Book reviews [International Journal of Emotional Education, 15(1)]

Abstract

The books reviewed here cover a wide gamut, but the common concern of the authors is to explore a variety of ways in which to resolve the pressures and huge anxieties that face children and young people today in all the countries of the world. First, in Cultivating Kindness: An Educator’s Guide, the author, John-Tyler Binfet, conveys his passion for the role of kindness in alleviating many of the interpersonal difficulties that are experienced every day in many different situations, causing unnecessary emotional pain. As he argues, teachers can cultivate this quality in their classrooms so that reaching out to others in distress becomes a regular mode of being towards one another. The second book, Cyberbullying and Online Harms: from Community to Campus, an international edited collection, takes a broader perspective by focusing on the disturbing phenomenon of cyberbullying and online abuse in schools and universities, with examples from different disciplines - the law, criminology, sociology, institutional and governmental policy-making, education, campaigning and political action, counselling-based approaches – on how to understand and address this worldwide problem. The third book, an edited collection, Arts Therapies and the Mental Health of Children and Young People: Contemporary Research, Theory and Practice, Volume 1, gives inspiring insights into the role of arts therapies - play, music, puppetry, dance movement, art & drama - in alleviating emotional distress in children and young people from different countries and with a range of particular issues in their lives, whether health-related, cultural, social or political. Each of these books will be of great interest to practitioners and researchers alike.