Journal Buddies Book Review and Autographed Book Giveaway

I am a huge advocate of anything that improves children's self-esteem and encourages writing.  Journal Buddies: A Girl's Journal for Sharing and Celebrating Magnificance  and Journal Buddies: A Boy's Journal for Sharing and Celebrating Magnificance does exactly that.  The person behind these books for children is Jill Schoenberg.  She attended  the University of Minnesota where she received her Bachelor of Science degree in Youth Studies and Sociology.  She took her love for creative journaling and used it to help young people increase their self-esteem by focusing on their strengths and allowing them to share those postive traits with others while unleashing their creative side.

Why is self-esteem important? Did you know that "by high school only 29% of girls report that they are happy the way there are"?  To often children, especially tweens and teens, focus on negative aspects of their appearance and their personality.  They are also conscious of how others perceive them and many face bullying (name calling, teasing, etc.) at school.

Each journal entry in the Journal Buddies book has an inspirational thought for the day, has space for the journaler to list three qualities or traits that he/she likes about the person they are sharing their journal entry with and vice versa, and it includes a blank page for them to get creative and a lined page to write their thoughts.  Schoenberg also includes steps for how to find the good stuff, a sample journal entry, examples of traits, qualities, and talents that people have, and also 89 creative journaling ideas. Some of my favorites were to write an ad for youself about why you are a great person, make a collage of your favorite photos, and write a letter to someone who means a lot to you.

I love that this book really focuses on the positive. It helps children see that there is good stuff all around them in their family, their friends, and most importantly in themselves.  Sometimes they just need to look for it.  It also helps children get in touch with their creative side through writing, drawing, or assembling creations through pictures that they find.  I highly recommend this journal to share with your children. 

Journal Buddies has also received the Mom's Choice Award  and The Dove Foundation Family-Approved Seal.

Jill's newly designed website devoted to Journal Buddies also has a list of resources, creative journaling ideas, and sample journal pages for parents and children to access.  You can also follow Journal Buddies on Facebook and Twitter to get updates on new features, resources, and articles on the site as they become available. 

Interested in owning a copy for your child or a child in your life?  Click here to purchase a girl's copy and here to purchase a boy's copy.

You can also enter to win your own autographed copy (your choice for either a boy or a girl).  If you provide me with the name of the child when I contact you if you win, Jill will autograph it to him/her personally!

Enter to Win an Autographed Copy of Journal Buddies (your choice of either the boy or girl copy)

Mandatory Entry: Visit the Journal Buddies website and leave a comment of one thing you learned.  If you do not complete this entry, all other entries will be void. (1 entry)

For extra entries, choose any (or all) of the following and leave a comment:
 Don't forget to leave separate comments for actions that result in multiple entries (ex. I posted this giveaway on my blog #1, I posted this giveaway on my blog #2...)
&
Please make sure that you leave an email address or some way of contacting you (if your email or blog is not listed on Blogger profile) in the instance that you are the winner.

*Become a follower of The Practical Mom Guide and if you are already a follower just leave a comment stating that you already follow (1 entry)

*Subscribe to The Practical Mom Guide (1 entry)

*Follow Journal Buddies on twitter (2 entries)

*Become a fan of Journal Buddies on Facebook (2 entries)

*Tweet (maximum of once daily) about this giveaway and don't forget to leave your twitter name
Ex. Autographed Journal Buddies book giveaway at TPMG http://bit.ly/d8RBgY. Please retweet.

(1 entry per tweet)

*Enter another giveaway at The Practical Mom Guide and leave a comment with which giveaway you entered (2 entries for each giveaway you enter)

*Add The Practical Mom Guide to your blogroll or display our button (5 entries)

*Post about this giveaway on your blog (5 entries)

This giveaway will end on Thursday, February 25, 2010. I will announce the winner on February 26th here at The Practical Mom Guide. If I am unable to contact the winner or they do not respond within 48 hours, another winner will be chosen.

Good luck and thanks for participating!

*Contest only open to U.S. residents. 

I was sent a copy of Journal Buddies: A Girl's Journal for Sharing and Celebrating Magnificence by Jill Shoenberg  in the hopes that I would do a review.  I was not compensated in any other way for this review.  All opinions are my own.