The Worst Day of My Life Ever! (Best Me I Can Be! Series) Paperback – Picture Book, September 14, 2011

I have several of Julia Cook's books and love reading them with the kids I work with. This book gives great, concrete ideas about listening and following instructions (there's even a little rhyming poem about each!) but it is given in such a way so that kids still enjoy the story! In fact, I have kids who specifically ask to read this book over and over! Given that some books make the kids sigh, roll their eyes, and ask "do we HAVE to?" I count this book's appeal as a HUGE plus!That said, it is not a be-all, end-all tool for teaching kids these skills -- adults should be reading and discussing these ideas WITH their kids too! With all of these stories, the child and I follow up during and after the story with questions or discussion, such as "What do you think RJ could do differently?" or "How do you think RJ was feeling that morning?" The interaction and discussion is just as important as reading the story and I feel that this story does a super job of opening the door in a fun way for these discussions. The language is also easy enough that many kids can read this themselves, if they wish to.All in all: HIGHLY recommend!

Great book. I have a few others from the collection. They are very engaging for my second graders. I thought it would be ideal for 1st great but was greatly surprised at how much my 2nd graders enjoyed it

My husband and I have been working with our son on listening and following instructions (he is 3 1/2). This book has been a tremendous help to us with teaching these skills to him. It has really helped him grasp the concept of taking responsibility for himself and making good choices (those choices being to listen and follow instructions).For a younger reader this book may be a little long for them to sit through. My sons attention wandered a bit when we first started reading it to him, but now he actively participates in the book, commenting on the pictures and RJs situations and listening to the whole thing.

I absolutely love these books for my son. I have this for my four-year old and he really understands and identifies with RJ. My son is working on his listening skills and this provides a great vehicle for talking about listening and following directions. There is a contrast between RJ's worst day ever (not listening or following directions) and RJ's best day ever (following directions and listening the first time). Plus there are two clear and simple rhymes that really prove the point, which makes it very approachable for a young child. Highly recommend as a way to discuss listening and following directions with your child(ren).

Everyone has a bad day, and sometimes we fail to realize we have caused some of it at times...even as adults! My 1st grader, like any child, has had his days. However, one thing I love about this book is that it teaches responsibility on their part. It shows what could happen if they don't do what they knew was right, verses doing what was right, and finding the end result to be quite pleasurable. I was definitely looking in the mirror as my son read it to me.....and all this time, I though I was buying it just for him! :) Thank you for this book!!!

I have enjoyed other books by Julia Cook and have found them helpful. I understand this story is supposed to create an awful day for the protagonist so that they learn to follow directions, and maybe the events of the story are meant to be exaggerated hyperbole, but as an educator myself I could not imagine treating a student in the ways the protagonist is treated for his difficulties following directions. When the protagonist is running in the hall so he doesn’t miss class, I would never punish a student by taking away their recess. Recess and play are essential to a child’s health and learning and I think we do children a disservice by revoking recess as punishment. Usually the children who have recess taken away from them are the very children who need that unstructured play to burn up their energy. I also thought it was harsh to send a child to the principal’s office for wearing a hat to hide the gum stuck in their hair. First of all, wearing a hat in a building is a rather arbitrary rule that doesn’t have much purpose outside of reinforcing an old social norm. Wearing a hat hurts no one. I don’t even see how wearing a hat would be disruptive or take away from the learning in a class. I would choose not to make an issue out of it as long as learning is occurring. However, the additional fact that the protagonist is embarrassed because he has gum stuck in his hair makes the hat issue more confusing, because any decent teacher would just let them wear the hat to save them embarrassment, or would send them to the nurse so that the gum could be removed. A good educator would realize that the child is having a lot of problems today and is stressed and embarrassed and would offer help instead of punishments.I am also very sensitive to the issue of difficulty following directions due to growing up with Auditory Processing Disorder (diagnosed in my second year of Kindergarten) and later also with inattentive ADHD. I only ever had one teacher that would have been mean enough to treat me this way, and she was the teacher who when I tried to self advocate for my learning disabilities told me she didn’t believe in learning disabilities and that I would have to grow out of them. One of my other disabilities was also dyscalculia, so making mistakes like doing the odd numbered questions instead of the evens, or misreading, “Use 1-2 eggs as 12 eggs,” could have been mistakes I could have easily made. Most teachers, if I made those kinds of mistakes, just went over the directions with me and had me redo the work instead of failing me on an assignment or test.I guess I should just take the whole story as hyperbole that would never actually happen and is meant to illustrate the point of following directions, but as an educator and as a child who grew up with learning disabilities like Auditory Processing Disorder, Inattentive ADHD, and dyscalculia, I cannot believe educators would punish a child and make them feel worse when they are already having a hard time. Making children feel worse doesn’t usually help them do better. If I noticed a child was having all these problems during the day, I would try to connect with them and get the whole story and find ways to help them instead of making it worse.

I love this book. Get it. Gives kids hope that the worst day ever is really filled with problem solving opportunities…so you might crash, but there is always a way to make some changes…even if you have to ask for help. I got it for grades 2-5 but the concepts are adaptable for older or younger kids.

I am a first grade teacher. I highly recommend this book and have shared it with my colleagues. I used this book when my students were struggling with listening and following directions. This book worked wonderfully as a jump off into a class discussion. It helped to illustrate the consequences of listening or not listening in a student friendly way. As a follow up after reading the book, we would remind each other that we didn't want the "worst day ever, but the "best." I have the rest of Julie Cook's books on my wishlist:)

I shared this book with my SEBN students and it generated some really good discussions.

Students loved it! Thank you.

I have many Julia Cook books.

Even though this series is American (and I have to translate a few words into British English), the overall idea is great. The children really sympathised with RJ and the fact he didn't ever listen. This helped some of my class realise when they don't listen and what may happen

Fun series for kids