“….children progress from a focus on themselves (me), to an awareness of others (you), to the formation of reciprocal relatinoships (us.) (p 13)”

This book does a really thorough, and easily read coverage of this really important topic.  The author speaks to the value of this development in young children in today’s culture where academic knowledge seems to rule all.  It is research based and addresses national standards.  Each chapter begins with a definition, moves on to the recent research and thinking on the subject and ends with quite doable teacher strategies and practices.  Each chapter contains a couple of sideboxes summarizing the points for quick reference for teachers, or even groups of practitioners who wish to use it as a source of study.

The only bone I would pick is that I strongly think that the last chapter should be one of the first.  Chapter 14 : Preparing Ourselves to be Role Models is a really important chapter.  It speaks strongly to research showing that nurturing behaviors observed in teachers is actually a small small part of what we do when we interact with children: more of our time is spent managing the children, engaging in routine tasked or teaching in adult-centers ways.  She goes on to cover the importance of examining our own beliefs and levels of social and emotional capacities.

This is a valuable read.  I would suggest that you read it with a buddy.  I think that if the whole teaching team in a classroom were to focus on the ideas in this text, it would really be evidenced in the children in the classroom.