Counting One to Ten - Teaching Children a New Reason! Personal Favorite for Year!

Stop! First, Count One to Ten! Many of us have heard the suggestion to stop and count to ten before taking action...but...none of us were ever taught or had it explained to us just why we should do that.

Well, not before now that is...

"Problems aren't the Problem;

Coping is the Problem"

--Virginia Satir

I was happy to have found the above video...because you get to meet our main character! Squirrel...He was out collecting acorns, happy to have been finding so many when all of a sudden...Well, he tripped and dropped all that he had gathered and they fell into the stream and quickly disappeared...

One to Ten:

Squirrel's Bad Day

By Carole P. Roman

Illustrated by Mateya Arkova

Take a look at the front cover of this book! Isn't it beautiful?! The bold, crisp colors beckon to us, saying "Read Me!" Of course, for me, the colors chosen were some of my favorites, so I'm a little biased, but not enough to not spotlight the artist, Mateya Arkova, for this book. In addition, I loved the exaggerated ears on the squirrel and in the first few pages as gathering acorns is accomplished, he's practically flying through the air happily filling his arms, heading home, only to stumble and lose them all!

This book is more a picture book and certainly will be one to share with your youngest children... For instance, when Squirrel meets his friend, Rabbit, who asks, "What Happened?", the squirrel "acts out" his frustration in a series of pantomimed actions in picture after picture!

Rabbit was so sorry for his friend. "Oh No! That's Terrible. I can't believe it! You poor thing. Don't be sad about and acorns... I have an idea...

And that's when the very special storyline begins. Rabbit will be teaching about how to consider what happened in relation to a number from 1 to 10! In this case, a 10 is the absolute worst, while 1 , not so bad... Rabbit explained:

My Mom taught me a special trick to do when I'm upset. Let's figure out how bad this really is. We can rate it on a special chart."

Now if you think about it, although the colors are beautiful, the learning concept of this book is really rather advanced. First, your child would need to know the relationship of the numbers 1-10. That is, they need to know that 2 is more than, 3 is more than, and so on... 

Then the next part is even more advanced. If you child is able to differentiate between liking chocolate versus vanilla pudding or one book versus another, then this book will allow you to help learn about their own personal feelings! Actually, I've never seen this done in a book or video (I looked) yet, if the concept is begun at an early age, it is bound to be a useful tool that all of us, as adults, will continue to use when we face a problem...

For instance, I'm sitting here with no gas, which means no heat, no stove, no hot water and no clothes dryer...I call that a big 10, the worst, because I don't know how long it will be like this... On the other hand, when the electricity went out a few days ago, I sat down, read a book, and waited for it to return, consider it maybe a 2...which, of course, could go to 10 if it was out for days...

I've use an adult analogy because (1) most books are bought by adults, (2) the value to adults can be helpful in any situation, once you've learned it, and (3) so I don't give away too much of what the storyline of the book is...But it's really cute, fun, and a very good learning experience...

Roman has stepped out of her traditional popular series mode to present an excellent, very important, learning experience that, if it is used, is bound to help talk to a child in both hurtful as well as disciplinary events. It's so important to help children learn how to control their emotions, don't you think? I'm hoping more of this type of book will be added to Roman's already extensive teaching/learning children's books... Kudos!

This is my first personal favorite book for 2017! Cool! A Must-Read Recommendation!

GABixlerReviews

Named to Kirkus Reviews' Best of 2012 for her first book, award winning author Carole P. Roman started writing as a dare from one of her sons. Using an imaginary game she played with her grandson as a base, Captain No Beard was born."Captain No Beard- An Imaginary Tale of a Pirate's Life" has not only been named to Kirkus Best of 2012, it received the Star of Exceptional Merit, and won the Pinnacle Award for 2012. "Pepper Parrot's Problem with Patience" Book 2 in the series, received 5 Stars from The ForeWord Review The Clarion Review. Strangers on the High Seas has won second place in the Rebecca's Reads Choice Awards 2013. It has followed with six more books to the series. This year, Captain No Beard and the Aurora Borealis was named to Kirkus Best 2015. The entire cultural non-fiction series If You Were Me and Lived in... was named Best Series by Shelf Unbound. She has begun work on two new series that will be released in early 2016.
Motivated by her love of yoga, Roman has written a book that not only teaches four poses, but shows how easy and accessible yoga can be. 
Her new non fiction series, "If You Were Me and Lived in..." combines her teaching past with her love of exploration and interest in the world around us. The debut book in the series, "If You Were Me and Lived in...Mexico" has won the Pinnacle Award for Best in Children's Non Fiction 2012. France, South Korea, and Norway. Rebecca's Reads has given If You Were Me and Lived in...Norway an honorable mention in the 2013 Choice Awards. If You Were Me and lived in ...France won second place. ForeWord Review has nominated If You Were Me and Lived in...France for best in children's non fiction literature 2013. They will be followed with Kenya, Turkey, India, and Australia. She plans to do Portugal, Greece, and Argentina next year.
Writing for children has opened up a whole second act for her. While she is still working in her family business, this has enabled her to share her sense of humor as well as love for history and culture with the audience she adores. Roman lives on Long Island with her husband and near her children.