Eileen Kennedy-Moore, PhD, is an internationally published author,
psychologist, and mother of four. She is a trusted expert on
parenting and children’s feelings and friendships who is frequently
quoted in major magazines and newspapers and has been a featured
guest on national radio and television shows. Her books have been
translated into seven languages. She is a professor for the Great
Courses, serves on the advisory board for Parents magazine, and
writes the popular Growing Friendships blog for Psychology Today.
Dr. Kennedy-Moore has a private practice in Princeton, New Jersey,
where she works with adults, children, and families. Visit her
online at EileenKennedyMoore.com.
Christine McLaughlin is a mom to three boys, as well as a
prolific writer, editor, and author. With several hundred
nonfiction articles to her credit—published in popular magazines
and websites—her written work focuses mainly on parenting and
health topics. She is the author of eight books
including Growing Friendships and Growing
Feelings (both written with Dr. Eileen
Kennedy-Moore), The Dog Lover’s Companion to Philadelphia,
and American Red Cross: Dog First Aid and American
Red Cross: Cat First Aid. Learn more
at ChristineMcLaughlin.net.
“Growing Friendships is the secret playbook you’ll wish you’d
had when you were growing up. It’s packed with clever
strategies that help kids handle the awkward, upsetting, and
confusing social situations that happen to everyone. The fun
cartoons make the advice light-hearted and easy to swallow.”
*Parents magazine*
"Finally! A gap in the literature of friendship is filled. Growing
Friendships is profound and subtle, clear and humorous. Anyone, of
any age, who reads it will benefit."
*Wendy Mogel, PhD, author of The Blessing of a Skinned
Knee*
"Kids who have social skill challenges often view friendship as an
event or a product (Hi, I'm Michael. Let's be best friends and have
a sleepover tonight.). They do not understand that friendship is a
PROCESS with specific steps and sequences. Eileen Kennedy-Moore
brings a wealth of experience, knowledge, and sensitivity to this
issue. Her book Growing Friendships teaches kids the strategies
they can use to establish--and maintain--peer relationships. Her
unique and entertaining format holds the child's attention and
makes these complex concepts understandable and within reach. It
will be an invaluable tool for parents and professionals as they
try to prevent their child from hearing the most dreaded words in
childhood: 'Sorry, you can't sit there. That seat's taken.' "
*Richard D. Lavoie, author of It's So Much Work to be
Your Friend*
"Funny, practical, and not at all preachy—Growing Friendships
offers spot-on, research-based friendship advice for girls AND
boys. Highly recommended! This must-read book is the Google Maps to
friendship that every kid needs ”
*Michele Borba, author of Unselfie*
“This book is so important! All children face friendship challenges
at some point and Growing Friendships offers kids real help—and
enough giggles to make the messages fun and memorable.”
*Amy McCready, author of If I Have to Tell You One More
Time and The “Me, Me, Me” Epidemic*
“Some kids intuitively know how to make and manage friendships.
Most don’t. Growing Friendships is a kid-friendly guide that uses
simple language, engaging illustrations, and humor to help girls
AND boys master the mysteries of social interaction.”
*Jennifer L. W. Fink, founder of BuildingBoys.net*
“Practical examples, real-life solutions, and playful humor make
Growing Friendships a great resource. This insightful guide can
help kids become competent problem solvers, cope with common social
challenges, develop empathy, and build strong friendships.”
*Tina Payne Bryson, PhD, coauthor of bestsellers The
Whole-Brain Child and No-Drama Discipline*
“This empowering and entertaining guide for kids shows ways to
maneuver the often tricky, confusing, and challenging journey to
build and maintain positive friendships. Not only do children learn
strategies to make new friends, handle stressful situations, say
‘no’ to a pushy peer, and be a great team member, Growing
Friendships makes the process fun and meaningful for the entire
family.”
*Marilyn Price-Mitchell, PhD, developmental psychologist and
founder of Roots of Action*
“Children’s friendships are a rollercoaster of emotion and
conflict—fun and exciting when a friendship is going well, but
challenging and even crushing when it’s not. Growing Friendships
taps into the real-life problems kids face—from the friend who
tells your secret to the one who likes you one day and won’t play
with you the next. This spot-on guide navigates the slippery slope
of inevitable difficulties with kid humor and compassion to
demonstrate not only how to mend friendships or let them go, but
also how to be a good friend. If you have school-age children
they—and you—need this book.”
*Susan Newman, PhD, social psychologist and author of
Little Things Long Remembered and The Case for the Only
Child*
“The complexities of friendships in the school-aged years can be
the most perplexing for students, parents, and educators alike.
Growing Friendships gives research-based, concrete, and effective
solutions for navigating these relationships. A tool every school
should have!”
*Kelly Bos, MSW, RSW, psychotherapist, parent, and former
school counselor*
"For any child struggling with friendships, this book will be a
source of comfort, guidance, and fun, with its wonderful
illustrations and child-centered dialogue. Counselors,
psychologists, and parents, this is a book to read with the
children you care about."
*Maurice J. Elias, PhD, Rutgers University, coauthor of
The Joys and Oys of Parenting and Emotionally Intelligent
Parenting*
Written for kids (specifically 6 -9 year olds) this is a book that
parents will want to read as well. It offers some terrific advice
for helping young people navigate the complicated waters of social
interaction. These authors return to the basics to explain social
and face-to-face communication skills to children who are living in
a mostly virtual world. What appears to be silly dialogue between a
cartoon cat and dog, actually contains some powerful lessons about
how to approach and interact with other children. The fact that it
makes these encounters humorous allows children to feel more
comfortable about risking personal contact with other children.
Making friends and keeping them, joining the fun, how to share,
when to say NO, dealing with bullying, joining a group, and moving
past conflict are all topics which are discussed in kid-friendly
terms with real-world applications. In our fast-paced and
disruptive world, we’re losing sight of the kitchen-table wisdom
that children used to take refuge in. This book puts kids and their
parents back in touch with basic, tried and true, social skills,
and the ways in which those skills can be used.
*Retailing Insight*
Kennedy-Moore and McLaughlin highlight five skills—reaching out,
stepping back, blending in, speaking up, and letting go—to help
readers make and maintain friendships. Each chapter introduces a
dilemma relating to one of 15 fictional kids: Aiden tries too hard
to be funny, Susan assumes that others are being mean behind her
back, and Mackenzie has trouble joining a group. Mingus’s cartoon
spot illustrations and comics sequences add humor and help
illustrate various points (such as the “power difference” involved
in bullying, versus other social conflicts). Multiple-choice
quizzes and reader-directed questions (“Do you have a habit of
apologizing when you didn’t do anything wrong?”) invite children to
apply these ideas to their own developing relationships.
*May 15, 2017*
A how-to book for making friends, is clear and entertaining as well
as informative, could be a very useful tool. Many kids struggle
with the myriad aspects of navigating the day-to-day complexity of
interpersonal relationships. Combining real-life examples,
attractive cartoon illustrations, and humorous commentary from a
snarky cat and a friendly dog, this upbeat effort provides ample
useful advice. Making friends and keeping them, dealing with
bullying and distinguishing it from simple teasing, speaking up for
oneself and others, being a good sport, figuring out how to join in
a group activity (including choosing the right activity to join),
and matching the tone of a conversation are just a few of the
topics covered. The presentation is clear, reasonable, and specific
enough to be practical, and it begins with very basic skills such
as greeting others. Practice situations, including a couple where
friends won't take no for an answer, provide opportunities to try
new skills in low-stress situations. This handbook is highly
recommended for high-functioning autistic children as well as
anyone who suffers from social awkwardness. The cover depicts both
a white and a black child. The simple chapter format makes it
possible to just practice certain skills without having to read
through the entire work. A fun handbook for any child who has ever
wanted another friend but been uncertain how to accomplish that.
(Nonfiction. 8-12)
*5/1/17*
For children and preteens, perhaps no other aspect of life is as
stressful as making and maintaining friendships. The author
team of Kennedy-Moore and McLaughlin offers sound advice from
the perspectives of psychologist, parent, blogger, and
therapist. Using fun cartoons, relatable stories, metaphors,
and bulleted summaries, this provides basic skills training for
kids looking to widen their social circles. From reaching out to
make initial contact with potential friends, through navigating
tricky situations and mitigating arguments, myriad issues are
described. Readers are encouraged not to just follow
prescribed advice but to consider the feelings of others and to use
their own judgment in choosing a course of action. Many
of these skills are important lifelong lessons that will benefit
readers long after their adolescence. While skills like
saying no and compromising may be intuitive to some, for
many others, particularly those in their awkward preteens, the
advice in the book will be invaluable. This is
an authoritative and appealing resource for children working
on fitting in and finding a tribe. — Erin Anderson
*June 2017*
This guide to friendships is simply illustrated and full of useful
information. Written by a child psychologist and a professional
parenting writer, this book goes over basic information explaining
how body language and verbal signals can help signal the
progression of a friendship. It provides basic coping skills for
anxiety so that readers can attract more friends. There is also a
section on bullying and learning to say no. The information is a
lot to digest for a younger crowd, while the conflicts presented
are too young for a middle grade audience. Recurring dog and cat
mascots are supposed to provide a bit of levity but just end up
being diverting. The section on blending in may put off more
independent and individualistic types, and the section on anxiety
isn’t always clear about the feelings it’s trying to help children
cope with. Overall, though, the information is accurate and
helpful. VERDICT A decent guide for younger middle grade
collections, even adults could learn something from this book.
*August 2017*
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