For Mental Health Awareness Week, we asked some of the team to share their favourite Nosy Crow book that touches on themes of mental health. Here’s what they had to say (and make sure to read to the end to hear from one very special team member!).
Kate Wilson, Managing Director – Jeremy Worried About the Wind
SO difficult to choose. OK. So … my favourite Nosy Crow picture book that touches on mental health is Jeremy Worried About The Wind by Pamela Butchart and Kate Hindley for its exploration of a certain kind of catastrophising anxiety. Jeremy is so worried about everything – too-crunchy crackers, runaway dinosaurs and spotty bananas included – that he is sort of paralysed by fear, and doesn’t really enjoy life. Exposure to Maggie, whose mantra is “What’s the worst thing that could happen?” means that he is swept up – literally – into a world of risk, and finds that the reality of risk is less overwhelming than he thought it would be. As someone who catastrophises quite a lot, I found myself empathising with Jeremy and smiling at the (double-edged) ending.
Read an extract:
Lauren Fairgrieve, Junior Editor (Non-Fiction and Activity) – The House on the Edge
The House on the Edge is a phenomenal middle-grade debut from the wonderful Alex Cotter, and it’s a book that has really stayed with me as a reader. The titular house is teetering on the edge of a crumbling cliff when we first enter the story, but it’s the world of the family inside it that really threatens to come crashing down.
The reader experiences the story through the character of Faith, but it’s immediately clear that her younger brother, Noah, and their mother are also struggling. With whispered rumours around the fate of her father and seemingly no one to turn to for help, Faith decides to become the ‘adult’ and protect her family from unravelling completely. Faith’s situation is heartbreaking, but her denial of the physical and mental toll that her actions are taking on her is extremely relatable. She is infuriated with her brother’s daydreaming and belief in ghosts, and with her mother’s inability to get out of bed or deal with concerned teachers, and yet she too doesn’t understand why she has lost friends or why she becomes so furious when someone suggests her father may not return.
Each of the central characters are dealing with the fallout from the same trauma but their mental health is affected on an individual level, and there is no one solution that will allow them all to heal. However, all come to realise that by reaching out, trusting friends and asking for help they can feel more understood and less alone – and I think that is a beautiful message to share.
Read an extract:
Alice Bartosinski, Senior Commissioning Editor, Picture Books – The Girl Who Planted Trees & Super Milly and the Super School Day
Here are TWO books that sprang immediately to mind. I couldn’t choose between them!
In The Girl Who Planted Trees, I love the resilience of the main character, who dreams of planting a forest on a bare mountain side. But it’s not just through her own drive and creativity that her dream is realised. She’s inspired by the natural world and being outdoors, and isn’t afraid to try new things. We see her fail, too, which is really important. Ultimately, the girl discovers that through sharing her aspirations and worries with others, she can achieve more than she ever thought possible.
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My other book choice is Super Milly and the Super School Day. The protagonist, Milly, is constantly disappointed by her total lack of superhero powers, which is just hilarious! However, in times of crisis (including when she’s taunted by a classmate) she thinks hard about the strengths she does have inside herself and realises that she doesn’t need any superpowers to help her friends.
Read an extract:
Anastasia Shubnikova, Assistant Accountant – I Remember
I chose the book I Remember because this is a great story for understanding dementia.
This book is about the story of little boy George and his granny, who sometimes can’t remember even his name. But George knows that granny might not remember the little things but she always loves him.
I Remember will be released on the 4th August
Etty, Office Dog – Puppy Talk
Woof!
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