Book Review of You are a Social Detective: Explaining Social Thinking to Kids by Michelle Garcia Winner and Pamela Crooke

Social Thinking®, Social Detective®, Social Smarts®, Explaining Social Thinking® to Kids are words used by Michelle Garcia Winner and Pamela Crooke, the two speech language pathologist specializing in social learning challenges. Are you a good Social Thinker®? You might be after reading the children’s book, You are a Social Detective: Explaining Social Thinking to Kids by Michelle Garcia Winner and Pamela Crooke. It is beautifully illustrated by Kelly Knopp and also available in French and Spanish.

The authors end this book by saying when the young readers of You are a Social Detective: Explaining Social Thinking to Kids grow up, they will be good Social Thinkers®. How will we know? “They will work well with others in the office and in their homes – for example, as moms, dads, teachers, and other types of workers.” But first, what is You are a Social Detective all about?

Congratulations to authors, Michelle Garcia Winner and Pamela Crooke, and Illustrator Kelly Knopp for the following awards won by You are a Social Detective: Explaining Social Thinking to Kids:

Winner of a 2012 Mom’s Choice Award,

2012 National Parenting Publications Award

The 2012 Autism Society Outstanding Literary Work of the Year!

Explaining Social Thinking® to Kids

This is what I learned from reading Michelle Garcia Winner and Pamela Crooke’s books. Social Thinking is a way to train your brain to help you figure out the people around you. You are a Social Thinker each time you are around other people and you are aware that your behavior causes them to have thoughts about you. Having Social Smarts or doing what is expected, help our brains to know that the things we do or say will give others good thoughts about us and make them feel good too.

You are a good Social Detective when you use your Social Detective Tools like your eyes, ears, brain/knowing, and heart/feelings to help you figure out people. We figure out how to behave based on where we are and what we are expected to do at that time. When someone does the unexpected people have uncomfortable thoughts about that person. By using our tools it makes us have a Smart Guess about the situation. If we forget to use our tools we might make a wacky guess.

Who is the Target Audience?

Dear Parent and Professional, the authors write, “This isn’t just a book for kids… Our hope is that it will be used as a way to introduce the concepts of Social Thinking to general teachers, para-professionals, parents, caregivers, special educators, grandparents, siblings, day care workers, scout leaders, etc. and of course, to those kids who are learning how to be Social Detectives!”

The publisher, The North River Press, says, “Elementary school-aged (K-5) students, and immature older middle and high school students who enjoy visual books, may benefit from this book. But this isn’t just a book for students who have challenges relating to autism spectrum disorders, Asperger’s, ADHD and like challenges.” I fully agree with both and as a teacher, parent and grandparent, I believe that ALL children can benefit from the lessons learned by reading and sharing this book with adults who can discuss with them their relationships at home, at school and in the community.

Features of the Book

You are a Social Detective: Explaining Social Thinking to Kids written by Michelle Garcia Winner and Pamela Crooke, and illustrated by Kelly Knopp is to be enjoyed by all the young Social Detectives who might have School Smarts, Science Smarts, or Music Smarts and need just a little help with their Social Smarts to make a big difference in their daily interactions.

Lorna d'Entremont, reviewer

This eye-catching book is described as a comic book, but erase from your mind the stack of comic books you grew up with that had many small squares of pictures with tiny word balloons on each page of newsprint quality paper. You are a Social Detective has 60 glossy, colorful pages 11 inches by 8 ½ inches. The two staple binding allows the book to be folded easily so the adult can present only one page at a time.

All pages are green, yellow or blue with a darker shade of that color making frames 6 inches by 4 inches for the illustrations found on every page. Bravo to the illustrator, Kelly Knopp for the engaging drawings that add so much to the message on each page. These large, clear, crisp drawings with a few word balloons all have a short paragraph underneath in large print with keywords highlighted in bold.

This book uses the perfect medium for their target audience. After having shared this book with an adult, a non-reader will be able to flip through it alone and “read the images”.

The keywords are clearly explained in the Social Thinking Vocabulary Definitions on the last pages. It is good for both adult and child to learn these terms together and use them frequently in discussions. Also when they read other books, especially those by the same authors, these will be familiar words. This book is also the first book to read with students prior to introducing the Superflex lessons, as it teaches the core Social Thinking Vocabulary.

The authors present enough examples to allow children to grasp the core concepts of Social Thinking.

As an added bonus the authors included three Social Thinking lesson plans adapted from Winner’s “Think Social” Curriculum (2005).

Now the book is also available in Spanish and French!

You are a Social Detective: Explaining Social Thinking to Kids written by Michelle Garcia Winner and Pamela Crooke, and illustrated by Kelly Knopp is to be enjoyed by all the young Social Detectives who might have School Smarts, Science Smarts, or Music Smarts and need just a little help with their Social Smarts to make a big difference in their daily interactions.

Now available You Are a Social Detective! Interactive CD by Social Skill Builder and Social Thinking Publishing From their site this CD, “…presents the social thinking concepts introduced in our You Are a Social Detective! book. The book is presented in the first chapter of the game, and then it kicks into interactive computer game with our social detective walking the students through each of the levels. There is no need to purchase the book because it is included in the CD, unless you want it in paper form”.

About the Authors:

Michelle Garcia Winner, MA, CCC-SLP is a Congressional-award winning speech-language pathologist who specializes in treating individuals who are experiencing social and communication problems. She runs a clinic in San Jose, CA, has authored number books and speaks internationally on the Social Thinking treatment approach she developed. She serves on the panel of professional advisers of the Autism Society of America.

Pamela Crooke, Ph.D., CCC-SLP is part of the clinical faculty at San Jose State University and senior therapist at the Social Thinking Center in San Jose, CA. Prior to joining Social Thinking, she conducted research published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders on the effectiveness of the Social Thinking Vocabulary in the teaching of students with high-functioning autism. Dr. Crooke has presented on social thinking and on autism spectrum disorders nationally and internationally

Buy book here.

See other books by Michelle Garcia Winner and Pamela Crooke on Social Thinking:

Review of Socially Curious and Curiously Social: A Social Thinking Guidebook for Bright Teens and Young Adults

Review of Social Thinking at Work: Why Should I Care? A Guidebook for Understanding and Navigating the Social Complexities of the Workplace