This book targets adults working with children aged between 9–13 years old who have anger difficulties and it provides innovative strategies to teach children more constructive and adaptive ways to express anger. In summary, this book provides an excellent adjunct to treatments that children or their families may be undertaking. It strikes the right balance between fun and learning, and provides innovative strategies to reduce aggressive behaviour and promote the healthy expression of anger. It can be used by anyone working with children, including parents, teachers, counsellors, youth workers and other mental health professionals.

Even before reading the credentials of the authors, it is immediately clear to the reader that they have a lot of experience working with children and their families. The book starts with an introduction into anger and provides an easy understanding of the neuropsychology of anger. The timeless question is posed – should we rise above anger, or should we embrace and express it? The authors propose that although avoiding anger is a worthwhile goal, most people will be unable to rise above anger, and therefore it is better to teach angry children to experience and express their anger in more helpful ways.

The book provides a summary of the main theories of anger and a very helpful chapter on diagnosis. There are also case studies highlighting the problems and difficulties children may experience that lead them to express themselves in an aggressive manner. The case studies also discuss the treatments provided by specialist services. In each case study, the authors describe the long-term outcome for the children. The authors are refreshingly honest in telling the stories of children who had sad outcomes and reflect on what can be learnt from these heart-breaking stories.

There is a discussion on different learning styles and a brief description of the eight learning strengths: the logical-mathematical learner, the bodily kinaesthetic learner, the interpersonal learner, the intrapersonal learner, the musical rhythmic learner, the visual-spatial learner, the verbal-linguistic learner, and the naturalist leaner. The easy to understand learning styles prefaces the most valuable part of this book: the workbooks. These workbooks are designed for each of the eight learning types mentioned above. Each workbook consists of engaging and thoughtful exercises for children to help modify their unhelpful behaviour. Each activity has a suggestion of how long it will take to work through the activity, materials needed, and whether it is a “Thinking”, “Feeling” or “Doing” activity. An excellent feature is the strengths graph, which allows children and their helpers to monitor progress through the workbooks.

One of my favourite parts of the book is the chapter on “Reaching and Teaching the Angry Child – How to Stay Sane in the Process”. It is a reminder that working therapeutically with any client group is challenging for the Helper and that self-care is important. The authors provide a guide to “emotional first aid” for the helper: this includes tips on how the helper can stay emotionally and physically robust. In short, a highly commendable book that I really enjoyed.