2025 PICTURE BOOK CLUB – WEEK FIVE

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Welcome to 2025 SUMMER PICTURE BOOK CLUB – WEEK FIVE
How to participate in Picture Book Club …
  1. Get the suggested books from your library or bookstore (local or online). See PICTURE BOOK CLUB BOOK LIST for the complete list of books for each week.
  2. Before reading each of the weekly books to your child, READ FIRST “What Adults Can Learn from This Story.”
  3. Read one or both books to your child as many times through the week as your child wants to hear them and you have time to read.
  4. Consider doing whatever activities you think are appropriate for the age and maturity of your child from “Make This Story Come Alive for Your Child.”

WE WELCOME FEEDBACK ABOUT YOUR PARTICIPATION. YOU CAN LEAVE A COMMENT BY USING THE “WHAT DO YOU THINK?” BUTTON AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST.

KING ARTHUR’S VERY GREAT GRANDSON  by Kenneth Kraegel
(a story about aggression, power, and friendship)

Henry Alfred Grummorson, a “knight of King Arthur’s blood,” wants nothing more than to be a fighter. He doesn’t just want to pretend to fight. He wants to be aggressive and powerful. His problem is he can’t get anyone to fight with him. He wants “… a struggle of arms, a test of might and courage!” He was “… determined to have a battle, come what may.” But, when Henry gives in to playing a friendly game with a monster he learns the benefits of friendship.
What Adults Can Learn from This Story
  • Pent up emotions from things that happened away from home (at school or work, for example) need to be dealt with – it’s like letting steam escape from a tea kettle.  Sometimes these emotions even get directed at the pets in the house. Children are mean to the dog because they couldn’t stand up for themselves with someone at school.
  • Picking fights and getting into arguments are ways some children have learned to get attention – even bad attention is better than no attention for a human being.  See “Quality Time.”
  • Children save up “gripes” that they haven’t talked about or dealt with over many days, weeks or even months.  The gripes start coming out in all sorts of ways that may or may not be connected to the original gripe.
  • Anything parents do to help children learn about emotions will help them get along well with others. Children can understand that Mommy or Daddy needs time alone because they are upset about something. Children can learn to sense their own mean feelings or want-to-fight feelings inside of themselves. They can be taught to name their feelings and talk about them.They can learn ways to control their feelings and to use their brains to think what to do even when they are mad or sad or happy or scared.
  • Children begin to show aggression at around eighteen-months-old. At first, it is all about expressing the feelings – being mad, frustrated, scared.  They are testing how adults will react to their behavior.  At around three-years-old they begin to show the aggression toward other people. They are trying out how they want to connect with the people in their world. They are mostly thinking, “What do I have to do to get my own way?” From school age through their teens, what happens when children are aggressive or kind, mean or helpful or hesitant or adventuresome is what shapes the type of person they will become – bullies, kind caregivers, risk takers, problem solvers, loners, people lovers, etc.
  • Once children can name emotions they have another way to deal with what happens in their lives. They won’t have to only cry, whine, hit, bite, or use their hurtful muscles. They will be able to explain, talk, ask, plead, yell, etc. – words give them another way to release the steam. For very young children playing games using pictures of faces that show various emotions can  help children to recognize feelings.
  • Words are not usually enough to get feelings out of children’s systems. Other acceptable physical ways that don’t hurt things or people are also necessary (running, playing ball, banging pans, beating drums, etc.). Children may not know they need the physical activity, so adults need to suggest it.
  • Children playing sports need to learn to use the aggression necessary in their sport without letting becoming convinced that aggression is the most successful way to deal with other people other than in sports. They need to learn when and how to turn on the needed aggression and when and how to turn it off – not an easy skill, but one that is more important to children later in life than all of their other sports accomplishments. Many great athletes have destroyed their lives and their sports careers because they did not learn to manage their aggression off the field.  It is the athletes that can turn the aggression off that are the ones that become great people and the ones other athletes want to play against and respect highly whether they win or lose any game.
Make this Story Come Alive for Your Child
  • Use feeling faces (available on the internet) to teach your child to recognize, name, and talk about their feelings.  
  • Explain to your child that she can control her feelings and use her brains to think what to do even when she is mad or sad or happy or scared. To remind her put signs up in the house that say “You can think and feel at the same time.” When you see her losing control of her feelings, point to the sign. 
  • Give your child some extra attention – surprise hugs, some uninterrupted together time, a special treat, etc. That is like money in the bank they can draw upon to deal with sadness and disappointment.
  • When reading to your child or listening to him read to you. Stop and ask what he thinks the character is feeling. If you get an “I don’t know” answer, ask “What do you think you would feel in that situation?”
  • Show your child physical ways to get feelings out of her system.  Give her something she can hit and beat on (pillows, drums, a bat and ball, a soccer ball to kick, etc.).  Give her opportunities to run, lift and climb to use physical energy. Remember that girls experience aggression too.  It’s not just a boy-thing.
  • Talk about aggression in sports. If someone your child knows played sports growing up, have that person talk about how to turn aggression on and then turn it off after the game. If he sees athletes on TV or the internet that lose their cool or are unsportsmanlike, talk about the negative consequences of that. Also talk to your child’s coaches about how to help your child find the on/off switch.
MY VERY BIG LITTLE WORLD by Peter H. Reynolds
(a story about what preschoolers are like)

MY VERY BIG LITTLE WORLD is all about SugarLoaf figuring out about her world and the people in it. First, what kind of person is she? When SugarLoaf was born, her mom said that she “… looked as sweet as sugar.” Her dad said she “ … felt as warm as a freshly baked loaf of bread.” Voila! SugarLoaf puts two and two together – this is why she is SugarLoaf. She measures all things against herself, even Dad’s truck. “It’s very BIG. I’m smaller. The truck won’t grow. But I will.“ She figures out that what she likes is what others like too. She and Dad are “morning people.” She and Mom like tea. And, She and Gramma both have the same favorite color. SugarLoaf’s views are simple, fun, honest, interesting, amusing, and remind us that at this preschool age, children see themselves as the center of their world.
What Adults Can Learn from This Story
  • Preschool age is generally ages three to five, but there is nothing magic about those ages. Almost-three-year-olds or somewhat-older-than-five-year-olds can act like preschoolers too. Children grow at their own speed – socially, physically, and in how they make sense of their world and the people in it.
  • Preschoolers spend a lot of time thinking about the way people think, feel, and act – what could be called about a person’s personality – including their own.
  • Preschoolers wonder how they fit into the world. How they fit in with family and friends. What people do all day. What it means to have a job.  Imagine thinking about careers already. Yes, they can. They do. It’s a good idea to let children see as many examples of what people do as possible. And make sure they get to see behind the scenes of those jobs whenever possible, so they know what a police officer really does all day or that pilots have to do a lot of paperwork and checking of a plane’s safety before they can actually fly a plane. Being moms or dads or husbands or wives are also important “jobs” in the eyes of preschoolers. This is why “playing house” is so popular at this age.
  • Preschoolers notice how big or small things are. They like both giant things (for example, overstuffed animals) and tiny versions of big things (for example, ponies and army men). They like to be measured and see their numbers grow on the doorjamb, wall, or special calendar chart. Sometimes a preschooler’s interest in size is connected to what they can and cannot do. Do I still have to sit in a highchair? How can I reach a cookie on the counter? Sometimes it’s about power – does being bigger mean more powerful and getting my own way? Power, by the way is very, very important to children at this age. This is why superheroes, monsters, fears, and bullying are so much a part of their lives.
  • Ten- to twelve-year-olds also sound and act a lot like preschoolers.
  • Adults often think about granting privileges (crossing the street alone) or permissions (staying up late) based on a child’s size or age. However, privileges and permissions should be connected to children’s behavior and maturity. What one 4-year-old is big enough for, she may not be ready for. Pay attention to lots of different things about your children – age, size, and behavior – to decide what they may be capable of. Try things out. Carefully watch what happens, and then make final decisions. Read more about children being ready at When Are Kids Old Enough?
  • If your children have a different shape than many of their friends (for example, heavier or thinner), they may be labeled by their friends. After all, their friends are preschoolers too and are measuring all things by their own size and shape. These labels can be hurtful and can stick with children for years and years – even into adulthood. Pay attention to how children are being labeled and help counteract any hurtful “names” or “ideas” that they are often hearing from important people.
  • Labels are messages. They end up in children’s heads as though they were on a CD playing over and over again. Commercials from TV are good examples of how messages get in a person’s head. One way to fight hurtful messages that go along with labels is to fill children’s heads with so many positive messages that the hurtful ones become less often heard or paid attention to. Read more about labeling children at Correct; Don’t Criticize – Part 1.
  • Making amends is important for preschoolers. As they test out different ways of acting, they will no doubt mess up some of the time. They need to know they can make up for those mess ups – that they can make things right and still be loved. For more information about making amends, see Your Child Is a Star!
Make this Story Come Alive for Your Child 
  • Encourage your child to play make-believe about different jobs. When he is playing, ask him what he likes about the jobs he is pretending about. Have fun with both his really smart answers and his really funny ones. Sometimes the answers can lead you to hear about other types of jobs he might want to try on for size.
  • Opposites are of great interest to preschoolers. Try this as a quick, easy, in-the-car, anywhere game to play with your preschoolers – to find the opposites of things. What’s the opposite of red? Sweet? Mean? These are questions that have no one right answer – questions that are very good for helping preschoolers develop their thinking.
  • Be sure your child knows you love who she is. Even on days when it is hard to love how she might be acting, be sure she knows you love who she is and who she can become. Find as many ways to tell her that you enjoy her and want to be around her. Remember to do that with both your words and actions.
Past 2025 PICTURE BOOK CLUB postings:
2025 PICTURE BOOK CLUB – WEEK ONE
2025 PICTURE BOOK CLUB – WEEK TWO
2025 PICTURE BOOK CLUB – WEEK THREE
2025 PICTURE BOOK CLUB – WEEK FOUR

 

 

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