Customer Reviews

Join In and Play (Learning To Get Along)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I would highly recommend any of the books in this series by Cheri Meiners. Join In and Play is a great book for parents whose children are shy or may avoid social interactions. It offers a variety of ways they can be included and have fun with their classmates and friends, even illustrating how to ask to join a game or play quietly beside another child. It also would be helpful in helping a more confident, popular child to reach out to quieter, less engaged peers.

These books caught my eye because the writing level is just right for pre-K and kindergarten children. Truthful without being preachy or overly wordy, the series shows children and family members from many different ethnic groups in the colorful illustrations, and each book addresses issues which are developmentally critical to this particular age group: sharing, taking turns, being afraid, listening, respecting others, helping out at home, etc. These books have given us a starting point to discuss problems at school or interacting with others, and have helped my son to have more empathy for his peers....I am hopeful that this quality will serve him well as he continues on to kindergarten and elementary school. It is exciting to hear him use ideas from this series to problem solve.

This is such a wonderful book. It is very thoughtful, respectful and kid friendly. The book spells out very clearly how to "join in and play." There is a wonderful teacher/parent guide in the back with activities for children to practice on how to make friends. The book is very well written and the illustrations are so dynamic. You can really tell how the children are feeling in the book by their facial expressions. (My only caveat is that the illustrator wasn't given credit on the byline. I don't know how the publisher go away with this but it is an egregious error in my perspective.) All the books in the series are wonderful! My daughter reads them over and over again.

This series teaches skills that all of us should learn. It helps me as a parent to reinforce principles that I feel my child needs to understand. It's also great that given the choice between the Get Along books and classics such as Hercules...my four year old boy will choose to read the Get Along Series books.

--Mike (Father of three)

What a simple concept. My daughter was coming home asking why the other kids wouldn't play with her. It broke my heart...she tends to be a little shy. After reading this book and talking about it just a couple of times, her teacher actually stopped me at school and told me she couldn't believe how much my daughter had blossomed overnight. I told her about the book and she told me that was exactly what my daughter was displaying in class. Asking to play, introducing herself, and if she had trouble joining in a large group...just ask the teacher to help you join in. Now when we go anywhere, she introduces herself and asks why the other kids are so shy...and tells me it's ok...everyone gets a little shy sometimes:-) Thanks for a great book!

I have all the books from the Learning to Get Along series. They are wonderfully illustrated and written. These are great social story books to help kids. I use them for my son and for the kids I work with at school. My son (5) will just sit and read this books on his own. I absolutely recommend Cheri J Meiners books. (I even have a link on my website for her books)

Our seven year old son has mild Autism, we have struggled to help him understand the simple mechanics of how to make friends. This is the first book we have come across where we feel he has gained something useful. It is very straight forward, and written in such a simple, clear way that he was talking about the book for several days after purchasing it- and requests it every night at bedtime. Today, after I picked him up from school, he related using some of the book's principles, and they worked! We are looking into getting more from the series, I highly recommend this book to anyone with shy children, and/ or a child on the spectrum. Thank you to the author!

My daughter (almost 5yrs) really likes this book! She has been asking us to read it every night since we purchased it. I'm looking into the other books in this series.

This is a wonderful book! After only reading it once, my daughter actually remembered some of the "tips" from it about joining in. She tends to be very shy, and this book has really helped. I recommend it, and will be getting it as a gift in the future. (By the way, ignore the one negative review - the poster does not know what they're talking about - see response from author).

Many of the other books for little kids on how to make friends were very general; this book gave great examples of how to join in. It also has follow up questions and an activity guide for adults. I thought this one was just the best.

My son is kind of shy, so this book is wonderful. Gives ideas to child on how to get involved and play with others. He just started pre-k so i have read it a few times already. he really pays attention and has already told me he made 2 new friends! would recommend!