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If you don’t find what you are looking for, please get in contact and I will try my best to help. If you do find a book that helps, please spread the word about this website!
If you are the publisher, author or illustrator of a book that helps and you’d like to be featured on this website, please email: clare_welsh@hotmail.co.uk
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LEO AND THE OCTOPUS (Isabelle Marinov, Chris Nixon 3-7yrs)
The world was too bright for Leo. And too loud.
“I must be living on the wrong planet,” Leo thought.
In Leo and the Octopus (Templar, 2021) Leo struggles to make sense of the world. He doesn’t understand the other children in his class, and they don’t seem to understand him. Sometimes it feels like he is living on an alien planet. But then one day, Leo meets Maya. Maya is an octopus, and the more Leo learns about her, the more he thinks that perhaps he isn’t alone in this world, after all.
Isabelle’s text navigates the world and friendship through the eyes of a child with Asperger’s and Chris’ illustrations are bright and eye-catching, especially the neon detailing on the cover. Together they depict a subtle yet accurate look at how it feels to have autism, helpful for neurodiverse and neurotypical readers.
Continue readingIf you don’t find what you are looking for, please get in contact and I will try my best to help. If you do find a book
If you are the publisher, author or illustrator of a book that helps and you’d like to be featured on this website, please email: clare_welsh@hotmail.co.uk
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THE LAST GARDEN (Rachel Ip and Anneli Bray, 3-6yrs)
The Last Garden (Hodder, 2021) is a thoughtful, tender story that reminds us never to give up hope. It follows the main protagonist, Zara, who has the most beautiful garden that the whole community enjoys. But one day everyone has to leave the city. The garden is locked with a key while the people flee their homes. The book was inspired by true events in Syria and war gardens around the world and throughout history. It’s very sad to think of cities and homes being destroyed, but this story gives hope that one day peace and colour may be restored to war torn places, just like it was in Zara’s garden.
Continue readingIf you don’t find what you are looking for, please get in contact and I will try my best to help. If you do find a book that helps, please spread the word about this website!
If you are the publisher, author or illustrator of a book that helps and you’d like to be featured on this website, please email: clare_welsh@hotmail.co.uk
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REMIXED (Aree Chung, 2022)
In Mixed City, colours mix when they fall in love. Things are bright and joyful at the beginning of the story, but families change. All sorts of worries go through the characters’ heads as the characters experience loss and separation: Am I good enough? Did I make a mistake? Will they get along? Will he like me? But Remixed (Macmillan, 2022) reaffirms to the reader that with open minds and hearts, love grows.
Continue readingIf you don’t find what you are looking for, please get in contact and I will try my best to help. If you do find a book that helps, please spread the word about this website!
If you are the publisher, author or illustrator of a book that helps and you’d like to be featured on this website, please email: clare_welsh@hotmail.co.uk
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A SHELTER FOR SADNESS (Anne Booth, David Litchfield, 3-7yrs)
‘Sadness has come to live with me and I am building it a shelter. I am building a shelter for my sadness and welcoming it inside.’
The child narrator of Anne Booth and David Litchfield’s A Shelter for Sadness (Templar Publishing, 2021) talks the reader through his experiences of living with sadness. The small boy creates a shelter for his sadness, a safe space where sadness is welcome, where it can curl up small, or be as big as it can be, where it can be noisy or quiet, or anything in between. This offers the reader down-to-earth ideas of how to cope with sadness when it appears, which it does for us all.
Anne’s text is heart-felt and honest. David’s stunning illustrations give this story a light and hopeful feel, making it a poignant and heart-warming picture book exploring the importance of making space for sadness.
Continue readingIf you don’t find what you are looking for, please get in contact and I will try my best to help. If you do find a book that helps, please spread the word about this website!
If you are the publisher, author or illustrator of a book that helps and you’d like to be featured on this website, please email: clare_welsh@hotmail.co.uk
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SWEEP (Louise Grieg, Júlia Sardà, 3-7yrs)
Sweep (Egmont 2018) is a wonderful story about what can happen if you let a bad mood get the better of you. Ed and his bad mood sweep, sweep, sweep through the town until his emotions grow and gather so much pace the town is dark and Ed is tired and hungry.
In this poetic, uplifting story, Louise Greig and Júlia Sardà use a suitable visual metaphor to show readers what can happen when you try to sweep your troubles away. Perfect for helping children learn to recognise and deal with big emotions.
Continue readingIf you don’t find what you are looking for, please get in contact and I will try my best to help. If you do find a book that helps, please spread the word about this website!
If you are the publisher, author or illustrator of a book that helps and you’d like to be featured on this website, please email: clare_welsh@hotmail.co.uk
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THE WORRY TIGER (Alexandra Page, Stef Murphy, 3-6 yrs)
The Worry Tiger (Two Hoots, 2022) written and illustrated by the same team that brought you The Fire Fox, is one of my favourite picture books about worries.
Alexandra’s text is lyrical and lilting, whilst still being accessible to young readers. Rory’s den, and the jungle that appears when he is worried, are beautifully described and wonderfully sensual. We follow Rory and the worry tiger, who shares some tips on how to stay calm. Their midnight adventure ends with Rory and the tiger snuggling up together in Rory’s den. The next day, ‘show and tell’ still feels overwhelming, but Rory remembers the tiger’s suggestions for staying calm and Rory is able to share something special with his friends.
Continue readingIf you don’t find what you are looking for, please get in contact and I will try my best to help. If you do find a book that helps, please spread the word about this website!
If you are the publisher, author or illustrator of a book that helps and you’d like to be featured on this website, please email: clare_welsh@hotmail.co.uk
Subscribe to stay up to date with new reviews!
If you don’t find what you are looking for, please get in contact and I will try my best to help. If you do find a book that helps, please spread the word about this website!
If you are the publisher, author or illustrator of a book that helps and you’d like to be featured on this website, please email: clare_welsh@hotmail.co.uk
Subscribe to stay up to date with new reviews!
THE PROBLEM WITH PENGUINS (Helen Stephens, 3-6yrs)
In the The Problem With Penguins, previously called The Night Iceberg (Alison Green Books, 2010), Helen Stephens weaves an unsettled child protagonist into an exciting, magical adventure – a world where icebergs home to penguins sail past bedroom windows.
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Clare Helen Welsh 