Bibliotherapy...What Is THAT?!

Literature and counseling may not seem like a natural match to some people. When you picture a counseling session between the school counselor and a student, what do you see? I know when I tell people what I do, or how counseling sessions and/or groups are structured, they are often surprised by how I use books to reach children. However, when you think about it, this technique makes a lot of sense. Most people, when they are reading a book, find themselves identifying with characters. For children, the same thing happens. Bibliotherapy is a counseling technique in which a book or a short story is used to address an issue, or concern, a worry, or a situation that a student finds themselves in. Using books allows children to see that other people have the same issue, concern, worry, situation that they have. It also helps to jumpstart a conversation and to identify strategies to address whatever is going on. As part of this blog, I plan on reviewing a book from my library, as well as some suggestions to how I would use that book in a lesson, in a group, or individually with a student.

The first book I'm blogging about is "The Crayon Box That Talked" by Shane DeRolf with illustrations by Michael Letzig. What I like about this book is that although it is written at a beginners level, it can easily be adapted to reach students of all ages, especially grades K-5. The book is about a box of crayons that lives in a toy store, and the different colors DO NOT get along. As the crayons are arguing with one another, a little girl overhears their bickering, and decides she needs to do something. She takes that box of crayons home with her. As she begins to color a picture with all of the different crayons, things start to change. The different colored crayons begin to appreciate what the other colors contribute to the picture. Blue makes a beautiful sky, green makes soft looking grass, yellow makes a brilliant sun, etc. By the time the picture is complete, the attitude of the crayons has completely changed.

There are several ways this book can be used. I have used it in the past when teaching classroom lessons about diversity, but the same activity done in the lesson could be easily adapted for a small group on friendship as well. What I do is I give each student in the class a piece of paper and then I tell them that they may choose one crayon out of their crayon box, but only one. Then, I ask them to draw a picture of something (usually a beach or a garden), but I remind them that they can only use the one crayon that they chose. I give them about 5-10 minutes to complete their picture. Then I read "The Crayon Box That Talked". After I finish the story, I give them another piece of paper, and tell them to draw the same thing as before, but this time they can use as many colors as they want. Once everyone has completed their pictures, I start the discussion by asking which picture they would rather have hanging up in the hallway. Typically, every student says the multicolored picture. When I ask why, the most common answer is that the picture they drew with one crayon is boring. So that leads to a conversation about how boring things would be if all of us (students, teachers, brothers, sisters, etc.) were all the same, and how by appreciating the unique things that each of us bring to the classroom, family, world, we make things exciting and beautiful. This is just one way of using this story, but it seems like an activity that really resonates with children of all ages. If I were doing this with a small group, one of the adaptations I would make would be that we would make a group crayon box. Everyone could pick a color, and we would make a giant crayon box with each of our names on our color, and something about us that helps make the group better. When doing this activity, I have other members of the group tell each student the things they appreciate about them and what they think make other group members special.

Bibliotherapy is a great way to incorporate reading into classroom lessons and groups, as well as an awesome way to open discussions and introduce new topics and ideas. It's something that can be done in most aspects of school counseling, but it's something parents can use at home as well. There are children's books addressing topics such as bullying, to things like feelings, friendship, diversity, and even grief. I will be using books from all different subject areas for this addition to my blog, but amazon.com and most books store websites will have tons of suggestions if you just type a topic, for example "self esteem books for children" into the search bar!

http://www.amazon.com/The-Crayon-Box-that-Talked/dp/0679886117/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1379334622&sr=8-1&keywords=the+crayon+box+that+talked