Healing Days: A Guide For Kids Who Have Experienced Trauma

by Susan Farber Straus PhD, Maria Bogade (Illustrator)

Overview

2013 Gelett Burgess Children's Book Award: Mind, Body and Spirit

Healing Days is a sensitive and reassuring story intended for children who have experienced trauma and covers the feelings, thoughts, and behaviors that many kids have after a bad and scary thing happens.

A useful book to read with a parent or therapist, Healing Days emphasizes that children are not to blame for what happened, and that they can get help and look forward to a happy future. Kids will begin to understand their response to the trauma and learn some strategies for feeling safer, more relaxed, and more confident.

Kids will begin to understand their response to the trauma and learn some strategies for feeling safer, more relaxed, and more confident.

You can download an extensive Note to Parents and Caregivers including a list of helpful resources from APA.org.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781433812927
Publisher:	American Psychological Association
Publication date:	05/15/2013
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	123,360
Product dimensions:	8.20(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	6 - 11 Years

About the Author

Susan Farber Straus, PhD, is a clinical child psychologist who has worked for many years with young children, many of whom have been neglected or experienced other forms of trauma.  Following her education at Cornell University and Ohio State, and internship at McLean Hospital, she worked in both private practice and residential treatment settings. She is currently Senior Psychologist at Catholic Charities Child and Family Services in Baltimore, Maryland. She and her husband have two daughters, now grown, and three grandchildren.

Maria Bogade is an illustrator who creates her own unique environments and appealing characters to entertain children and adults alike. She also illustrated the Magination Press book Ben's Flying Flowers. She lives with her family in a tiny town in Germany.. Visit her at www.mariabogade.com and follow her on Facebook: @MariaBogadeIllustration and Instagram: @MariaBogadeIllustration.

Editorial Reviews

2013 Gelett Burgess Children's Book Award: Mind, Body and Spirit

“A sensitive and reassuring story intended for children who have experienced trauma…What an OUTSTANDING resource.”—Books That Heal Kids

“This book is a fabulous tool for parents, guidance counselors and therapists to read with a child when they may suspect a trauma … The book also helps children know they aren’t alone and that they can find ways to heal. Maria Bogade’s illustrations are warm, and comforting, and beautifully show the emotion of the children.”—ChildrensBooksHeal.com

"With Healing Days, the American Psychological Association has published an illustrated storybook that aims to help guide young victims through their emotional or physical trauma. The book tells the tale of a child who has had an unspecified "bad thing" happen. Through the story, author and psychologist Susan Farber Straus emphasizes that the victim is not to blame and introduces concepts that can help children understand that there is hope for a happy future."—The Washington Post

From the Publisher

10/01/2013
Gr 1–6—This book's purpose is to reassure young trauma victims who have experienced "bad and scary things"-perhaps physical, sexual, or emotional abuse. In general terms and simple language, a first-person text describes how each of four children might feel if something bad or scary happened, and how that feeling might cause them to act negatively in one way or another. It also assures readers that they will recover and offers a few strategies and suggestions to use to feel safer and more confident. The book is intended to be used with an adult or as a self-help tool; however, the print is quite small and would be difficult for a younger child to read alone. Color illustrations demonstrate the actions the text is describing; at times, the children are each shown in a series of boxes on the same page, which can be a bit confusing. Perhaps, though, the intention is to underline the idea that all kinds of children everywhere are vulnerable. Because of its usefulness as a therapeutic tool and the scarcity of material on the subject, libraries might want to purchase this title.—Judith Constantinides, formerly at East Baton Rouge Parish Main Library, LA

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