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THE WORRY BOX

Name: THE WORRY BOX
Author: Suzanne Chiew
ISBN: 978-1-68010-083-9

by Suzanne Chiew ; illustrated by Sean Julian ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2018

An alternative to worry dolls for anxious children.

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Murray learns to not let his worries get in the way of living life.

Murray Bear’s big sister, Molly, has agreed to meet her friend Oliver, a rabbit, at the waterfall to play. But Murray is afraid of the waterfall and doesn’t want to go. Molly gently addresses his concerns and then shows him her worry box, where she places slips of paper that list her worries. “When my worries are in the box, they don’t stop me from having fun.” Murray adds his concern to the box and then puts the whole thing in his backpack. Murray’s worried feelings are still apparent to readers as the two bears approach the rendezvous, but he has the courage he needs to enjoy playing…until Oliver’s friend Lily arrives and provokes more worries about making new friends. Murray puts them in his worry box and has a grand time, and he’s even able to help Lily when she has a big worry of her own. Julian’s animals are lightly anthropomorphized—they wear no clothing, but their home has books and art supplies, they sometimes walk on two legs, their fears match those of young children, and the facial expressions and body language will be familiar.

An alternative to worry dolls for anxious children. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: March 1, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-68010-083-9

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Tiger Tales

Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2018

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
THAT'S WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR
by Suzanne Chiew ; illustrated by Caroline Pedler

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FRIENDS TO THE RESCUE
by Suzanne Chiew ; illustrated by Caroline Pedler

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WHEN YOU NEED A FRIEND
by Suzanne Chiew ; illustrated by Caroline Pedler

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SPAGHETTI HEAD & CHICKEN FINGERS

by Rhett McLaughlin & Link Neal ; illustrated by Erica Salcedo ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 16, 2026

Wild and wacky.

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A picture book from the comedy duo known as Rhett & Link, creators of the online juggernaut Good Mythical Morning.

Lumo is obsessed with chicken fingers; Saffy, who is new to town and anxious about starting school, finds comfort in the only food she likes: buttered spaghetti. The night before the first day of school, a thunderstorm rages, and each kid makes a wish—“to have chicken fingers at school,” in Lumo’s case; Saffy wishes for “the first thing off the top of her head: buttered spaghetti.” File under “Be careful what you wish for.” Lumo’s and Saffy’s respective physical changes (chicken fingers for fingers, spaghetti for hair) make navigating school a challenge but bring them together in the cafeteria, where they enjoy some new foods—and their new friendship. The plotting could have been sharper: Why do the kids’ bodies suddenly return to normal? And couldn’t the authors have thought up a less old-hat story-ending punch line? Nevertheless, McLaughlin and Neal get by on their charm, and the plot sets up some funny visuals. Salcedo’s cartoony Photoshop art features well-chosen artifacts from a typical kid’s life and captures the mortification of not fitting in, which will be familiar even to readers who have never experienced breaded fingers or noodle hair. Lumo is brown-skinned and dark-haired; Saffy is pale-skinned with disheveled reddish-brown hair.

Wild and wacky. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: June 16, 2026

ISBN: 9780063474154

Page Count: 32

Publisher: HarperPop/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: March 23, 2026

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2026

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

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Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.

The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)