Review by Georgia Lyonhyde -- The Barnyard Buddies STOP ...

[Georgia Lyonhyde]

[Following is a volunteer review of "The Barnyard Buddies STOP for Peace" by Julie Penshorn.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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The Barnyard Buddies STOP for Peace is the first in a collection of the Smart Tools for Life read-aloud picture books that are a useful learning resource for young children and adults. This particular book is for the purpose of resolving conflict. More than just a book, it provides:

• a background on the creators – I liked that the author and content editor were both from educational backgrounds

• a ‘Why this book?’ section summarising its aim to help with conflict resolution for both children and adults,

• a ‘Parent and Educator Guide,’ that provides activities and questions for consideration following the reading of the story,

• a list of ‘Additional Questions and Activities,’ and

• a mentor programme that targets individuals from nine years old and upwards to become mentors to their peers. A training programme for adults provides guidance on how to prepare yourselves or children for the mentor role.

I thought this book was well presented in terms of how the story was presented to depict a useful technique for dealing with anger. Jorry Keith’s wonderful illustrations served to visually punctuate the points. Each animal character had their own colour speech bubble to make it easy to identify who was speaking, with the narrator’s words and thoughts depicted against a white background.

The book uses King the horse, Clover the goat, Grey donkey, Ol’ Dot, Portland pig, and Mrs McCloud, the wise owl to demonstrate its tale.

On a rainy day, King manages to shield himself under a small shelter, but there’s no space for the other animals. As they get wet, they also get angry. Mrs McCloud uses the STOP acronym to take them through the steps to lead them all to find a suitable resolution in an open conversation.

I found the book to be an excellent learning resource, with flawless text. Taking everything into consideration, I have nothing but praise for this book and rate it 4 out of 4 stars. I enjoyed reading it with my son and doing the activities with him so that he could see his anger from another perspective. I think this is a book that we will refer to often as he continues to grow.

Parents will appreciate the benefits of The Barnyard Buddies’ lessons, whilst children will genuinely love and learn from the story. I think this book would find a great home in a family home or any school setting. I can’t wait to read the upcoming titles that appear to focus on truth and lies, and immigration.

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The Barnyard Buddies STOP for Peace
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