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The Friendship Playbook, by Christine McCormick-Liddle — front cover
New from True North Originals

The Friendship Playbook

For kids 8–12 who find friendship harder than everyone else seems to.

Some children have to be taught what others seem to absorb from the air: how to walk up to a game that has already started, what to say when someone says no, why a friend went quiet. This is a workbook for them — and for the grown-up who wants to help without hovering.

“I don’t need everyone to like me.
I need to find my people.”

Coming to Amazon this month

The paperback is with Amazon now and proof copies are on their way. The write-in pages are already here, and they are free.

Paperback — coming soon Print the pages free →
What’s inside

Eighty-two pages, in three parts.

It is not a book of worksheets with some reading attached. Roughly half of it is teaching — what to say, and why it works — and a quarter of it is written for the adult rather than the child.

1

The ideas

Part one

Belonging beats popularity · reading the room · the five steps of saying hello · what a “no” really means · big feelings · working it out when words hurt.

2

The Practice Lab

29 pages of drills

Greeting ladders and conversation rallies, catching a meltdown on the way up, what to do when your body wants to hit, “that’s not fair”, putting it right afterward, starting the thing you dread and stopping the thing you love.

3

For Grown-Ups

26 pages of coaching

Research-informed: get-togethers, rehearsal that works, spotting the ramp, physical aggression, the fairness alarm, repair without shame, homework battles, hyperfocus, partnering with school — and page-by-page prompts for when your child gets stuck.

Inside the book

Four pages, as they actually print.

Page 1 — You don’t need lots of friends. You only need your people.
Page 1 · the idea the book is built on
Page 2 — My one friend, a page to write on
Page 2 · a page you write on
Page 17 — a Practice Lab drill
Page 17 · the Practice Lab
Page 53 — a coaching page written for the grown-up
Page 53 · written for the grown-up
Print the pages again, free

A bound book can only be written in once.

Every page your child writes on can be printed again — one for them, one for you, one for a friend. No sign-up, no email, no account. That is deliberate, and it is not going to change: the address is printed inside the book, so it has to work for as long as the book exists.

Go to the printable pages →
Who it’s for

Written for the child who is trying.

Kids 8–12Old enough to want friends on purpose, young enough that practicing it out loud is still allowed.
ADHD and autistic kidsAnd any child who finds the unwritten rules genuinely hard rather than uninteresting.
The grown-up helpingTwenty-six pages are written to you, not to your child — including what to do when a page stops working.
Teachers and counselorsThe write-in pages may be printed for one teacher’s own classroom. The licence is on the download page.
The details

Specifications.

Pages
82
Size
8 × 10 in
Format
Paperback, full color
Reading age
8–12
ISBN
979-8-9976821-0-1
Publisher
True North Originals

An educational workbook for learning and practice. It is not medical, psychological, or therapeutic advice, and it is not a substitute for care from a qualified professional. If you are worried about your child, talk to someone who can see them.