More in Common Than We Know

Books are medicine.

I needed a book for boys suffering and lashing out from feelings of anger and loss. I needed a book letting them know that crying and sharing their feelings can be acts of strength and courage. I needed a book showing that they can use restorative justice to heal inside and transform a conflict into a comrade. I needed a book that caring adults could discuss, chapter-by-chapter, with individuals and groups of angry kids. And I needed a book that kids were motivated to read, so it had to be a great story.

I couldn’t find such a book, and as a school librarian, I know a thing or two about finding books. There were lots of great picture books for the youngest children. There were a couple of novels for high schoolers. There was nothing for those crucial ages between “little kid” and adolescent.

So I made one.

Sammy’s Attic subtly presents real-life guidance through a story that makes kids say, “OMG what’s going to happen next?” This book teaches kids emotional intelligence, empathy, and other aspects of well-being that masculine socialization often discourages. It shows the principles and practice of restorative justice in a way kids can understand and try.

Sammy’s hometown burned down in summer forest fires. Since the fires took his home, Sammy has developed an anger problem, which gets him into trouble at his new school.

He invents a snowy, imaginary world and a friend, named Tu, in the attic of his new home to help himself heal from loss, anxiety, and anger. Tu helps Sammy find his way into a new life and new school, where Sammy must make friends and deal with a bully. Sammy can only make peace with all these changes by following the smell of smoke from below the floorboards of his bedroom, where he finds a world, and himself, in flames.

The point of the story is to help real people in the real world. It is a product of my own experience as an angry youth and later as an educator in public schools. I hope teachers, counselors, social workers, principals, parents, and mentors of all kinds can use it to develop conversations and healing transformations with the kids you know and love.

If you work with youth, please contact me through my website and I will send you a link to download a free pdf of the book, so you can assess it for yourself. I hope you find it useful.

Print copies are available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

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This post is brought to you by Ben Gallup.

Photo courtesy of the author.