New Titles Help Children Cope With The Common Core

As students around the country prepare to take and fail a battery of state exams based on the Common Core standards, Amazon.com has complied a list of books to help them and their parents cope.

I Used to Like School: A Parent’s Guide to Discussing the Common Core Standards With Your Child, "A Classic. Simply worded concepts with wonderfully colored pictures - that explain the changing nature of the school day from one of joy to one of pedantic exhaustion. It is one of those great books that feels written for adults as well as kids."

Helping Children Say Goodbye to Recess and Art: Coping Strategies for Testing Times, "Few books are able to explain the need to eliminate the 'extras' to children, let alone explain what happened to their fired teachers. This book does both and does it well!

Why Is Johnny Sad All The Time? Answers To Questions Posed During Standardized Testing Season, "This book will help children and their families move forward towards acceptance, understanding and hope as they prepare for the Common Core exams."

The Broken Pencil, "As Freddie experiences feelings of anger and frustration during test prep, he learns that misery is an expected and accepted part of life at school."

What's Summer School? "A gentle narrative following the conversations that pass between a mother and a young daughter in the days immediately following the news that the little girl has failed the state exams."

Mending Jose's Broken Heart, "Even though we find out that Jose has failed the exam and will not be promoted and that his favorite teacher has been fired and his school is slated to close, the story is not maudlin, but uplifting and told with honesty, wisdom and much love."

Reality Alert: 

Interested in how we came to write this? Go to NYC Department of Education website: TIPS FOR TALKING WITH YOUR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILD ABOUT THE COMMON CORE STANDARDS & CHANGING STATE TESTS