A Weekend With Wendell by Kevin Henkes - Using the Lifeskill of Friendship

We read "A Weekend with Wendell" by Kevin Henkes.  In the story, Sophie and her parents have a weekend visitor, Wendell.  Wendell and Sophie attempt to play together.  However, Wendell makes all the choices and makes Sophie pretend to be boring things, like a sweet roll in a bakery.  In the end, Sophie turns the tables on Wendell and he learns to play cooperatively.  As I read this book, the children felt how Sophie must have felt.  They found that they would rather play cooperatively than tell everyone what to do.  We discussed how to let each person involved in playing to make choices.  A few days after reading,  one child was telling another what to do.  I simply asked, "Is someone being Wendell?"  The person immediately said, "Yes" and then asked the other "What would you like to do?"  This book helped the children understand the Lifeskill of Friendship as defined by Kovalik and Associates. http://www.thecenter4learning.com/