I picked it out and put it in my pocket for a pet.
A little boy finds a worry.
He takes the worry with him everywhere, but after a while the worry becomes bothersome.
It grows bigger, it steals the boy’s favourite chair and it itches his skin.
The boy begins to feel ill, but the worry won’t leave him alone. It whispers mean things to him and puts sad thoughts in his head.
The boy knows he cannot keep his worry pet. But he doesn’t know what to do with it.
He takes the worry to a Worry Expert and she teaches him some special tricks to ignore the worry and make it disappear — tricks that all kids can use when they have a persistent worry that won’t leave them alone.
The Worrying Worries is a great picture book for kids. Written in rhyme, the story is fun and upbeat. It’s full of entertaining and relatable shenanigans that engage and trigger giggles. Zehra Hicks’ vibrant illustrations sparkle with colour and the funky characters are joyful (even the Worry, which really is very cute).
All this brilliantly disguises a story that deals with a challenging topic. Worry and stress is very real, for all ages, and if we don’t have strategies to deal with them, they can take over our lives and make things very hard for us.
The Worrying Worries shows kids some simple tricks to help calm down and ignore worries when they start to shout too loudly in our heads. It also normalises worrying, which I love.
Never will there be a human being who doesn’t experience worry and stress at some point in their life. Stress and worry is part of life, and we all need to find the right solutions for us (because everyone is different) to deal with them.
This is a great one for your picture book collection. And if you’re looking for more books to help children build their resilience and emotional strength, check out The Problem with Problems, another brilliant collaboration from Rachel Rooney and Zehra Hicks.
Title: The Worrying Worries
Author: Rachel Rooney
Illustrator: Zehra Hicks
Publisher: Affirm Press, $17.99
Publication Date: 29 September 2020
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 9781922400161
For ages: 3 - 6
Type: Picture Book
