Scaredies Away! A Kid's Guide to Overcoming Worry and Anxiety (made simple)

Name: Scaredies Away! A Kid's Guide to Overcoming Worry and Anxiety (made simple)
Author: Stacy Fiorile
ISBN: 978-1496020406

by Stacy Fiorile Barry McDonagh ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2014

An adequate storyline combines with colorful cartoon characters in a tidy five-step program for anxious pre-adolescents.

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This illustrated kids’ book will help young ones handle their panic.

Young Jack wishes he were brave enough to experience all life has to offer, especially now that the extended family has gathered at the beach for summer fun. While he waits in line to ride the giant roller coaster Big Red, panic overtakes him. Then, cool surfer cousin Clay admits that he, too, used to have multiple fears, until an “old surf pro” taught him the “Magic Finger Countdown.” Acknowledging that “everyone—even surf pros and cousins and your parents—get (sic) scared sometimes” and that “it’s totally OK not to feel OK sometimes,” Clay teaches Jack the MFC and assures him it can be applied to scary rides, killer waves and more. MFC fails to provide relief for Jack the first time around, but Clay assures him that practice makes perfect, and the next day, Jack returns to Big Red to banish his “scaredies.” Fiorile (a school psychologist) and McDonagh (who has a diploma in psychology) note in the foreword: “We have been conditioned to reassure children that their fears are not real…[b]ut those fears are very real to children.” If youngsters are taught to “develop a healthy internal strength,” their confidence will increase and they’ll be reassured “that they can handle each new, anxious situation they encounter”; from there, the authors say, “anxiety can be transformed into a sense of personal power.” The MFC technique, “rooted in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy,” is explained in greater detail after the story (mostly for adults), and suggestions are offered to adapt the five steps for specific situations. Though no substitute for professional support and therapy, the book considers the familiar, dread-inspiring topics—taking tests, monsters in the closet, shadows on the wall, etc.—with an upbeat, reassuring tone. The simple steps for identifying, acknowledging and releasing fear offer a useful method for helping younger children move past panic into a place of confidence. Throughout, Alonso’s high-quality, vibrant illustrations provide an appealing mix of wide-eyed energy and bobble-headed attitude.

An adequate storyline combines with colorful cartoon characters in a tidy five-step program for anxious pre-adolescents.

Pub Date: April 1, 2014

ISBN: 978-1496020406

Page Count: 40

Publisher: CreateSpace

Review Posted Online: July 29, 2014

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

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ABIYOYO RETURNS

by Pete Seeger & Paul Dubois Jacobs & illustrated by Michael Hays ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2001

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The seemingly ageless Seeger brings back his renowned giant for another go in a tuneful tale that, like the art, is a bit sketchy, but chockful of worthy messages. Faced with yearly floods and droughts since they’ve cut down all their trees, the townsfolk decide to build a dam—but the project is stymied by a boulder that is too huge to move. Call on Abiyoyo, suggests the granddaughter of the man with the magic wand, then just “Zoop Zoop” him away again. But the rock that Abiyoyo obligingly flings aside smashes the wand. How to avoid Abiyoyo’s destruction now? Sing the monster to sleep, then make it a peaceful, tree-planting member of the community, of course. Seeger sums it up in a postscript: “every community must learn to manage its giants.” Hays, who illustrated the original (1986), creates colorful, if unfinished-looking, scenes featuring a notably multicultural human cast and a towering Cubist fantasy of a giant. The song, based on a Xhosa lullaby, still has that hard-to-resist sing-along potential, and the themes of waging peace, collective action, and the benefits of sound ecological practices are presented in ways that children will both appreciate and enjoy. (Picture book. 5-9)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001

ISBN: 0-689-83271-0

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2001

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
THE DEAF MUSICIANS
by Pete Seeger & Paul Dubois Jacobs & illustrated by R. Gregory Christie

- BOOK REVIEW
SOME FRIENDS TO FEED
by Pete Seeger & Paul Dubois Jacobs & illustrated by Michael Hays

- BOOK REVIEW
TURN! TURN! TURN!
adapted by Pete Seeger & illustrated by Wendy Anderson Halperin

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CORALINE

by Neil Gaiman ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2002

Not for the faint-hearted—who are mostly adults anyway—but for stouthearted kids who love a brush with the sinister:...

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A magnificently creepy fantasy pits a bright, bored little girl against a soul-eating horror that inhabits the reality right next door.

Coraline’s parents are loving, but really too busy to play with her, so she amuses herself by exploring her family’s new flat. A drawing-room door that opens onto a brick wall becomes a natural magnet for the curious little girl, and she is only half-surprised when, one day, the door opens onto a hallway and Coraline finds herself in a skewed mirror of her own flat, complete with skewed, button-eyed versions of her own parents. This is Gaiman’s (American Gods, 2001, etc.) first novel for children, and the author of the Sandman graphic novels here shows a sure sense of a child’s fears—and the child’s ability to overcome those fears. “I will be brave,” thinks Coraline. “No, I am brave.” When Coraline realizes that her other mother has not only stolen her real parents but has also stolen the souls of other children before her, she resolves to free her parents and to find the lost souls by matching her wits against the not-mother. The narrative hews closely to a child’s-eye perspective: Coraline never really tries to understand what has happened or to fathom the nature of the other mother; she simply focuses on getting her parents back and thwarting the other mother for good. Her ability to accept and cope with the surreality of the other flat springs from the child’s ability to accept, without question, the eccentricity and arbitrariness of her own—and every child’s own—reality. As Coraline’s quest picks up its pace, the parallel world she finds herself trapped in grows ever more monstrous, generating some deliciously eerie descriptive writing.

Not for the faint-hearted—who are mostly adults anyway—but for stouthearted kids who love a brush with the sinister: Coraline is spot on. (Fiction. 9-12)