Customer Reviews

Speak Up and Get Along!: Learn the Mighty Might, Thought Chop, and More Tools to Make Friends, Stop Teasing, and Feel Good About Yourself

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I agree with Dr. Ross's editorial review that "everything about this book is perfect for children." Speak Up and Get Along is a great resource to help kids survive and succeed especially in their social worlds at school. It is clear and easy for them to read. The best thing about it is that there are a lot examples of how to actually deal with bullying and teasing, arguments, peer pressure and making and keeping friends. Each chapter has easy tools for kids to use and the illustrations help.The chapter on talking back to negative thoughts was really helpful. It gives very specific ways that kids can do this. I really recommend this as a gift for the children in your life.

As we all know, dealing with peers is one of the most difficult - but essential - skills our children need to learn. In a search for material that could be used for teaching effective problem-solving, assertive communication and negotiation skills, I discovered this book and ordered a copy. I found some of the ideas a bit silly-sounding but figured it might work with young children, so I have developed small "plays" using the book's dialogues to set up the scenarios for my kids to enact. They love it! Now I am expanding this activity to include all students from 1st-6th grade with the hope that learning these skills will help reduce bullying and enhance their communication skills. My only criticism is that the material presented in the book is a bit disjointed and hard to read. I'm not sure what audience the author was writing to, but I felt it too childish to be taken seriously as an adult and too abstract to hold the attention of a child; however, the basic principles are sound and the imagery of the language does appeal to the child in all of us.

I'm impressed at the tools available in this book. It is very well-written and put together in an easy format. It has boosted my kids' (age 9) self confidence. I love how the author covers tone of voice and body language as well as verbal tools.

Great book!

I remember being a kid and going to assemblies where guys like this author would come and try to tell us how to cope with the hardships of being a kid. They'd offer up all kinds of ideas about resolving conflict that besides being worthless, could actually make things worse. We knew this as kids (and were amazed that the adults couldn't figure it out), and pretty much ignored everything the speaker had to say. This book is just like those assemblies---including the patronizing, bad jokes (e.g., "...like when family members kid you because you like pickles on your pizza", and "...guinea pigs stand on their heads and plug their ears when they're angry [just kidding]", &c.).

Here are a few examples of the author's unhelpful ideas for how kids can cope with teasing:

- Just ignore it.
- Agree with what a teaser says, and they'll leave you alone.
- Just be confident.
- Just tell them to stop.
- Tell an adult.

In the end, while there are a few ideas that are OK, getting something good from this embarrassing tome is like sifting gold dust out of glitter. If you want a book that will really help a your kids a stellar choice is: "The Unwritten Rules of Friendship: Simple Strategies to Help Your Child Make Friends", by Natalie Madorsky Elman and Eileen Kennedy-Moore.

Please don't waste your money on this book!

I've used "Speak Up and Get Along" as an in-class textbook for my Karate students, both children and adults, with great success.

The simple lessons and role-play exercises are easy to understand, and simple to use, even with children who are just starting to read. The organization of the book, using various types of birds as images to illustrate an entire suite of social skills, is very helpful as well -- the tools of the Blue Jay are all about being assertive when you need to. I've recommended this book to a number of my professional colleagues, many of whom are using it with their students (and children) as well.

A useful companion volume is "Sticks and Stones", also by Scott Cooper. It shares the same basic structure, with additional explanations, scripts for parents/teachers, and additional role-plays.

A word about the role-plays: be prepared to practice with them several times to really internalize the skills involved. Running through them once or twice and then just moving on to the next thing is won't get you very far in acquiring usable skills from the text. Practice with them over and over, just as you would to learn a new martial arts technique. Don't confuse understanding the various tools here with the ability to actually use them -- that takes dedicated practice.

Purchased for an 11 y.o. girl at Christmas \who's been having trouble standing up for herself in social situations. She read it cover-to-cover the next day and has had the guts to tell off 2 peers giving her trouble since. Now her uncle (41) wants to read it!

I casually left this out on the table and my son, who LOVES comic books, picked it up right away and begain reading. This is written pretty well and appeals to kids but I still think adults should read with kids to discuss the various scenarios.

As kids get bigger, parents sweat the sex ed talks they need to have. But there is a lot more than sex ed to be preparing for - there's the whole range of "social ed" - how to behave in situations that are bound to occur. How to deal respectfully with other people, some of whom may not even like you. How to say what you mean.

This book lets your kids role-play situations. It encourages things like posture and eye contact, without being preachy. My older son reads this, and I've caught him practicing in the mirror. The book is especially good at showing kids how to replace negative ways of thinking with more positive expressions.

Very valuable book, fun format, get it for your kids before junior high.

My fifth and sixth graders could not get enough of this book. The animal anaologies helps to make the book easier to understand for children as well.

This is the second of Scott Cooper's books that I have read on the subject (Sticks and Stones is the other). The numerous favorable reviews from experts are warranted. The books carry a number of practical ideas for children to deflect teasing and bullying. I am a parent of four children and this is an isssue that any parent is all too aware of. I appreciate that authors like Cooper have provided parents with real tools rather than theory to deal with the hard knocks of life.