Another great children’s offering with helpful text and darling illustrations by Magination Press, this time with a focus on developing gratitude. Includes an instructive Reader’s Note for parents. Thanks to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC; opinions are mine. #GrowGrateful #NetGalley. Pub Date 15 Oct 2018.

I read this book with my children, ages 8, 6, and 3.5. We all got messages of acceptance and perspective from this well-done book. Nice characters appreciating the small things. Very sweet.

An adorable, timely, and succinct look at the power of mindfulness, gratitude, and having a positive outlook. Highly recommended.

I'm having a hard time with this book. It got me thinking, to be sure, but I'm also kind of confused (which is probably not what the authors were going for).

This playfully illustrated book takes a vague look at gratitude. Taken on its own, the story is simple (perhaps a little too simple) and fairly easy to understand... for adults, anyway. I'm not sure if the teacher's explanation of gratitude would really be enough for some kids.

What I found a bit puzzling, however, were the notes at the end. I'm still not sure how "theory of mind" ties into gratitude, although I'm not a psychologist, so I may be missing something. Is it not possible to feel gratitude without being able to put yourself in someone else's shoes? I would argue that it is, and I think it's important to recognize that this could be the case. "Theory of mind" can be tricky for people with conditions such as autism, but just because they may have trouble with putting themselves in another person's shoes doesn't necessarily mean that they can't see how something affects their own life and be grateful for that. So much emphasis is put on this "theory of mind" stuff in the notes that I'd be concerned about the kids who simply can't get there, for whatever reason (the notes actually tell parents to seek psychological help if their kids "exhibit chronic irritability or a pervasive state of negative affect"; maybe the kids are just annoyed from being pushed to do something that their brains are simply not capable of doing).

I'm not a fan of books that require pages of notes at the end to explain what they were trying to do. In this case, my dislike is compounded by the fact that the story and the notes bear little resemblance to one another. If volunteering and writing gratitude letters to the neighbours and talking about how others might feel if you do something nice for them are so important, why didn't those things show up in the story? I'm still having a hard time seeing how the camping trip was related to the concept of gratitude, except for the spiel Ms. Cooper gave the kids around the campfire.

The pictures are lovely and colourful, and on its own, the story is fine. It's when these supposedly related end notes get brought into the picture that I start to feel a little uneasy about recommending this book; I'm afraid that those notes kind of work against the simple message of gratitude.

What a sweat book - with equally colorful illustrations as it does words - to demonstrate a child's ability to notice the positive things in her life. I will utilize this book throughout the school year, along with mindfulness activities, to motivate towards a grateful heart.

We need more books about feeling grateful, but unfortunately, this one was not very well written. It tells the story of Kiko, a young girl who goes on a field trip with her class, and learns what it means to be grateful. The first page starts with "I am an happy camper. I can grow grateful too', which feels very strange as the 'too' doesn't have a clear reason to be there. When a boy asks what it means to be grateful, the author explains it in a very long and difficult paragraph, while the examples on the following pages would have been enough. The book ends with the question 'How do you grow grateful?".

I feel like the initial idea for the book was good but it lacked some serious editing to improve the flow and the structure of the story, The collage was colorful but could have been more pleasant to me without some random newspaper on the clothes or gardens of the characters. 2.5 stars rounded to 3.

<i>*Thank you NetGalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*<i/>

With the increased focus on social emotional learning and on educating the “whole child,” this is a great book for early elementary classrooms. The story is sweet and kids will enjoy it, plus it leads nicely into a discussion of gratitude without being too contrived. Lots of great ideas for parents/teachers at the end of the book!

Rating:🥄🥄🥄🥄


Review: Children's nonfiction that focuses on an objective, or moral. The focus is learning about gratitude and understanding other people and how they feel.



In one section, the student becomes nervous from climbing and she notices that her classmate Camille is nervous, too. She recognizes the emotion in someone else and works to comfort her classmate. In another part, Moseah asks about what grateful means and someone defines it directly -- so there is no guessing games a s to what the objective is of this book.



It's colorful and kid-focused students would enjoy listening to this or looking at the pictures.

Downloaded from netgalley in exchange ...free book/free review..

A sweet little book about being grateful and being kind. A pretty good read. Would be interested in reading more from this author.

We just celebrated Thanksgiving in Canada and talked about things that we were thankful for, so this was a timely book to read to my grandson. I loved this book. Even though it talks about being grateful, there are other character traits that are shared in this book such as being helpful, conquering fears and trying new things. It follows the story of Kiko, a young girl who goes on a camping trip with her class. At the end of the day as they sit around a campfire, the children discuss what they are grateful for, using examples from their trip. The illustrations were cute and showed a lot of diversity with these children. I'm not sure how helpful the notes at the back of the book will actually be for parents, but they are there. The publisher, Magination Press, provided me with a copy of this book to read. The rating, ideas and opinions are my own.

The very first page of this book says that Kiko can “grow Grateful, too.” But why is it too? The reader hasn’t been shown another character, let alone another character who is grateful. Then the story meanders around a camping trip until the night time when the teacher asks students for what they are grateful? Then the book actually starts explaining grateful by saying “being grateful is feeling gratitude”, yes they explain gratitude, but it’s such a roll your eye moment as an adult reader. Then the readers note and “how to use this book” at the end just exasperated the eye roll. This book was not for me. It left the message for the end rather than starting with the message and reiterating it in the further pages. I don’t think this works that well, and I will not be purchasing it for my library.

I love this book. It introduces children (ideally around the ages of about 4 or 5) to the idea of gratitude and being grateful. It follows the story of a child who learns how to understand and express her emotions relating to gratitude.

It is a nice book in insolation, but it would also do well as a series of books being read with a child about different types of emotions. It also reminds parents and caregivers about the importance of acknowledging a child's emotions and encouraging them to express themselves.

There is guidance in the back of the book for parents and caregivers about how to open a dialogue with a child about gratitude.

My only minor criticism is that this book is US-centric (US terms, places etc.) - it may have been better if the places were fictional so other children could relate to it more closely.

Many thanks to the American Psychological Association and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a charming book that, with a story of a young girl's first camping experience, teaches children about emotions, kindness, gratitude, and personal growth. The illustrations in this book are lovely and reminded me of how much I loved my first camping experiences.

Grow Grateful is a cute little book that helps to teach children about gratitude. We follow a little girl named Kiko as she goes on a camping trip with her class.

Through various subtle and not-so subtle ways, Kiko learns about appreciation and gratitude. Some of the examples were a little vague for me. But in the end, the message is clear. Overall, this is a solid little story and, as with other Magination Press books I've read, there is a very helpful section at the back for adults to explain the best ways to foster gratitude in little ones.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4 because Chico the dog is just that cute!

Thank you to NetGalley and American Psychological Association for providing me with a DRC of this book.

Thanks to Netgalley and Magination Press for providing an e-arc through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. I am a first grade teacher and I loved this book. It has a very powerful message that is easy for young children to understand. It has a very colorful and bright cover which will make it stand out to students. I loved how it has tips at the end about how parents and educators can use the book.