Book reviews [International Journal of Emotional Education, 9(2)]

Abstract

The first reviewed book focuses on promoting children‟s emotional health and wellbeing. It addresses vital themes such as children‟s need for play, free time and open spaces, as well as to be heard and valued. This offers, at least implicitly, a concretisation of key articles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989, such as Art. 31 and Art 12. Article 31 (1) affirms that 'States Parties recognize the right of the child to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts'. Article 12 (1) declares: 'States Parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child'. The rights to play and to have voices heard need to be much more fully acknowledged across education systems internationally. This must go beyond conceptions of children‟s voices in unitary terms as 'children's voice', an approach that dismantles the vitality of diversity. It cannot be assumed that these issues are fully integrated even into research agendas internationally, especially given that in a US context, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is not yet ratified – a quite shocking situation that must be an embarrassment to the US in international terms. The other two reviewed books are aimed directly at children at primary school level. One is to explore examples of family diversity, the other to interrogate conflicting emotions through narratives so that children can develop strategies to help understand different feelings and how to be better able to cope with them.