Review: Encouraging creativity and flexibility
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 13, 2013
Sari Barel stated goal is to help as many people as possible -adults and children - to escape restrictive thinking patterns and realize their full potential, not only in their life's work, but in their entire life experience. That goal has inspired her recent writing, a series of books for parents, to help them help their children think outside the box.In this charming book, illustrated well by Malgorzata Godziuk, we meet four little girls - Anna and Jessica and Alice and Sarah  - who go through a series of incidents in which their mother's have individual responses. Of course comparisons of each mother's reactions occur: In the end Jessica worries that because her mother remains calm at times of trauma that her mother must not really love her the way the other mothers love their girls. But then a little incident happens with a rabbit escaping the cage at school and Jessica takes time, thinks the situation through and comes up with an idea of retrieving the rabbit that impresses everyone. `Instead of panicking as many of the to her children had, she had found a solution' - a lesson she had learned from her mother's calm responses. `You don't cry when I fall, you don't fight my fights for me, you don't make things easy for me.' And Jessica's wise mother reassures her that `Every mother has her own way of loving her children.'The story may appear simple, but it is realistic and entertaining and certainly addresses some issues all children have. Very well done! Grady Harp, August 13