Real Kids

Have you ever wondered about kids living in far-off places? What their lives are like? If they play the same games? If the schools they go to are like yours? In this book, the first in the REAL WORLD KIDS series, you will meet Thomas, a young boy who lives on a small farm in Australia. Each REAL WORLD KIDS book features the real-life story of a child from somewhere in the world. The main story tells an engaging and interactive “day-in-the-life-of” that child. At the end of each story you’ll discover more fun, easy-to-understand facts about the country the child is from, including their native animals, languages, foods and activities. Then, continue the conversation about what you’ve learned by answering the discussion questions with your friends and family.

Eleven-year-old Tilly saved lives in Thailand by warning people that a tsunami was coming. Fifteen-year-old Malika fought against segregation in her Alabama town. Ten-year-old Jean-Dominic won a battle against pesticides—and the cancer they caused in his body. Six-year-old Ryan raised $800,000 to drill water wells in Africa. And twelve-year-old Haruka invented a new environmentally friendly way to scoop dog poop. With the right role models, any child can be a hero. Thirty true stories profile kids who used their heads, their hearts, their courage, and sometimes their stubbornness to help others and do extraordinary things. As young readers meet these boys and girls from around the world, they may wonder, “What kind of hero lives inside of me?”

It's 2015, and Patricia Cowan is very old. "Confused today," read the notes clipped to the end of her bed. She forgets things she should know-what year it is, major events in the lives of her children. But she remembers things that don't seem possible. She remembers marrying Mark and having four children. And she remembers not marrying Mark and raising three children with Bee instead. She remembers the bomb that killed President Kennedy in 1963, and she remembers Kennedy in 1964, declining to run again after the nuclear exchange that took out Miami and Kiev. Her childhood, her years at Oxford during the Second World War-those were solid things. But after that, did she marry Mark or not? Did her friends all call her Trish, or Pat? Had she been a housewife who escaped a terrible marriage after her children were grown, or a successful travel writer with homes in Britain and Italy? And the moon outside her window: does it host a benign research station, or a command post bristling with nuclear missiles? Two lives, two worlds, two versions of modern history; each with their loves and losses, their sorrows and triumphs. Jo Walton's My Real Children is the tale of both of Patricia Cowan's lives...and of how every life means the entire world. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Decades of work in psychology labs have vastly enhanced our knowledge about how children perceive, think, and reason. But it has also encouraged a distorted view of children, argues psychologist Susan Engel in this provocative and passionate book--a view that has affected every parent who has tried to debate with a six-year-old. By focusing on the thinking processes prized by adults, too many expert opinions have rendered children as little adults. What has been lost is what is truly unique and mysterious--the childlike quality of a child's mind. Engel draws on keen observations and descriptive research to take us into the nearly forgotten, untidy, phantasmagorical world of children's inner lives. She reminds us that children fuse thought and emotion, play and reality; they swing wildly between different ways of interpreting and acting in the world. But just as a gawky child may grow into a beauty, illogical and sometimes maddening childishness can foreshadow great adult ability. Engel argues that the "scientist in a crib" view encourages parents and teachers to expect more logical reasoning and emotional self-control from children than they possess. She provides a concise and valuable overview of what modern developmental psychologists have learned about children's developing powers of perception and capacity for reasoning, but also suggests new ways of studying children that better capture the truth about their young minds.

Many states currently mandate character education, and school districts across the country need anti-bullying education programs to counter the rising tide of aggression and relational aggression that is the norm among many students. In fact, many school districts now require teachers to include lessons on bully prevention in their curriculum. Real Life Bully Prevention For Real Kids addresses this pervasive problem by offering students hands-on activities. Teachers will want to use this book in their classrooms with their students as part of the school’s anti-bullying curriculum. As an added bonus, the activities reinforce English/language arts, social studies, and health education curricular goals. Counselors, therapists, and school administrators can also use the activities in large and small group instruction. Additionally, leaders of after-school programs and youth leadership programs, such as scouting, dramatics classes, and religious education classes, will find the activities helpful in addressing their bully prevention programs. Each activity contains a description, goals for children, and helpful hints for adults to guide their youngsters through the program.

The Parent Practice team, led by Melissa Hood and Elaine Halligan, have been delivering positive parenting courses since 2004 designed to make families happier by giving parents skills and strategies that allow them not only to parent more effectively, but to enjoy their children more. Based on science and tested in families, Real Parenting for Real Kids provides realistic and workable solutions for real families living real lives in the 21st century. Melissa Hood draws on years of experience as a professional and as a parent to debunk many of the myths of parenting, provide insights into children s behaviour and practical solutions to everyday issues faced by parents of school aged children. With worksheets and other resources, you will learn the 7 essential skills and be able to take action immediately to transform your family life. Far from making you feel guilty about your parenting this book celebrates mums and dads and the creative solutions they find for everyday parenting dilemmas. The experiences of hundreds of parents are shared here.

Educational resource for teachers, parents and kids!

Thirty-five true stories profile kids who used their heads, their hearts, their courage, and sometimes their stubbornness to help others and do extraordinary things.