DISCLOSURE – THIS ITEM WAS GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW. ALL THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS ARE THE REVIEWER’S OWN.
Reviewed by Rebecca Wong
As a parent, it can be a daunting prospect trying to help our children build their confidence and boost their resilience so that they know what to do to help themselves when they are struggling. I was very pleased to receive Word Worries by Tracy King, which aims to help children recognise their emotions and give them ways to help themselves.
I had certain expectations around what the book would cover and it did surprise me a little. The book was a story about a little girl called Millie. The story explains how she is visited by a fairy called the feel-good fairy. The Feel Good Fairy helps to identify Milly’s worries and then explains to her different yoga movements that she can use to help with each emotion. The pair then go on to practice all of these different poses and Milly feels happy afterwards.
I like this book because it does help children to understand their emotions but it also gives some important tools. Yoga is one of my favourite strategies for dealing with mental well-being and I think it’s so important for children to understand the link between their bodies and their emotions. Being able to identify when they might need to stretch and move when they are experiencing certain difficulties and triggers is very empowering. The story is quite short, my daughter read it to me in less than 10 minutes.
We talked about how she felt about it afterwards and she told me how much she had enjoyed it. As a parent, I found it a really useful tool. I would recommend it to others. However, I was very confused about what it was about before we read it. The title Word Worries doesn’t really reflect the strong yoga theme throughout, which was just unexpected but not a bad thing. The illustrations in the book are really nice and eye-catching for a child and my daughter did spend some time looking at these; the colours and design evoke feelings of calmness.
I think this is a great book to read with young children, to help them understand the link between their emotions and what they can physically do to help calm themselves and relieve anxiety; to be more mindful. In a world where mental health challenges seem to have increased exponentially for children, I think more and more of these books are necessary. The book retails from £8.99, is available in both hardback and soft copy and can be bought at several retailers including Amazon. It’s great to read to a young child and also for children of reading age.
I give this book a 4/5 simply because I was surprised a little bit by the content of it as the context wasn’t clear from looking at the title. I do think it’s an incredibly useful tool in the modern age for parents to be able to read books like this with their children, to help with their self-awareness, emotional intelligence and understanding of their body-mind connections.
Rating: 4/5