ½ on the first half of the book - talking about the bullying and why it is happening and doing the exercises. There were several points that the book was right on target about when it came to what the bullying is doing (my daughter would give me a big thumbs up when you were right on target). Also the questionnaire about when , why who is sympathetic and helping or not was VERY insightful because it uncovered that the teachers are either not helping or outright hostile about what is going on.
We have also been working on her self esteem issues and how to stop the bullying which is the subjest of the second half of the book and already we are making small progress. We are pleased with any small improvement and credit it solely to this book.
Some of her best advice is to recognize that the school may not be able to do much to help. Sadly this has proven true in our case so far but hopefully it will sort out with the help of the exercises and worksheets in this very useful resource.
Thank you Evelyn Field for a fantastic book!

Evelyn Field is a former school psychologist who is now in private practice. In "Bully-Busting", Ms. Field starts by giving her theories about how some kids become bullies and others become targets. Her theories on how kids become bullies are not new, but are very well-stated. When it comes to describing how other kids become targets, she very carefully avoids blaming-the-victim while talking about how there are a set of skills and resources that kids can have to avoid becoming targets or to handle bullying, and not everyone has those skills. In the second half of this book, Ms. Field describes a set of six skill-building areas that will enable a child to avoid being a target of bullies and/or handle any bullying that does come their way. Throughout the book, the author blends pieces of her own personal experience, her experience as a school psychologist, her experience in private practice, and information she has obtained from people contacting her to talk about methods/variations they have found to be useful.

"Bully-Busting" contains many fun drawings that will make the book more appealing to younger kids, but those drawings might have the opposite effect on older kids. There are also many exercises or worksheets; some are aimed at kids, some are aimed at parents, and some are aimed at parents working together with their children.

The strongest part of the book is its very concrete and explicit description of behaviors children can use to enhance and display non-aggressive assertiveness. Instead of describing theories of assertiveness, "Bully-Busting" clearly describes things like altering one's stance, tone of voice, eye contact, and language usage. At times, there are seeming contradictions, especially related to whether a child, who is being bullied should display or disguise their his or her feelings in the presence of the bully, but a careful reading shows that the author acknowledges the seeming contradiction and addresses the factors that go into deciding whether to display anger toward a bully.

One reservation I have about this book relates to my own work with children who fit the State of Michigan's definition of "severely emotionally disturbed": some of the techniques described would not work with children who have severe emotional problems, as they are engaging in and/or dealing with harassment at a higher level than is found amongst most children, and some of these tactics would just open the child up to being ridiculed. However, many described tactics would work, even with the most disturbed children.

Ms. Field lives and works in Australia, and this book does contain a few colloquialisms that were a challenge. From the context, I think a "tuckshop" is a cafeteria, and I'm guessing that a "fun parlour" is like a video arcade.

Overall, this is a 4.5-star book that contains material that is useful to parents, therapists, school staff, and the children we work with.

Unless this book was first published in 1994 the content is not outdated. I recomment this book as a must-read for every counsellor.

The first time I readed this book I started to realise this book is not solely about sexual abuse or traumatic wounds. The principles written are universal for every human being. I could agree with all the principles described. I know counsellors as well as survivors of sexual abuse and found they became blessed by reading this book.

Steve Breakstone, Michael Dreiblatt and Karen Dreiblatt's HOW TO STOP BULLYING AND SOCIAL AGGRESSION teaches elementary grades lessons and activities for reinforcing empathy and friendship. Teaches in grades K-6 as well as school administrators receive tips on interactive lessons and activities that support student safety, with details centering around issues of respect and fostering such behaviors. A key pick for education libraries.

Bullying is such an important issue that needs to be addressed by every school, teacher and parent.This approach is an excellent one- when children respect and empathize with each other bullying does not occur. However, the most comprehensive book on the subject for schools, teachers and parents of kids ages 3 - 15 is Bully-Proofing Children: A Practical, Hands-On Guide to Stop Bullying. It outlines not only activities and lessons but puts forth a wonderful description on how to build a bully-free environment in school and at home. Intervention and proactive techniques are included.

I thouroughly enjoyed Into's Adventures, because it deals with a topic that is important to most parents and yet not easily broached. This little gem of a book helps parents explain dangers to children without scaring them. It also provides a practicle application method that is not only interactive but educational, and simple. Children (like most of us) learn better by doing than by just hearing, this book teaches the appropriate lessons beautifully. I find that children also get a great deal of satisfaction from accomplishment, and this book gives them an opportunity to not only develope their skills, but also to derive a sense of satisfaction from learning. I only wish that such a book had been available to me when I was a young mother of four boys, but now as a grandmother, I find this book invaluable. I commend the author for having the foresight to write a book that is truly of value and useful for parents and fun and educational for children. My hat is off to Ms. Hayes. A Satisfied Reader

Marie Munz

My four year old son and I enjoy books---A Lot! It takes a really good one however to keep him interested. So you can imagine how happy I am to say that not only is Into's Adventures in Safety well written, but also a book that any child will love reading again and again. It contains information dealing with safety issues which are vital to discuss with young children. This book presents each of its important "lessons" in a way that allows the child to make the "wisest choice" regarding the situation. Each "adventure" contains three lift tabs with corresponding choices. If your child chooses correctly, he or she is rewarded with a smiling "Into" bunny saying "Wise Choice". Repetition is said to be the mother of retention and both you and your child will benefit by reading this long overdue book together. Enjoy.

Filbert the squirrel loves to play soccer with his friends, and he likes to run around the neighborhood on errands, too. In fact, he's having so much fun he forgets to look both ways when dashing across the street. Rollicking rhymes and fun drawings liven up and lighten up this "cautionary tale".

As parents how often have we reminded our children "to look both ways"? That caution is so frequently repeated that young ones probably tend to tune it out (along with much other sage parental advice, I'm sure). Nonetheless, this important habit is presented in such a fun, colorful manner in "Look Both Ways" that young ones may very well remember it.

Filbert, a young squirrel, is out playing soccer on a cool, crisp fall day when the soccer ball slides into the street. Running to retrieve it, Filbert is having far too much fun to look both ways.

His mother is at home in an old oak tree making acorn soup. She realizes that she doesn't have enough acorns so she asks Filbert to run to Granny's house and bring some back. She tells him to hurry, but also to be sure and look both ways.

Well, Filbert is such a jolly little rascal and so thoroughly enjoys everything he does that he forgets to look both ways when he crosses the street. On his way home with the acorns he's eager to return to his soccer game so he doesn't look for the cat who suddenly clamps a paw on his tail. Once he escapes from the cat he totally ignores a Stop sign on the next street corner and scurries out into traffic.

What happens to Filbert next is a good lesson for all children who are in too much of a hurry to observe safety rules. (Don't worry, it all ends well so youngsters will not be frightened - they'll just smile at Filbert's antics and hopefully learn a valuable lesson).

- Gail Cooke