Visiting Author Brings Bradley School Some Adventure

On Friday April 21st the Bradley School will host multi-media assembly programs featuring award-winning author Jason Edwards. Mr. Edwards produces a student-centered adventure in which he and the children create and act out an improv monster story together.

In this StoryCrafting Workshop, which Jason will conduct in separate sessions with the K-1st grades, the 2nd -3rd grades, and the 4th-5th grades, the children review the basic elements of all stories: characters, settings, and plot, and then utilize their own knowledge and imagination to produce a story together right on the spot. Mr. Edwards guides and acts out the story, providing loads of funny props and slapstick humor along the way.
The subtext of this activity is a message of positivity and empowerment, as well as a subtle lesson in building coping skills. Children practice anxiety-reduction techniques and recite verses of praise and self-empowerment to themselves and their peers as part of the story they create.
This is no accident. Mr. Edwards, who possesses degrees in Psychology and Education and has decades of experience as a children’s educator, was inspired to create his programs by a need to help children learn how to deal with anxiety issues. His many works serve as tools for helping kids practice anxiety-reduction techniques and build resiliency. In Jason’s performances and his award-winning Chronicles of the Monster Detective Agency books, the monsters are manifestations of common children’s fears, and the steps for conquering them are representations of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, one of the most effective therapies for treating anxiety issues.
“The thing about anxieties,” Edwards says, “is that if they go unchallenged, they grow. And they keep growing. But it’s difficult to confront these feelings directly. Monsters can personify a child’s fears, and provide a way to address them in a non-threatening manner.”
It was this idea that inspired Edwards to create a character who would teach kids how to fight their fears: Bigelow Hawkins, the Great Monster Detective. “We adults often have trouble relating to a child’s anxieties, especially when they are caused by something seemingly innocuous,” he says. “Kids need someone who can see their fears the same way they do, so I invented someone who could.”
It was this therapeutic quality of his books that earned them the Mom’s Choice Award for Family Friendly Media, an endorsement from the Anxiety Disorders Association of America, and a place on the Children’s Book Council’s Recommended Reading List.
Mr. Edward is available for questions, discussions, or interviews. For more information, or to arrange an appointment, contact:
Jan Silverman
Director of Media Relations
E-mail silverj@roguebearpress.com
Phone (914) 437-7628