All about Anxiety

by Carrie Lewis, Sophia Touliatou (Illustrations)

"Anxiety. It's an emotion that rears its head almost every day, from the normal worries and concerns that most of us experience, to outright fear when something scary happens, to the anxiety disorders that many kids live with daily. But what causes anxiety? And what can we do about it? All About Anxiety tackles these questions from every possible angle. Readers will learn what's going on in their brain and central nervous system when they feel anxious. They'll learn about the evolutionary reasons for fear and anxiety and that anxiety isn't always a bad thing--except for when it is! Most importantly, kids will discover new strategies to manage their anxiety so they can live and thrive with anxiety."--

Genres: Nonfiction, Picture Books, Childrens, Middle Grade, Psychology

88 pages, Hardcover

Published July 7, 2020

Reviews

[Panda Incognito · Rating 5 out of 5]

This illustrated guide to anxiety is best for elementary and middle-grade students, but could also be helpful to younger children if a parent read it with them. It is very thorough, clear, and empowering, and provides solid scientific information about anxiety and about ways that children can combat or overcome it. The author does a great job of acknowledging the common efficacy of medication while also providing detailed information about how lifestyles choices, social media use, gut health, and diet all influence someone's mental health.

This book is written in an accessible style, and the illustrations help visualize the anxiety experience. The author covers a variety of different situations that can trigger anxiety, with attention to the physical, emotional, and social difficulties that this entails. Children who might not otherwise recognize themselves as having an anxiety problem may find this eye-opening, and those who do will find this thorough, informative, and encouraging enough to help them.

There are only two significant things that I would change about this book if I could. Firstly, even though the author introduces different sub-types of anxiety at the beginning, she only writes a paragraph about each. I understand that she was working with space constraints for a children's book, but the paragraph devoted to OCD is so general and vague that many sufferers would not be able to see themselves in it. I don't think that I would have been able to identify my anxiety as OCD based on that description, and even though it can still give someone a starting point to think about some elements of it, I wish that the author had provided a more detailed symptoms list.

My other comment is simply that it would have been nice for the author to include a glossary with pronunciations of the scientific words that she used. She defines each of them clearly, and does a great job of teaching science and not talking down to her audience, but an anxious child is likely to feel very embarrassed if they mispronounce one of these complex words when trying to communicate with an adult and get help. Plenty of books like this don't have glossaries, and it's not strictly necessary, but it would have been a nice addition.

This is a great book, and a timely, helpful resource for any kid who struggles with anxiety. The author keeps the book and its solutions accessible to people anywhere along the anxiety continuum, and provides compassionate advice for how children can conceptualize, explain, and work through their anxious experiences. She makes it clear that no one should ever feel ashamed of seeking medical help for a mental health issue, and also encourages children to make the most of the non-clinical resources available to them. This balanced, encouraging book can help a wide range of kids, and presents a range of descriptions and options without pushing a particular diagnosis or treatment philosophy on anyone.

[Mrs Heidrich · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Edelweiss for the DRC of this book.

Firstly, the pictures in this book are great. I think they really do help capture a lot of what anxiety is and may help some kids to visualize some of what's happening. I think because of the pictures, I expected the book to be slightly less text heavy. While you'd have to simplify for really young kids, I think this book will help a lot of kids and the normalization of anxiety is really important. I liked the comparison of the sisters with different types of fears and how they viewed the other's anxiety and how the book them talked about how they were both right and wrong. I think it's important that this type of book also deals with different types of anxiety rather than lumping anxiety together for kids. I haven't seen many books that discuss where anxiety comes from as well and I think this is essential for kids who are struggling with anxiety. I think it's also important that the book repeats that the anxiety isn't the person's "fault" as I'm sure many kids do feel that. I like that there are questions posed to the reader at different times and that it does provide some alternatives and possible "solutions" to dealing with anxiety. This book really does cover a lot of different situations and scenarios where kids may struggle. Love how the book talks about the brain!

I do feel like some of the language might be beyond some kids and would require some more explaining, but would be well worth it for kids who are struggling. Even to have this book in a counsellor's office to use to talk to kids about what they may be feeling. The pictures may feel like a simplification for some students based on the text level. I think I was hoping this might be a book that could be shared generally with kids and, while it could, the length and detail make it a stronger book for kids who are potentially struggling with anxiety I think. The book really does cover a wide range of issues related to anxiety and will be really important for kids who have anxiety though more for the 8-12 age range. A lot of information provided in an accessible manner!

[Jean Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

The perfect informational picture book on anxiety for older children, ages 9-13.

My older child appreciated the in-depth look into the biological wiring behind anxiety. The illustrations are captivating. They make neurotransmitters, amygdalas, and limbic systems fun and approachable. Aside from providing the science behind anxiety, the book offers kids a way to self-reflect with a series of questions designed ultimately to produce self-awareness. Practical suggestions and tips empower the reader with strategies to manage their anxiety.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

A perfect book for middle-grades readers striving to understand their own mental health.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastic overview of a mental health state that many of us experience to varying degrees. I appreciated how accessible and welcoming the whole book was: very digestible. Overall it made anxiety seem like a manageable issue, not a scary health problem.

[Jo Oehrlein · Rating 3 out of 5]

Feel like this is mainly aimed at middle schoolers because of the info on how puberty affects things, peer pressure, talking to a doctor but also keeping your parents in the loop, and some of the joining clubs/going out with friends things.

There's a lot of text here, so while some of this could be good for younger kids, I think you'd have to take it slowly.

Like the scientific information on amygdala, fight or flight, and gut-brain connection.

Just a much denser book than I was expecting....

[Pine Reads Review]

“Whatever the reason for it, your anxiety is not your fault. Be kind to yourself, take care of yourself, and take steps to address your anxiety.”

Everybody feels anxiety. Lewis uses this reminder to make readers aware that their anxiety is, in fact, valid. All About Anxiety presents itself as a toolkit for understanding and dealing with anxiety; it introduces anxiety (what it is and the different types) before getting into some of the causes that children may face, such as hormones and shifts in familial relationships. Lewis compares anxiety to a zoo filled with animals (thoughts) that sometimes need to be tamed. As readers are given tips on dealing with their anxiety, they are also told to remember their inner zookeeper and to ask for assistance if needed. In addition to providing useful self-care tips, All About Anxiety also lists several beneficial resources that children can use to seek help for their mental health.

In a time of great uncertainty, Lewis’ book is an exceptional resource for children. All About Anxiety touches on relevant issues, such as climate change, understanding the news, and navigating social media. As a very current-event conscious book, it does not shy away from mentioning the realities that many children face (e.g. poverty), nor the unrealistic expectations that social media can create (e.g. perfect bodies and lives). This book creates a safe space for children to begin to understand mental health and its importance. The “top tips” Lewis laces in throughout the story are great tricks from which children and adults alike can benefit. Not only does All About Anxiety raise mental health awareness, but it also includes entertaining illustrations. From an ax-wielding spider to neurotransmitters running across synapses, there are plenty of colorful and diverse illustrations which are appealing and also provide a visual aid to Lewis’ explanations and examples. While this book mainly has children in mind for its audience, I would say that it is also a great resource—a much needed one too—for any individual seeking a better understanding of anxiety and how to manage it.

(Pine Reads Review was provided an ARC by Beaming Books in exchange for an honest review.)

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[Michael Sasson · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a fair amount of good information here for middle-school age children (i.e., I wouldn't recommend it for 9 or 10 year old children despite the 9-13 listed target age range). Even then, the book seems oriented towards upper middle class children who may be identified as "gifted" academically and are in a left-liberal activist environment where civic engagement is mostly about how it makes the activist feel and not about possible strategic impact (e.g., "Worried about climate change? Recycle!")

There are also a good number of exercises for children to try out or have in their tool box, but even there the directions often leave something to be desired (e.g., p75 the breathing exercise encourages in/hold/out breaths to be the same length where having longer out breaths is more certain to provide calming effects).

In general, the CBT-orientation and lack of attachment focus feels off to me. Parents are hardly ever mentioned and when they are its as if they are of equal importance to any random adult in the kid's life. Sometimes that is done skillfully (as if implicitly acknowledging risks of abusive or neglectful parenting) but that seems overdone to me.

P76 The exercise to visualize a safe place leaves out imagining champions who have the child's back. P81 and 86 offer counter-examples where parents are acknowledged as people should be brought into the loop but even then it seems to imagine/assume the child is living a life that the parent has little or no connection to.

I did like the offering of what is positive about anxiety (see p.85) but even there the directive to "boss" anxious feelings (which I've actually appreciated in other child-anxiety books where the tone was more playful and sassy) as opposed to encouragement to befriend one's own experience (in the "invite your demon to tea" school).

My favorite portion of the book is probably on P44-45 where a picture is drawn of "People who don't help me feel my best. [...] Anxiety-causing friendships show themselves in different ways." Here there is a lot of good information that implicitly provides direction about how to set healthy boundaries without necessarily throwing away relationships. I can see copying these pages to share with people even if I don't reference the rest of this book very often.

[Aud · Rating 4 out of 5]

For the most part, I feel like this is a really thorough introduction to the concept that kids about ages 10+ will get a lot out of. I think that kids younger than that will get something out of it, too, especially if they go through it with an adult. I think it can also help give adults useful language and age-appropriate guidance for how to discuss anxiety with kids. It is clearly aimed at kids, though, so anyone older than about 13 should grab something from the library's Teen section, where, happily, there's a lot to choose from these days.

There were a couple of significant things I noticed were missing, though. The big one being diversity. There was a huge range of skin tones, and at least one adult wearing a hijab. But no one used any kind of mobility device or showed any kind of disability, besides needing glasses. The only kid who was even slightly overweight was depicted with fries and soda, which was just plain annoying (and it was right next to a paragraph about how anxiety can negatively effect health), especially since body image issues are a major source of anxiety for kids and adolescents.

Another glaring way that diversity was missing was in the chapter about things that contribute to and/or cause anxiety. There was no mention of how belonging to a minority group - because of one's race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, dis/ability, neurodivergence, etc. - can contribute to anxiety. All of these are potential anxiety triggers, because of how members of these groups can be and often are treated in our society, and I think that should have warranted at least a page. I appreciate that the author was trying to make this book appropriate to a wide range of kids, including younger ones, but leaving this truth out doesn't actually expand the readership.

There aren't a lot of in-depth books that specifically discuss anxiety for this age group, and this work fills that gap well, despite these holes. We've had multiple families coming in looking for things like this, so I'm glad we have it in the library, and I'll definitely hand it to families. But there's room for improvement. Maybe in a few years they'll come out with an updated, better than ever version! That would be nice.

[Asata Cole · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a good introduction to explaining to your children about the different types of anxiety. It helped my child identify were he feels more anxious and why. This book also allowed us to have a conversation on what is going on in our lives and how we can better support one another and be more understanding. Also, when is the appropriate time to seek help.

[Demarae · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this with Maggie. We both learned a lot. It’s good to realize that your type of anxiety is normal. And it was nice to know that I’m not bothered by everything. Maggie was able to see how and why her siblings are struggling with certain things that are different from her but still types of anxiety. And great to know there are coping mechanisms and to practice them with the book.

[Madeline Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book cover many aspects of anxiety in an understanding and clear way. It talked about why we have anxiety, what it can cause, how to cope, that your not alone, gave sources to help you cope, and went in depth to all these topics. It covered so much information about anxiety and helping it in an easy to understand way. I would highly recommend this book for anyone who has anxiety disorders.

[Puiu Mircea · Rating 5 out of 5]

O carte despre o problema omniprezenta, pe intelesul copiilor, care ii ajuta sa inteleaga mai bine starile prin care trec in stadiile diverse de dezvoltare si in acelasi timp ii poate ajuta si pe parinti sa ii inteleaga mai bine pe copii.

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.

[Two BookWorms Blog · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such an important resource for readers right now.

For the full review: https://twobookwormsblog.wordpress.co...

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those books that would’ve been so helpful to have as a kid. Very excited that today’s kids have it!