Review - Is a Worry Worrying You?

Is a Worry Worrying You?
by Ferida Wolff & Harriet May Savitz
illustrated by Marie Letourneau
Date: 2005
Publisher: Tanglewood Press
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book non-fiction
Pages: 32
Format: e-book
Source: NetGalley

Adults think of childhood as a carefree time, but the truth is that children worry, and worry a lot, especially in our highly pressurized era. This book addresses children's worries with humor and imagination, as hilarious scenarios teach kids the use of perspective and the art of creative problem-solving.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

This book gives me the creeps. While teaching children coping skills for their worries is laudable, it's also probably a good idea not to introduce new worries into the minds of highly creative kids.

One of the main problems with this book is that it presents worries that are impossible. Like a herd of elephants coming to tea, and you're out of teabags. The solution? Serve them lemonade. The problem? That's never going to happen! In addition, some of the worries might cause kids to worry about things that they might not have considered before. Like a monster taking up residence under their bed. (I was the type of kid who, had I believed in monsters, probably would've started to worry about something like that simply because I'd read about it in a book.)

The illustrations are a mixture of interesting and downright scary. Worry is represented throughout the book by a creepy blue monster. I had a bit of fun trying to pick it out on each page. But it's also kind of ominous, and the way it's lurking about makes me feel really uncomfortable. Illustrations are really important for me in a picture book. They help set the tone, and often provoke an emotional reaction. Unfortunately, in this book, my emotional reaction was one of revulsion; once I'd found the monster, I just wanted to stop looking at the dark, unappealing pictures.

The one thing this book has going for it are the suggestions on how to banish your worries. They might work for some kids, which is a plus. However, overall, I think a much better book about worrying is Worry Says What? by Allison Edwards. While it doesn't go into dealing with worries as much, the illustrations are much nicer to look at and clearly show the worry getting smaller and smaller (and much more manageable). I would recommend that book over this one since it doesn't inadvertently introduce new worries (and the worries presented there are much more realistic).

Thank you to NetGalley and Tanglewood Press for providing a digital ARC.

Premise: 2/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 2/5
Illustrations: 2/5
Originality: 2/5

Enjoyment: 1/5

Overall: 1.67 out of 5