They Don't Like Me: Lessons on Bullying and Teasing from a Preschool Classroom (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: dead unicorns, Are You Afraid of the Dark, The Mystery of the Dead Unicorns, The Upper Hand (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

How we can teach children to fight the impulse to bully and give them the tools to resist bullying when it does occur

Jane Katch is a master teacher and wonderfully astute observer of the four- and five-year-olds in her preschool classroom. In her new book she investigates why so many young children, who are only newly aware of the existence of the group, immediately try to cement their place in it by keeping others out. As she takes us into the world of her classroom and shows us how her kids act and react, she comes to new understandings of why some kids bully and scapegoat, how other kids get through the experience, and how she as a teacher might intervene to help all children.

"If you want to understand the power dynamics of kids, if you want to know what teasing and bullying looks like in early elementary school, then you must read They Don't Like Me." —Michael Thompson, coauthor of Best Friends, Worst Enemies

"Jane Katch offers us a rare gift, the insider's view of her remarkable classroom as she and her children struggle to understand what is fair and just in the explosive arena of those who intimidate and those who feel intimidated . . . A vivid and honest narrative." —Vivian Gussin Paley, author of You Can't Say You Can't Play

About the Author

Jane Katch taught emotionally disturbed children with Bruno Bettelheim at the Orthogenic School, and kindergarten with Vivian Paley at the University of Chicago Lab School. She now teaches young children in central Massachusetts, and lives in northeastern Connecticut with her family.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Beacon Press (August 31, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807023213
• ISBN-13: 978-0807023211
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #266,327 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars I Wish Every Teacher would Read this Book, July 7, 2004

By	Peter Silverman (Ashland, OR USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: They Don't Like Me: Lessons on Bullying and Teasing from a Preschool Classroom (Hardcover)

I have read three or four of the books out nowadays about bullying and I liked this one the best. Instead of easy answers ("just tell your child these three things") it opts for a much more time-consuming but more rewarding approach that helps the children explore their own views on bullying in particular and issues of unfair treatment in general. Since the question of how one should think, feel, and behave when faced with unfair treatment is such an important issue for all children and adults, I wish every teacher of young children would read this book, and I wish I had had Ms. Katch for a teacher.

4.0 out of 5 stars a great read, but it needed to go deeper, April 1, 2004

By	P. Heaphy (West Haven, CT United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: They Don't Like Me: Lessons on Bullying and Teasing from a Preschool Classroom (Hardcover)

The subtitle of this book, "Lessons on teasing and bullying in a preschool classroom" led me to believe that it would be easy to cull those lessons, allowing me to immediately ease the teasing and bullying I see in my own preschool classroom. This is not a book with easy answers, and as I began to read, I don't believe it was intended to be such. It is a very enjoyable read, fast and easy, about the day to day interactions of the author's own classroom. She utilizes some wonderful methods of interacting with and empowering the children, and for this reason I could easily recommend this book be required reading in a college teacher prep course. But in an effort to go deeper into her understanding of bullying, she digresses from her class to interview her brother (a former teaser, now a social worker) and high school students on their experiences. Quite frankly, reading the high school dialogue became tedious (however brief it was) with all the "Like's" that could have just been assumed by the reader.
Overall, I did devour this book and would recommend it to my fellow teachers, (...)