A Rainbow of Friendship

Anyone who reads my blog posts often knows I want to help people accept others who are different from themselves.

A Rainbow of Friendship by Joni Klein-Higger is a book that does exactly that.


Its about a girl who lives where everything - and everyone - is the same. Then she discovers a rainbow world with kids of all different colors. 

At first she's afraid, but she has fun with the other children and learns that, while it's important that everyone is unique, together we make something beautiful.

Of course the illustrations by Eileen Goldenberg are bright and colorful.

The text rhymes nicely and I imagined it becoming the lyrics to a song. Then I discovered the author has written and recorded music called Friendship to go with it that's available on i-tunes.

Kids could sing along in their classrooms or at home!

But, even without music, I'm sure teachers will want to use this book to teach their students to accept each other. And parents will want to read it to their own kids, too.

I Have a Voice

Anyone who knows me is aware that I've cared about Special Needs, especially in kids, for most of my life. But the book, I Have a Voice by Joni Klein Higger and Flora Zaken-Greenberg, Ph.D, is about a child with a condition I'd never heard of before.

It's called Selective Mutism.

Jamie, the main character, is a young girl who can't talk in social situations, and she'll be starting Kindergarten soon.

Her mother takes her to a therapist who helps her overcome her fear of speaking.

This book will be especially helpful to kids with similar conditions, and I'm sure lots of doctors, therapists and Special Education teachers will want to have copies.

The information at the end of the book by Dr. Zaken-Greenberg about selective mutism will be especially interesting to adults who work with children.

Joni Klein-Higger has written the book in a friendly style so ordinary kids will also enjoy the story as it helps them become more understanding of others.

The illustrations by Eileen Goldberg are cheerful and help make the book fun to read.

Recycle! A Children's Musical

I don't usually review plays, but this one is worth making an exception for. Recycle! A Children's Musical by Joni Klein-Higger should be performed in schools everywhere. With twenty characters there are enough parts for lots of kids and others can serve behind the scenes. That means a whole class could be involved in the play.

And it's educational.

Recycle! is the amusing story of some modern kids who time travel back to 1950 with the help of  a mysterious, "nutty" professor. While there, they learn how people got along without all the plastic and other things that are damaging our environment and come to understand the importance of reducing, reusing, and recycling.

That's information kids everywhere need to learn.

But the play isn't boring and didactic and it could also be performed by groups of kids outside of schools.

It's amusing and has lively, catchy music kids will probably go home singing when the play is over. And performances would be only about half an hour long.

The script is available on Amazon, but the music and recording of it must be purchased from Guardian Angel Publishing, at least right now. I think it will become available elsewhere soon.