They Call Me Chicken: A Story of Courage

About the Book

In these times of increased school violence, it almost always turns out that violent kids have been chronically mistreated by their peers and have developed a very poor self-image. Feeling worthless and powerless, these kids act out aggressively to try to prove themselves. They Call Me Chicken: A Story of Courage was written to help children think about themselves and their situations more accurately. This enables them to feel good about themselves and to gain a sense of power in their lives. This book follows Chuck through an entire day in which many different people try to make him feel like he is not good enough. They constantly call him a chicken when he refuses to do the wrong thing. Chuck uses a variety of thinking strategies to handle these difficult situations and still feel good about himself. This is an ideal book for parents, teachers, and therapists to read to or with their elementary school-aged children (ages 8 – 12). It is also appropriate for children to read themselves. This book should be considered required reading for any child experiencing bullying, any child suffering from low self-esteem, and any at risk child.

Keywords: child, children, therapy, resilience, at risk, bullying, self-esteem, personal responsiveness, self-discipline, persistence, cognitive restructuring, cognitive therapy, positive self-talk, rational emotive therapy, RET, REBT, Albert Ellis, Aaron Beck.