Priscilla and the Perfect Storm by Stephie McCumbee: A Book to Help Teach Social Skills

Many of you know that I am passionate about social skills and manners.  I'm not sure if it's because of my sweet mother and her good examples or because I understand that being polite, thoughtful and empathetic are core to being human in our society.

I know that children have not had the experience and practice to be competent social thinkers.  As teachers, we must be a child's model as well as give them opportunities to succeed and also discuss social conventions. One way to do that, is through books.  I was so excited to find, Priscilla & the Perfect Storm by Stephie McCumbee. This is her latest story in a series of books aimed at social skills within the classroom context.

Stephie is an elementary school teacher who also specialises in gifted students.

You may be familiar with her other book, The Garden in My Mind: Growing Through Positive Choices which is a 2014 Mom's Choice Award recipient.  You can read more about Stephie McCumbee, here.

Stephie's books focus on the individual and how their mind informs their social decisions.  We know that children respond to situations based on their pre-sets, their dispositions as they grow.  Priscilla and the Perfect Storm operates on the notion that there are ways to deal with emotions.  However, students need to first focus on how this is happening in their mind and body and how it effects others around them.

Priscilla is a perfectionist.  Do you have a student like this in your class?

Priscilla is good at everything but sometimes she can't see that.

When she feels like she sees mistakes, she gets very frustrated.  The author pinpoints Priscilla's physiological reactions to her frustration.  This will help students identify their feelings and body reactions when they get frustrated.

Younger children who get frustrated may not be able to identify that it impacts their friends.  This narrative highlights this in a very child friendly way.

Stephanie uses metaphor to convey the message and this allows children to interpret frustration and anxiety from their point of view.

Priscilla learns that her storms impact herself and others.  She then learns ways to deal with her anxiety and stay calm by implementing self-control strategies.

This book is ideal for both the home and school setting.  Many times, children have trouble identifying why they are frustrated and how to deal with it.  This book addresses that in bucket loads.  I also love that it is narrated in the first person which makes it very easy for children to understand the key messages.

View the synopsis for this book via YouTube:

I also like that it is predominately based at school.  Many times students get frustrated at their performance at school but don't always express it and many time as teachers we may not address it properly.  Identifying the positives in a situation plus acknowledging why we get frustrated is a complex process but with the help of this book, it sure does make it easier.  I highly recommend this book first to fifth graders, for any time of the year.


I am linking up with the effervescent Mrs. Jump who has a weekly linky, called 'Book Talk Tuesday' over at her blog, Mrs Jump's Class.

A bunch of bloggers preview books they love and blog about them.
Click the image above to see Deanna's post plus all of the other very talented bloggers.


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