Customer Reviews

Sam Feels Better Now! An Interactive Story for Children

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Sam goes to see Ms. Carol because he's been frightened. It's caused him to not be eating or sleeping properly. As you go through the book and Same and Ms. Carol talk, your child is able to draw and interact as Sam would be in the therapist's office.

This book points out the importance of security and feeling safe, of having a regular daily routine and how to talk to others about things.

This book even allows you to draw and understand more fully the range of feelings that you can go through. Many of these emotions can be especially difficult for a younger child to understand.

This was a really great book on further exploration of feelings. My six year old really enjoyed it and likes it even more because he got to color and draw.


RATING: ''''

Pages: 41
Softcover

Review copy of this book provided by the author/publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review. In no way did the provision of the book affect the outcome of my review.

How should a parent react when a child is so scared by something that he's having trouble sleeping, isn't eating enough, and is fighting with his friends? Sam saw something awful and scary, so his mother takes him to Mrs. Carol, a special therapist who helps kids feel better. She asks Sam to draw some pictures and then tell her a story about the thing that scared him. Next, she talks with Sam and his mother about working up a daily routine, finding people who can help, thinking of ways to stay safe, and generally helping Sam to understand his feelings, so that he could coping skills to decrease the effects of his anxiety.
Author Jill Osborne, a professional counselor who has specialized in play therapy, traumatology, and child therapy, provides a story that integrates principles for trauma therapy, play therapy, and expressive techniques to assist a child who has experienced a traumatic event, crisis situation, or grief through stage one of trauma therapy by creating a fun, creative, and interactive experience for the child. It is recommended that children and parents who are dealing with such problems work with a therapist trained in child therapy. There is a therapist's guide at the end of the book with suggestions, references, and resources. Sam Feels Better Now will prove to be a helpful tool for working with children who need this kind of help.

Sam Feels Better Now! An Interactive Story for Children, written by Jill Osborne and illustrated by Kevin Collier, is meant to help children dealing with traumatic memories. Ms. Carol, a special therapist, walks Sam step by step through identifying and dealing with a scary thing that happened to him.

This book began as a project for a traumatology course that the author took while doing graduate work in professional counseling at Georgia State University.

The book can be used by therapists to help children go through the process with Sam, in a non-threatening way since it is in the third person. It is interactive in that there are pages for the child to draw and identify what happened, how it makes him feel, and how to deal with it. It is recommended for ages 4-10.

The colors and illustrations are appealing; Esmé, my two-year-old, sat through several readings of the book while looking at the pictures. The vocabulary is simple to understand, too. There is not much of a story line or character development to evaluate; it is just a step-by-step description of the therapy process.

There were a couple of minor punctuation and grammatical issues in the book copy I received for review.

I don't feel qualified to evaluate the therapy process described in the book, as I don't have much background in that area.

Overall, this looks like a useful tool for a therapist to use in helping children who have dealt with trauma.

"Sam Feels Better Now!" is an interactive story for children. The format is very much like a picture book, but this book is geared towards helping children who have experienced trauma, psychological injury, or any form of abuse. The goal of this book is to help assist therapists or other caregivers who help children in these crisis situations. The interactive components such as drawings or story telling help children express the pain and suffering they are in or have been put through. With the story being told through Sam's perspective, the main character, children who read this book will become a part of helping Sam to heal.

The character Sam is described as having gone through a bad experience. However, the problem Sam is trying to deal with is left unsaid. This allows children using this book to either make up a situation for Sam to heal from or place their own crisis on Sam to fix. The story begins with Sam meeting his counselor and getting comfortable with her. The interactive exercises throughout the story help Sam move forward to fix his problem and the child participates by drawing pictures that relate to the story. Sam also gets to talk about his emotions. The story continues with the child helping Sam. There are also exercises to help the child identify their own emotions and to help them get started with telling their own story.

In addition, there is a therapist guide in the back to provide adults background information and suggestions for using "Sam Feels Better Now!"

Jill Osborne's book is an excellent resource for therapists and counselors. The illustrations by Kevin Scott Collier are encouraging with their simple kid friendly style and colorful appeal. I also feel this book would be a good tool in schools and at home because the exercises help to empower children to actively identify their own personal environment and find comfort in expressing themselves and the world around them.

Written by professional counselor and child therapist Jill Osborne, Sam Feels Better Now! An Interactive Story for Children is a consumable, softcover children's picturebook created especially to help young people ages 4-10 recover from a traumatic event, or the loss of a loved one. The simple story shows a young boy interacting with a therapist, and prompts a child to draw pictures - a picture of something awful or scary, a picture of people one can love and trust, and colors to express the feelings in different parts of one's body. The final few pages include a therapist's guide to using the book in play therapy, and a brief list of references and resources. Highly recommended as a useful tool for child counselors and professional child therapists.