Big Thoughts
Laura Dockrill and Ashling Lindsay
Walker Books

We’re all beset with worries from time to time – ‘Big Thoughts’ as the child narrator of this books calls them. Such thoughts can’t be seen by others despite them being loud inside your head. They might be Big Thoughts about the future, the past or perhaps even make-believe (not telling the truth). Moreover the more one tries to ignore such thoughts, the louder and more all embracing they become.

So what can be done to alleviate a very worried mind? One way is to share them with a an older person who has learned some coping strategies. Strategies that can be passed on and will then stay with the sufferer henceforward. Another way is to talk with a friend who has suffered similarly, so neither person feels alone.

Laura Dockrill’s text is such that readers/listeners are made to feel the centre of attention – seen and heard – and together with Ashling Lindsay’s sensitive illustrations and the final spread entitled Tips and Techniques’ make this a very reassuring and helpful book.

Some Days I’m the Wind
Rebecca Gardyn Levington and Dinara Mirtalipova
Barefoot Books

Using metaphors relating to the weather and the natural world, the young narrator of this book tells us how her feelings and emotions can change from day to day or perhaps several times in a single day. “Some days I’m the sun, welcoming, warm /patient, pleasant, fair. // Some days I’m the sun, / stubborn, HOT! / A raging, blazing glare.’

Or, ‘Some days I’m a tree, / flourishing, strong, reaching for the sky/ // Some days I’m a tree / trembling, bare, / bidding leaves goodbye.’

The well chosen, child friendly metaphors combined with the repeat ‘Some days’ of the gently rhythmic text and the vibrant, boldly coloured illustrations, keep readers turning the pages as they, like the narrator come to understand that there are a whole multitude of ways to feel, to act and to be. This is reaffirmed in the final proclamation, “And just like the wind, / or the sun, / or the sea / on some days / I’m some ways, / but all days // I’m me.”

After the child’s narration is a spread entitled “Exploring Our Emotions’ written by a child development specialist. A book to share and talk about at home, or with an EYFS or KS1 class.