Alex and the Scary Things
Melissa Moses and Alison MacEachern
Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Young Alex has experienced traumatic times in his life but he does his best not to think about them. Sometimes however, he feels overwhelmed by memories and this has an effect on his emotions. He might feel frightened but then he becomes ‘Spacey’ and, protected by his space suit, Alex mind travels far into the sky leaving his fears behind. He has another strategy too, which he calls the 5-4-3-2-1 game. This involves naming five things he can see in his classroom, four things he can feel, three he can hear, two he can smell and finally, one good thing about himself.
At other times Alex might feel anger and it’s fortunate that he’s learned a breathing technique that restores him to his more relaxed self again …

and his teacher has also taught his class some calming yoga poses.

When sadness overwhelms him, Alex cannot help but cry; he calls himself Puddles on such occasions and takes himself off to sit in his super-secret safe place surrounded by soft snuggly blankets.

There are even times at school when our narrator says that for him it feels as though scary things are happening even when they aren’t: his tummy feels ‘a little tumbly’ and his brain ‘a little bumbly’. That’s the time when his Jumbles persona takes over Alex and he needs to use his wiggly dance to untumble and unbumble himself.
Scribbles – another part of Alex – takes over when he doesn’t want to talk. Instead he uses art activities to help him cope on such occasions. Most of the time though, Alex is calm, capable, curious, creative and kind; that’s when he feels truly himself, in control of all his parts but safe in the knowledge that all his different parts are there to be called upon whenever he needs them.
Alison MacEachern’s offbeat illustrations orchestrate Melissa Moses’ first person narrative keeping the overall mood light despite the serious nature of the topic.
This little book is, the publishers tell us’ ‘A Story to Help Children Who Have Experienced Something Scary’ and most of us who work with children will have dealings with some of those, sometimes perhaps unknowingly in the first instance. Indeed several of the techniques such as the breathing and yoga are appropriate for all youngsters and in fact, all children are likely to need coping strategies to draw on at one time or another; so I’d suggest all schools and children’s centres would do well to invest in a copy.

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