Healing Days - by Susan Farber Straus (Hardcover)

About the Book

Sensitive and empowering, this book models therapeutic coping responses and provides tools children may use to deal with their own trauma.

Book Synopsis

A sensitive and reassuring story intended for children who have experienced trauma.

A useful book to read with a parent, caregiver, or therapist, Healing Days emphasizes that children are not to blame for what happened, and that they can get help and look forward to a happy future. Covering the feelings, thoughts, and behaviors that many kids have after a bad and scary thing happen, kids will begin to understand their response to the trauma and learn some strategies for feeling safer, more relaxed, and more confident.

An extensive Note to Parents and Caregivers, including a list of helpful resources, is available for download on APA.org.

2013 Gelett Burgess Children's Book Award: Mind, Body and Spirit

Review Quotes

2013 Gelett Burgess Children's Book Award: Mind, Body and Spirit

"A sensitive and reassuring story intended for children who have experienced trauma...What an OUTSTANDING resource."--Books That Heal Kids

"This book is a fabulous tool for parents, guidance counselors and therapists to read with a child when they may suspect a trauma ... The book also helps children know they aren't alone and that they can find ways to heal. Maria Bogade's illustrations are warm, and comforting, and beautifully show the emotion of the children."--ChildrensBooksHeal.com

"With Healing Days, the American Psychological Association has published an illustrated storybook that aims to help guide young victims through their emotional or physical trauma. The book tells the tale of a child who has had an unspecified "bad thing" happen. Through the story, author and psychologist Susan Farber Straus emphasizes that the victim is not to blame and introduces concepts that can help children understand that there is hope for a happy future."--The Washington Post

About the Author

Susan Farber Straus, PhD, is a clinical child psychologist who has worked for many years with young children, many of whom have been neglected or experienced other forms of trauma. Following her education at Cornell University and Ohio State, and internship at McLean Hospital, she worked in both private practice and residential treatment settings. She is currently Senior Psychologist at Catholic Charities Child and Family Services in Baltimore, Maryland. She and her husband have two daughters, now grown, and three grandchildren.

Maria Bogade is an illustrator who creates her own unique environments and appealing characters to entertain children and adults alike. She also illustrated the Magination Press book Ben's Flying Flowers. She lives with her family in a tiny town in Germany.. Visit her at www.mariabogade.com and follow her on Facebook: @MariaBogadeIllustration and Instagram: @MariaBogadeIllustration.