Ballantine Books; 2002

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Michael Thompson, Catherine O’Neill Grace, and Lawrence J. Cohen weave research findings, remembrances of their childhoods, clinical knowledge and practice, and stories of their children with their friends. The book is well-researched and rich with information. I was pleased to see an entire chapter devoted to relationships in infancy and early childhood and their significance in the later development of friendships. The chapter’s title alone will make adoptive parents sit up and take notice: “Family Matters: Secure Attachment Is the First Relationship”.

While this book does not focus on how to intervene when problems arise, it does provide two especially useful chapters titled “What Schools Can Do” and “What Parents Can Do.”  Above all, parents will gain a new understanding of how children play, get along, and negotiate friendships.