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Cleo the Crocodile
Amongst the beauty of the Okavango delta in Botswana, Cleo the Crocodile loved having fun with all of his animal friends. That is, until one day Hogan the Hippo, who was supposed to look after Cleo, started to act mean and hurt him. Cleohas to leave the swamp to find a safe new home - he's scared and puts his prickles up for protection, so all the other animals are afraid of him. How can Cleo find a new safe home? How can he make new friends when he doesn't know who he can trust? This activity book developed by expert child psychologist Dr Karen Treisman combines a colourfully illustrated therapeutic story about Cleo the Crocodile to help start and enrich conversations, which is followed by a wealth of creative activities and photocopiable worksheets for children to explore issues relating to attachment, relationships, rejection, anger, trust and much more. The activities are accompanied by extensive advice and practical strategies for parents, carers, and professionals on how to help children aged 5-10 to start to name their tricky feelings. It will help children to understand their own prickles, to trust others and begin to invest in relationships so they can let others close again.
160 pages, Paperback
Published May 21, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 13, 2018
2,5/5. Mixed feelings with it. First, the story is way to long and the targeted public will most probably lose attention before getting to the end. The illustrations are also way too basic in term of drawing quality and design to be eye catching. I respect the subject and what they were trying to do because that kind of book can be helpful for those working with this clientele. The various activities that comes with the book are of variable quality, some are quite interesting and other are just too simple, so that any good intervenient could have invented them by themselves in a matter of minutes. We need more work like it, but with better overall finish.
April 25, 2020
| Reader Fox Blog |
Honestly, Cleo the Crocodile by Karen Treisman was shocking to me. In many ways, I wasn't quite sure how to handle myself after I'd finished reading it. The book touches on child abuse in ways that I was not expecting and the fact that it broaches the subject at all with a young audience in mind makes this one a first for me. I'm sure there are other books out there that approach this topic, but I have not read them in this context. It both saddens and warms my heart to know that this book is out there and available to readers who may need it because it's an important resource for those children, but it bothers me that it is a resource children may need in the first place.
I deeply appreciate this book for what it offers. The many activities scattered within the last few pages are so beneficial in my opinion and I'm exceedingly glad that the book does not simply end with the powerful story of Cleo's. While this is certainly an emotional read and I'm not one hundred percent sure that I would give it to a child who has not suffered abuse--though, to be frank, I think there's a possibility that it could be beneficial to all--I do see it as incredibly helpful for those who need it.
Definitely a book to pick up and consider carefully, Cleo the Crocodile is one of those amazing books that really strives to bring forth important conversation and discussion about topics that many would rather avoid. I hope this book helps a lot of kids in these unfortunate situations. I can see it helping a number of age ranges, though some only in the event that an adult is helping them through the activities and in understanding the story.
I was provided a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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Honestly, Cleo the Crocodile by Karen Treisman was shocking to me. In many ways, I wasn't quite sure how to handle myself after I'd finished reading it. The book touches on child abuse in ways that I was not expecting and the fact that it broaches the subject at all with a young audience in mind makes this one a first for me. I'm sure there are other books out there that approach this topic, but I have not read them in this context. It both saddens and warms my heart to know that this book is out there and available to readers who may need it because it's an important resource for those children, but it bothers me that it is a resource children may need in the first place.
I deeply appreciate this book for what it offers. The many activities scattered within the last few pages are so beneficial in my opinion and I'm exceedingly glad that the book does not simply end with the powerful story of Cleo's. While this is certainly an emotional read and I'm not one hundred percent sure that I would give it to a child who has not suffered abuse--though, to be frank, I think there's a possibility that it could be beneficial to all--I do see it as incredibly helpful for those who need it.
Definitely a book to pick up and consider carefully, Cleo the Crocodile is one of those amazing books that really strives to bring forth important conversation and discussion about topics that many would rather avoid. I hope this book helps a lot of kids in these unfortunate situations. I can see it helping a number of age ranges, though some only in the event that an adult is helping them through the activities and in understanding the story.
I was provided a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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April 19, 2019
The book focuses on a young crocodile who has had some difficult and negative experiences in his interactions with other animals, certain animals do not treat him kindly. Cleo then moves to a new swamp and has to learn to build new relationships with the new animals around him, which is hard after the negative experiences he has endured. But Cleo is brave and learns how to guage and understand his emotions in a way that will enable him to have happy and healthy relationships with others in the future.
I have mixed feelings about this book. This is a book wiith a great message for children as well as phenomenal activities to accompany it, but the story itself if very long and wordy and young readers will have a hard time keeping their concentration on the book long enough to actually benefit from the leason it is meant to impart. I believe that both very young children or children that have difficulties with processing would have a very hard time gaining any real meaning from the story since it is so word heavy and the emotions are sometimes portrayed in a slightly absract way.
This book also has a section just for the benefit of parents/adults working with children that have a trauma based background when it comes to building relationships and comprehending their emotions. This section is such an amazing addition because it will give you a firmer foundation and sense of security when entering into these difficult and often emotional conversations with children. Further this section enables you to have a deeper understanding for why a child may be acting the way they are and what these feelings are based in, therefore enabling you to enter into the situation with a more understanding and compassionate mindset so that the child feels safe and supported during this conversation. Simply looking through and practicing these worksheets with your child will be an exercise in trust and relationships for them so it is important to go into the situation prepared.
The activity section hosts a broad variety of activites and worksheets so that you may go through and choose which are best suited to the child and the situation at hand. From learning preemptive measures for the child to recognize when they are feeling unsafe/out of control/trapped/ect. to processing through the trajectory of their feelings after the fact. Even teaching them the correlation to how their feelings influence their actions. I can't express how amazing some of theseactivities are. I work in a classroom of young children on the autism spectrum and we utilize many similar activities and worksheets. Going through these activities as well as practicing and role playing these sorts of difficult situations with the child will be greatly beneficial to them leaning to utilize these skills on their own.
I was hoping to find this book a perfect fit and get a copy for the classroom, but I believe the story may be too wordy and require too much processing to be beneficial for the children that I work with. But I will definitely recommend it to the teacher of the ASD classroom that works with an older group of students and to the teacher of the social-emotional classroom. I think this book would be perfect for their students.
I don't believe the age range recommend for this book is wholly accurate either. I believe that the skills and message that the book is meant to teach is age appropriate, but I believe the language is a bit too wordy and at times a bit too abstract to be appropriate for children as young as five. The section for adults I think is beficial to a parent or guardian of any child of any age group that may be struggling with trauma and their emotions. The activites are age appropiate, however some of the cards breaking down the differents aspects of feelings like anger, sadness, worry, joy, ect. may require further processing or explaining before they can be utilized because some are a bit abstract or the wording colloquial.
They story itself is probably three stars but the activites deserve all five stars, so this averages out to four stars.
*Many thanks to Jessica Kingsley Publishers. I was provided a free copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I have mixed feelings about this book. This is a book wiith a great message for children as well as phenomenal activities to accompany it, but the story itself if very long and wordy and young readers will have a hard time keeping their concentration on the book long enough to actually benefit from the leason it is meant to impart. I believe that both very young children or children that have difficulties with processing would have a very hard time gaining any real meaning from the story since it is so word heavy and the emotions are sometimes portrayed in a slightly absract way.
This book also has a section just for the benefit of parents/adults working with children that have a trauma based background when it comes to building relationships and comprehending their emotions. This section is such an amazing addition because it will give you a firmer foundation and sense of security when entering into these difficult and often emotional conversations with children. Further this section enables you to have a deeper understanding for why a child may be acting the way they are and what these feelings are based in, therefore enabling you to enter into the situation with a more understanding and compassionate mindset so that the child feels safe and supported during this conversation. Simply looking through and practicing these worksheets with your child will be an exercise in trust and relationships for them so it is important to go into the situation prepared.
The activity section hosts a broad variety of activites and worksheets so that you may go through and choose which are best suited to the child and the situation at hand. From learning preemptive measures for the child to recognize when they are feeling unsafe/out of control/trapped/ect. to processing through the trajectory of their feelings after the fact. Even teaching them the correlation to how their feelings influence their actions. I can't express how amazing some of theseactivities are. I work in a classroom of young children on the autism spectrum and we utilize many similar activities and worksheets. Going through these activities as well as practicing and role playing these sorts of difficult situations with the child will be greatly beneficial to them leaning to utilize these skills on their own.
I was hoping to find this book a perfect fit and get a copy for the classroom, but I believe the story may be too wordy and require too much processing to be beneficial for the children that I work with. But I will definitely recommend it to the teacher of the ASD classroom that works with an older group of students and to the teacher of the social-emotional classroom. I think this book would be perfect for their students.
I don't believe the age range recommend for this book is wholly accurate either. I believe that the skills and message that the book is meant to teach is age appropriate, but I believe the language is a bit too wordy and at times a bit too abstract to be appropriate for children as young as five. The section for adults I think is beficial to a parent or guardian of any child of any age group that may be struggling with trauma and their emotions. The activites are age appropiate, however some of the cards breaking down the differents aspects of feelings like anger, sadness, worry, joy, ect. may require further processing or explaining before they can be utilized because some are a bit abstract or the wording colloquial.
They story itself is probably three stars but the activites deserve all five stars, so this averages out to four stars.
*Many thanks to Jessica Kingsley Publishers. I was provided a free copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
December 25, 2018
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
This is the story of Cleo the crocodile, who tries to teach us through their story about being more open to people and not being affected by the ones that are negative towards us.
The story is actually very nice, but too long and not very engaging. There are plenty of activities after that, however, which children can work on with the help of a professional.
Overall it is a very bright idea, just in need of more polishing. This is a very useful book for children to work on with the help of adults.
This is the story of Cleo the crocodile, who tries to teach us through their story about being more open to people and not being affected by the ones that are negative towards us.
The story is actually very nice, but too long and not very engaging. There are plenty of activities after that, however, which children can work on with the help of a professional.
Overall it is a very bright idea, just in need of more polishing. This is a very useful book for children to work on with the help of adults.
February 19, 2019
I have very mixed feelings about this book. For one the story is way too long and the language in it is a little too complicated for children with run-on sentences. I expect that the children will lose their concentration quickly. I certainly did. However, the activity sheets included were excellent. I find that if this story was tightened up then this would be a five-star read.
December 14, 2018
While this book looks like just another children's story/activity book it certainly is not. This one is meant to be a resource for children, mental health professionals and others who are tasked with helping youngsters who have experienced significant trauma. The story of Cleo is told from the point of view of animals so as to allow children to listen without having to initially claim the story as their own.
Cleo has had painful experiences but they are all that Cleo has known; change, even if it might be for the better, is scary. Children hearing the story will see that it takes Cleo a long time to trust but that, eventually, things get better. This book then has a series of guided activities that children and their trusted adults can work on together and at their own pace.
This resource will be welcomed by social workers, foster carers, therapists and others who work with children who are trying to cope with their difficult histories.
Cleo has had painful experiences but they are all that Cleo has known; change, even if it might be for the better, is scary. Children hearing the story will see that it takes Cleo a long time to trust but that, eventually, things get better. This book then has a series of guided activities that children and their trusted adults can work on together and at their own pace.
This resource will be welcomed by social workers, foster carers, therapists and others who work with children who are trying to cope with their difficult histories.
February 14, 2019
I am reviewing this book for Karen Treisman, Jessica Kingsley Publications, and NetGalley who gave me a copy of their book for an honest review.
Bright colourful illustration, a delightful story and then loads of activities which are related to the story – excellent.
Bright colourful illustration, a delightful story and then loads of activities which are related to the story – excellent.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews