Singular efforts in PK-12 settings to instill a social justice mindset will not achieve the same outcomes as social justice education infused throughout content area instruction. In collaboration with 10th-grade teachers, we developed and implemented a biblioguidance curriculum to develop students' social justice and content area competency.…

The number of children with incarcerated parents has grown in recent years. Many of these children are being raised by another family member or are part of the foster care system. This adverse childhood experience can affect the academic, social, emotional, and behavioral development of children. To support them through this life experience,…

Social emotional learning (SEL) is an important field of education, and has been for the past 25 years, although the majority of SEL programs are designed for elementary ages, some for middle school, and only a few designated for high school ages. With a weakening of community organizations, an increase in stressors, and higher occurrences of…

Students with emotional disturbances often present with internalizing behaviors, such as anxiety, and externalizing behaviors, such as verbally or physically aggressive behaviors, which lead to challenges establishing and maintaining satisfactory relationships with peers and adults. These challenging relationships also present unique disciplinary…

Research suggests developmental bibliotherapy has a transformative effect on participants (Adams & Pitre, 2000). Specifically, bibliotherapy has been shown to develop a reader's empathy towards others (Comer-Kidd & Castano, 2013) and positively influence a reader's attitude towards individual differences (Routel, 2009; Gavigan &…

Purpose: Though the benefits of social-emotional competence (SEC) are well-recognized, measuring it and designing appropriately matched interventions remains elusive and methodologically challenging. This paper shares formative research designed to uncover the SEC of one secondary school health teacher's students and to help her make…

Anti-bullying experts employ trade books in dealing with contemporary issues facing young people, including bullying. At least three conceptual strands underpin the application of young adult literature (YAL) in such enterprises: (1) reliance on tested voices appealing to young readers; (2) the potential effect of quality YAL on literacy…

Preadolescence is a challenging developmental stage, but when complicated or threatened by the effects of family dissolution or divorce, the challenges can be overwhelming. Such youngsters often need and can benefit from counseling intervention. One particularly appropriate intervention is bibliotherapy. Reasons for using bibliotherapy for such…

Bibliotherapy--the use of books to heal--is a concept that dates back to the time of the philosopher Aristotle who believed that literature had healing effects and that reading fiction was a way of purging illness. But how is bibliotherapy practiced now in secondary schools? This study investigates bibliotherapy use in a regional Australian city…

This study examined children's and adolescent trade books portraying school-age characters with dyslexia. All of the books are contemporary realistic fiction, geared to elementary and adolescent readers, and published in the United States between 1993 and 2003. After an extensive search, seventy-two books were located. An analysis of the…

This article describes a bibliotherapy program where graduate students work with students with emotional and behavioral disabilities. In a teacher preparation program, 20 graduate students observed 16 literature selections and considered how the characters and themes in these novels could help to facilitate the social-emotional learning of…

The authors of this article examined how pre-service teachers can use children's and young adult literature about disabilities to enhance understanding of individual differences through a bibliotherapeutic approach. An introduction to bibliotherapy is provided along with related literature from the field. Strategies for using children's and young…

This article provides annotations of 11 stories about children and adolescents who happen to have a handicap. The books meet the following guidelines: (1) the story's theme does not center exclusively on a handicap; (2) characters are not stereotyped; and (3) stories meet general criteria for good children's literature. (Author/CB)

Presents descriptions of novels for adolescents which can be useful in school counseling. Topics include alienation and identity, athletics, close friend or sibling rivalry, death and dying, divorce, drugs and alcohol, ethics, handicaps, homosexuality, mental illness, rape, prejudice, parents, religion, school, sex, suicide, crime, pregnancy and…