Don't Feed the Monster on Tuesdays!: The Children's Self-Esteem Book

I can't get over how incredible this book is! I was excited by the titles and reviews but wasn't sure how it would be received by my kids. They were rivoted by the book (my intonations helped a bit ;) and as soon as we finished we did some great role-playing of what makes the monster grow and shrink. I'm so happy - what a great tool to refer to in our everyday conversations! THANK YOU authors!

This 55-page picture book contains simple language easily read by first and second graders (on a par with Dr. Suess), but its sophistication about children's self-esteem will keep them coming back until they are approaching middle school. The premise is simple: Everyone has days when they feel badly about themselves--their nose is too long, their ears are too big, their eyes are too small and so on--but in order to become productive and happy, kids should avoid being "picky, picky, picky." There are a million and one ways to be too critical of oneself, and the book shows that some of them are funny. Before the list is over, kids are laughing. Next, they learn about that "area" inside our brains that "makes us think negative thoughts." Here we meet the monster (a little green guy) from the title. He's determined to make us feel bad and he whispers into our ears, and the more we listen, the louder his voice gets. Before we know it, he's taking nibbles out of our self-esteem.About halfway through, the explaining leads to constructive exercises that children will also find funny--and therefore helpful. Self-esteem grows like flowers and the little green guy gets smaller and smaller until he practically disappears.The book teaches children to articulate their feelings and to turn their negative feelings around. Trust me, it works. Alyssa A. Lappen

I am a Marriage and Family Therapist, and this book helped my kid-clients as well as my own kids. Very informative and simple. Great illustrations that help kids understand the concept of self-esteem. This book encourages children and normalizes their feelings. Strongly recomended for parents and therapists who work with kids.

I have been reading this book with my 7 year old for the past two years. Every time we spend time with the book my son is able to talk more about himself in a positive way. I use the book to talk about what he likes about himself - the traits- and what he likes about his friends and family. He is able to distinguish now between the behavior of a person and the real person. As a social worker I use the idea of the book with my own clients. Having them choose a day or even 1/2 a day to start liking themselves. I recommend my adult clients to read it with their children and to themselves.

I really liked this book, "Don't Feed the Monster on Tuesdays!" Before I read this book I used to think negative thoughts about myself every day. This book helped me realize that other people, even adults, experience the same thing that I did. I took your advice and reminded myself to think only nice things about myself. I even made a sign to hang in my room. I'm happy to say that your book really helped me. Keep up the good work! Thanks!