Bibliotherapy and anger management: an examination of children's books recommended by Mister Rogers' Neighborhood Childcare Partnership

Abstract

Violence is one of the most complex and difficult student problems faced in public education. It interferes with the students' academic performance, career options, and personal and social growth, and it threatens the very safety of students and faculty. Many of these violent acts are committed by the children as a result of the inability to deal appropriately with anger. The cause of the anger may be different among children, but the inability to understand and deal with the anger is what may lead to aggressive or violent behavior. Teachers, school personnel, as well as parents should realize the role that they can play to help children understand and manage their angry feelings. There are many different methods of teaching anger management. One way is through bibliotherapy. This study examined the method of bibliotherapy in teaching children to understand and manage their anger. An important aspect to be examined in bibliotherapy is the book selection process. A tool has been developed to help teachers and parents choose children's books that help children appropriately manage their anger. This tool, a checklist, can be found in the book titled, Guidance of Young Children (Marion, 2003). The main objective of this research was to examine the books listed on Mister Roger's Childcare Partnership (1997) to determine if they met the criteria on Marion's (2004) checklist for choosing books to help children deal with anger. The books lister by Mister Roger's Neighborhood Child Care Partnership (1997) are recommended to help children deal with anger. The list contains forty-nine books in three age ranges. The age ranges include birth to three year olds; three to five year olds; and five years of age and older. Four books were randomly selected from each category. Each book was evaluated using the checklist and the results were recorded to determine how well they met the specific criteria as set forth on the checklist (Marion, 2003).