A little bird loves to sing. But when a bully tells her she is no good at it, Abigail grows up thinking nobody wants to listen to her until she finds out otherwise. Sad, confused and fearful, she flies away and shelters herself against any more transgressions for a long time. She becomes shy and isolated. One day years later she has a chance to bravely express her feelings to the bully himself, who had outgrown his aggression and had no awareness of the damage his teasing caused years before. The story takes a twist and Abigail ends with a surprise, leaving everyone smiling.
"Abigail The Nightingale Had A Voice She Wouldn't Use" is written with concern for the growing presence of bullying in society. Your child will learn through Abigail that they don't have to live alone with sadness and confusion from being bullied. Your child will learn they don't have to feel they must yield to peer pressure and side with a bully either. This book is full of digestible inspiration and talking points parents and educators can pick up on. Here are some of the lessons that can be drawn out:
- Teaching our children early to recognize if someone is trying to change or control them.
- Making sure they feel safe talking about it, expressing difficult emotions with someone they trust.
- Discovering how they can reduce stress and pressure and receive guidance rather than hold it in.
- Showing how quiet disengagement from a bully, if it's persistent, is possible without withdrawing from everyone, the way Abigail does.
- Empowering children to know that if they enjoy an activity, they should by all means go on enjoying it (provided it's a grownup-approved safe and healthy activity that doesn't hurt anyone else).
- Addressing lightly the unfairness of gender-role prejudices and female-empowerment.
Apply Abigail The Nightingale Had A Voice She Wouldn't Use it to lessons on empathy.
Use it to begin discussions comfortably with a child who needs individual attention-- a victim or an aggressor.
Remember, It's cool to be kind.
The story is written in rhyme to lighten a heavy topic...and also encourage and motivate early reading skills.
If bullying hasn't affected your child, family or classroom or directly, ANY child can benefit from having a sweet little friend like Abigail to read about while learning to empathize and be reminded that it's always cool to be kind....and to be yourself and sing out loud!
