Zach Apologizes

by William Mulcahy, Darren McKee (Illustrator)

Overview

When Zach shoves his little brother to the floor, he knows he did something wrong. Even so, it’s hard to apologize. Like any seven-year-old, Zach tries to ignore the problem, but finally, with his mom’s help, he learns how to make an apology in four steps:

1. say what you did
2. name how it made the other person feel
3. say what you could have done instead
4. make it up to the person.

Zach Apologizes teaches children social skills using a strategy presented as the “four-square” apology. It is illustrated with prompts so kids will easily understand and remember how to make an apology.

Zach Rules Series
Zach struggles with social issues like getting along, handling frustrations, making mistakes, and other everyday problems typical of young kids. Each book in the Zach Rules series presents a single, simple storyline involving one such problem. As each story develops, Zach and readers learn straightforward tools for coping with their struggles and building stronger relationships now and in the future.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781575423890
Publisher:	Free Spirit Publishing
Publication date:	04/02/2012
Series:	Zach Rules Series
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	378,981
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.31(d)
Lexile:	AD540L (what's this?)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

William “Bill” Mulcahy, MS, LPC, LMHC, NCC, is a licensed professional counselor, psychotherapist, author and of books and tools for teaching children to cope with the challenges of life in the 21st century.

Bill has served as a supervisor at Family Services of Waukesha, WI, as a counselor at Stillwaters Cancer Support Services, at Empathia Inc., as an employee assistance professional, and has worked with children with special needs. He has been in private practice since 2016.

He is also the father of seven children including two children on the autism spectrum and lives in Venice, Florida with his wife, Melissa.

Editorial Reviews

Not only do the [Zach Rules] books discuss problems most youngsters have, they also give concrete strategies for solving them.

From the Publisher

The Zach Rules series does an impressive job covering the issues of anger and frustration—and the consequences that come with acting on them—in child-friendly terms. These books are a must-read for parents, educators, grandparents, and anyone who cares about helping young people become responsible, resilient, and compassionate human beings. I highly recommend this series.

Barbara Coloroso

Zach does rule—these books are fun! They make important life skills easy to understand and do, and kids will get such a kick out of Zach, they won’t even know they’re learning.

Dr. Michele Borba

Zach Apologizes is a wonderful skill-building resource to help young children easily learn how to make a sincere apology. I highly recommend it for both the home and the classroom!

Trudy Ludwig

A great resource to teach kids how to apologize and we all know apologizing can be hard.

Lori Calabrese

Reading Zach Apologizes reopened my eyes to how absolutely critical it is to help kids go deeper when they are making amends. The ‘four-square apology’ helps kids have empathy about their actions . . . this is really going to stick with them.

Books That Heal Kids blog

Not only do the [Zach Rules] books discuss problems most youngsters have, they also give concrete strategies for solving them.

Growing Book by Book

Counselor and psychotherapist Mulcahy makes his children's-book debut with the Zach Rules series, designed to give kids some coping tools for working through everyday problems. In this series kickoff, Zach's mother teaches him the four-square apology. Zach writes and draws the answers to four questions (What did I do to hurt someone? How did the person feel? What could I do next time? How will I make it up to them?), then uses them to make an apology to his sibling for pushing him down. In the simultaneously publishing Zach Gets Frustrated, a day at the beach is not much fun for Zach because his kite won't fly. By teaching him the three parts of the frustration triangle, his dad is able to get Zach to name the cause of his frustration, calm down and reframe the situation. Extensive backmatter in each book helps parents understand why teaching children these strategies is so important, as well as how to teach them successfully. As in many expressly didactic books, interactions between the characters are stiff and stilted, although Zach's feelings are widely recognizable and will be familiar to readers. McKee's brightly colored digital illustrations have a Cartoon Network feel to them, but they nonetheless do a good job of supporting the text and helping to teach the material. While not many kids are likely to ask for repeated readings, still this new series is a useful tool for teaching valuable skills. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews