Cheri has her master's degree in elementary education and gifted education. A former first-grade teacher, she has taught education classes at Utah State University and has supervised student teachers. She is the author of the award-winning children's series, 'Learning to Get Along', and the new series, 'Being the Best Me.' Cheri and her husband, David, have six children and three grandchildren.
Bounce Back by Cheri Meiners is a useful resource for the Bounce Back! program which is run in many schools. I have used this book in my role as a school chaplain and found it explains resilience in a way a child can understand.
The story is loosely set around a girl whose best friend moves away but also shows other situations where resilience is important. Such as when we make a mistake or when someone in our family is sick. The book teaches strategies for dealing with difficult situations, such as thinking about the problem from a different perspective, think of things you are looking forward to and learning to do new things. It conveys the message that resilience is something we get better at as we grow up.
The illustrations by Elizabeth Allen are colourful and clear. They are a good fit with the text and add depth to the story.
I loved this book start to finish! I think it is really good for children to learn about resilience early on so they can prepare themselves for what it is to come. I relate to this story because at some point in life we all go through a phase where we question everything that's going on and we start to understand what emotions and feelings are. I love how this book touches base on different situations so kids can see that they aren't the only person that experienced some kind of situation that made them upset. A part of the book that stood out to me was the page that says something about feeling better when you think of the problem in a new way. I have run into problems before and just looked the other way so I feel like I can take advice from book and start looking at things in a different way. Overall, I loved this book and hope others will too!