Outside The Circle

by Arlene Lagos

Emma is incredibly shy. She is so shy, that she often struggles to make friends as she is too scared to even try.

Suddenly, a big opportunity comes her to way, but she needs a team to help her. Emma will have to make friends in order to take on the task.

Will Emma find the courage she needs to overcome her fears?

124 pages, Paperback

First published November 21, 2014

About the author

Lagos, a native of Massachusetts has written poetry, stage plays, screenplays and short stories for over 20 years.
She began writing the Beyond Earth Series in November of 2011 as a first time Nanowrimo participant, which she successfully completed, and now has three books in the series.

Her latest novel, "Butterflies Forever" is the third book in the Butterflies Series and is due out Summer 2017.

She has written two children's middle-grade novels, "Outside The Circle" and "Sneaky Pete"

Lagos also has fourteen short stories published in the Giant Tales Anthologies.

Her goal in life is to create and to inspire the world around her. Lagos currently resides in Massachusetts with her husband and their daughter.

Reviews

[Regina Puckett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outside the Circle took me back to my own childhood. I can remember my family moving to a new town and how hard it was to make new friends in the new school. Ms. Lagos does a wonderful job showing the struggles children go through and I think her young targeted audience will really enjoy reading Outside the Circle.

[Cricket Rohman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Next to lunch, recess is often a young child’s favorite time of a day at school, or at least that is what kids say. Not so for Emma. Poor Emma dreaded it; she feared it more than anything. Well, except for telling her parents that she had NO friends.

As a former elementary teacher, then principal, I could visualize every word of Arlene Lagos’s wonderful book, Outside the Circle. To me this was a story about loneliness, making friends, mean girls, a little bit of bullying, and courage, incredible courage. The Circle played an important part in this delightful, poignant story, but it took Emma’s courage to make it work.

The added touch of bilingual students and diversity in general was a delightful surprise, but it doesn’t end there. A parent or teacher could use this book to help children learn about ecology, senior citizens, planning, problem solving, math, perseverance, or other life skills without being preachy. They are woven within the story. It is my pleasure to recommend this book.

[Rona Simmons · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful story that addresses issues important to both parents and young children, making friends, multi-culturism, bullying, and more. Lagos skillfully captures the thoughts running through the young Emma's head and tormenting her soul as she tries to make friends. My heart went out to the young protagonist -- having grown up with a father in the military, we moved frequently and I was all too familiar with the difficulties of being the "new kid in class and on the block".
Deals effectively with the topical issue of bullying from both child and adult points of view.
Prose is simple and straight forward, suitable for the younger reader.

[Gail Harkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved Outside the Circle by Arlene Lagos! This book accurately captures the wistfulness of eating lunch alone in a crowd of people when you’d rather be with friends…but are too shy to make them. Written for early grade-schoolers, it has lessons for adults, too, about taking risks, getting outside our comfort zones, and making friends. As a parent, I particularly enjoyed the idea of “Friendship Circles. PTAs can easily and inexpensively implement these in schools to help kids make friends. The book has the expected happy ending, but isn’t predictable. This is a very good read for elementary school age children and their parents.

[Harry Alexiou · Rating 4 out of 5]

This well written story quickly transports the reader back to school; those emotionally charged childhood years when some kids were more popular/confident than others. It is a great illustration of how having the courage to face your fears can yield highly positive results. It cleverly shows that quite often we have to do things for ourselves instead of waiting for others, and being a leader instead of a follower. I do think that the story clearly demonstrates a lot of life lessons which easily translate wholeheartedly to the adult world! well done Arlene Lagos!
Harry Alexiou

[Randy Dutton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outside the Circle is artfully written to tug at the heartstrings of every parent with a child 'left out' of social groups. Arlene Lagos shows us that every child matters.