Helping Kids Help Themselves
Be responsible, happy, and successful
The Official Joy Berry Website
Helping Kids Help Themselves
become responsible, happy, and successful
Helping Kids Help Themselves
become responsible, happy, and successful
BOOKS FOR 7, 8, & 9 YEAR OLDS
Living Skills
Our 28 Classic Kid-tested, Parent/Teacher-approved
LIVING SKILLS books that feature entertaining, vintage cartoon art are
BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!
WHY? Because being equipped with straightforward, reliable information as well as pragmatic Living Skills is vital to kids assuming responsibility for themselves, in their relationships with others, and in the way they relate to the things they encounter. Therefore, character building and living life intelligently and responsibly begins with this series.
And that’s why all 28 core LIVING SKILLS books are A MUST-HAVE FOR EVERY KID!
INDIVIDUAL TOP SELLERS include:
Feelings, Manners, Friends, Disagreements, Danger, and Money.
(Scroll down for more information from Joy about the Living Skills books.)
Scrolling from top to bottom, the order of the LIVING SKILLS titles reflects the developmental growth of kids that progresses from Personal Skills to Social Skills to Coping Skills.
A MESSAGE FROM JOY
Having been trained in the 1960’s to teach children academics, I was unprepared for the discovery that it is just as important to teach children Living Skills as it is to teach them academics. Because Living Skills education was not a part of the educational landscape in the 1970’s and 1980’s, I developed Living Skills classes that I taught via supplementary school programs that I directed. Then, because there were no materials for Living Skills classes, I began to create them.
While the specifics of childhood issues differ from the specifics of adult issues, the essence of both childhood and adult issues are intrinsically human issues which are basically the same for children and adults. For example, while different things can cause children and adults to become angry, anger is a basic human emotion that is essentially the same for both children and adults.
Because self-help materials for children and adults address human issues, in the absence of self-help materials for children, I garnered the relevant information from adult self-help programs and materials to use in my Living Skills classes for kids.
A few years into the predictable success of my Living Skills programs, a man acquiring products for a new ABC Broadcasting affiliate (Word Books Inc.) became aware of the materials I was creating through his five children who attended my Living Skills classes. He resonated with the main goal of the classes—which was to give children the information and skills they needed to become personally and socially responsible. As a result, he approached me about the possibility of getting the materials published and I jumped at the opportunity.
Eventually Word Books Inc,—a religious publisher—established a new division of the company called “Educational Products” that allowed the publishing of secular materials for children. The first product the division launched was my 24 Ready Set Grow (RSG) children’s books. Those books were the first self-help books for kids ever published and at the time, they were the first series of books to break every direct-mail-marketing sales record throughout the world.
Later, the 120-page, black-and-white RSG books were converted into the 48-page full-color LS books that became the core series in the Joy Berry Classics Library. Eventually, the formulaic format featured in the LS books was applied to my two subsequent series of self-help books which included the Survival Skills and Winning Skills.
THE CLASSIC STATUS OF THE LIVING SKILLS BOOKS
The LIVING SKILLS books are a part of the collection of kids’ self-help books and other materials called THE JOY BERRY CLASSICS.
The purpose of the JOY BERRY CLASSICS is to help children, from the beginning of their lives through pre-adolescence, become responsible:
for themselves,
in their relationships with others, and
in the way that they relate to the things in their environment.
The classic look and feel of the LIVING SKILLS books is due to the restoration of the vintage artwork from the original publications that is now featured in the current LIVING SKILLS books.
THE PURPOSE
The 27 LIVING SKILLS books help elementary school age kids live their lives intelligently and responsibly.
The purpose of the LIVING SKILLS books is to teach kids the information and skills they need to live intelligently and responsibly. This is accomplished by teaching kids the personal skills they need to take care of themselves, the social skills they need to develop and maintain positive relationships, and the coping skills they need to relate to things in positive rather than negative ways.
The LIVING SKILLS books are considered to be the heart of THE JOY BERRY CLASSICS as the three book series that precede LIVING SKILLS prepare young children to become responsible. In addition, the two JOY BERRY CLASSICS book series that follow LIVING SKILLS build upon the basic responsibilities taught via LIVING SKILLS.
THE GUIDELINES FOR USE
In order to derive the maximum benefits from the LIVING SKILLS books it is recommended that adults use the books in the following ways:
Phase One
Adult Resource: The adult reads the books for information, insights, and encouragement.
Phase Two
Adult-Child Activity: The adult uses the books with the child and encourages the child to question or comment on the subject matter.
Phase Three
Independent Activity: The child is encouraged to use the books independently of the adult for entertainment and to reinforce the subject matter.
Phase Four
Reference Material: The books are placed in the child’s library along with other resource materials and used whenever specific situations need to be addressed.
To ensure the success of many of the skills that are being taught via the LIVING SKILLS books it is recommended that the “show-me-how-then-let-me-do-it” teaching method be used.
Step One
The adult demonstrates how the task should be done by doing it while the child watches.
Step Two
The adult does the task with the child or watches while the child does the task. (The adult should avoid criticizing, and instead should praise anything the child does correctly.)
Step Three
The adult allows the child to do the task alone.
Step Four
The adult praises the work and expresses appreciation for what the child has done.
THE LIVING SKILLS BOOKS
Divided into Developmental Categories
PERSONAL SKILLS
The purpose of the Living Skills books in this category is to provide the information and skills kids need to assume responsibility for themselves.
Books in this category include Being Special, Nutrition and Healthcare, Handling Feelings, Thinking and Learning, Overcoming Prejudice and Discrimination, Understanding Human Rights, and Decision Making and Problem Solving.
SOCIAL SKILLS
LEVEL ONE
The purpose of the Living Skills books in this category is to provide the information and skills kids need to be responsible in their relationships within the family.
Books in this category include Understanding Parents, Handling Fights with Brothers and Sisters, Family Rules and Responsibilities, Handling Family Arguments, and Laws that Relate to Parents and Children.
LEVEL TWO
The purpose of the Living Skills books in this category is to provide the information and skills kids need to be responsible in their relationships with others.
Books in this category include Good Manners, Being a Communicator, Handling Disagreements, and Making Friends.
COPING SKILLS
LEVEL ONE
The purpose of the Living Skills books in this category is to provide the information and skills kids need to assume responsibility for the way they relate to challenging matters.
Books in this category include Understanding Nightmares, Handling Illness, Responding to Danger, and Coping with Trauma.
LEVEL TWO
The purpose of the Living Skills books in this category is to provide the information and skills kids need to assume responsibility for the way they manage their lives.
Books in this category include Using Time Wisely, Watching TV Intelligently, Making and Managing Money, Intelligent Spending, Laws that Relate to School and Work, Laws that Relate to Kids in the Community, and The Juvenile Justice System.