Review: Healing Stories

Picture Books for the Big and Small Changes in a Child's Life

By Jacqueline Golding, Ph.D

M. Evans; 2006; 343 pages

Paperback; Reader's Advisory

Adults

ISBN: 978-1-59077-097-9

A readers' advisory text which suggests various picture book titles, with accompanying bibliographic information and brief annotation, that address major events and developmental milestones in a child's life such as death, natural disaster, and separation anxiety.

My Thoughts:
I appreciated this book for what it was, a fairly specific book of reader's advisory. I think it would especially be useful having it available to parents in the children's section or reference section of the library. However, I would not recommend it as a book for individuals to go out and buy on their own. (Whereas I think that every reader should have a full set of Nancy Pearl's books on their shelves!) I liked that it only included picture books. I also liked that it included annotations. Most times titles alone will not aid a staff person or parent in determining whether the book will address their particular issue or event.

The thing I liked most was the diversity of the texts suggested. Each section included "classic" works, as well as at least one from the last 10 years. (Some were very current considering that the reference itself is a couple years old.) A great example of this is the section on Illness of Another Person. It listed both Now One Foot, Now the Other by Tomie dePaola (which I remember fondly from my childhood) and Singing with Momma Lou from 2002. Both books deal with aging grandparents.

The Thoughts of Others:
Blair Christolon reviewed this book in 2006 for School Library Journal. He felt that the book would be a great resource for "either for bibliotherapy or for theme-building for storytimes." Favorable comparisons were also drawn between this work and A to Zoo, citing the annotations in Healing Stories as very helpful.

Library Journal also reviewed the work in 2006. Reviewer Kari Ramstrom wrote that "Healing Stories empowers parents to promote development and healing...in a fun, helpful manner. She was disappointed though because while the titles suggested were useful in the categories available, she felt that other topics (such as injury or special needs) should have been included.