No World Too Big: Young People Fighting Climate Change by Lindsay H. Metcalf, Jeanette Bradley, Keila V. Dawson
Publication Date: March 14, 2023
Synopsis:
Fans of No Voice Too Small will be inspired by young climate activists who made an impact around climate change in their communities, countries, and beyond.
Climate change impacts everyone, but the future belongs to young people. No World Too Big celebrates twelve young activists and three activist groups on front lines of the climate crisis who have planted trees in Uganda, protected water in Canada, reduced school bus’ climate footprint in Indonesia, invented alternate power sources in Ohio, and more. Fourteen poems by Vanessa Brantley-Newton, David Bowles, Rajani LaRocca, Renée LaTulippe, Heidi E. Y. Stemple, and others honor activists from all over the world and the United States. Additional text goes into detail about each activist’s life and how readers can get involved.
My Review:
The poems in this book were very moving. Each young activist featured has a very inspiring story and as a collection it really drives home the problem of climate change while still offering hope that we can still do something to fight it.
The pictures were simple but beautiful colored pencil drawings that captured a lot of emotion in the faces of the people pictured. They were also excellent likenesses of the young activists.
I intend to read this with my 3rd grader to help inspire him to come up with ways we can work together to fight climate change and to make him realize that 1) it’s a big problem and 2) even though it’s big, we can still work together to solve it.
Thanks to NetGalley and Charlesbridge for providing an e-arc for review.
Facing Mighty Fears About Baddies and Villains by Dawn Huebner
Publication Date: March 21, 2023
Synopsis:
Many children are afraid of baddies and villains who do, in fact, do hurtful things. But sometimes fear far outstrips danger, and even children who are safe feel apprehensive all the time. Facing Mighty Fears About Baddies and Villains teaches 3 steps to help manage ongoing fears. Fun Facts engage children, while a Note to Parents and Caregivers and supplemental Resource section make this the perfect guide for parents and mental health professionals.
This book is part of the Dr. Dawn’s Mini Books About Mighty Fears series, designed to help children ages 6-10 tackle their fears and live happier lives.
My Review:
Update: I have read this twice with my kiddo now. I suggested it the first time and he listened very intently, and then the next night he asked to read it again. (He asked to read it again after that but I suggested taking a break to read something else.) Clearly he’s getting something out of it.
He was uninterested in the gum facts, and after several pages asked me to just skip them. It was the instructions on how to ‘chew out’ the thoughts about baddies and villains that really seemed to interest him. It makes sense, as he has been scared of bad guys lately. I get the feeling we’ll be reading this several more times in the coming weeks.
This is shorter than I expected but does a great job explaining in detail the exposure technique the author talks about in her Outsmarting Worry book. I’m really glad I requested this one as kiddo and I weren’t entirely sure how to implement the exposure technique from the other book. This one is a very clear, step-by-step guide to easing worries about ‘baddies’ that don’t pose any actual danger in particular. My kiddo does not have outward signs of this to the extent of the kid in the example, but he does definitely worry about certain ‘baddies’ and tends to get stuck worrying about them. We will try this method of un-sticking the worry for sure.
I wasn’t sure about all the facts about gum – they seemed kind of random. But after reading the author’s note at the end it made sense. The author is drawing an analogy between chewing gum (familiar to most people) and ‘chewing out’ the scariness of the ‘baddies.’ Pausing to read facts about gum also breaks up the heaviness of the subject and gives an opportunity for mental breathers.
I found this to be very readable and easily understandable, and don’t forsee my kiddo (8) having any trouble understanding it. After reading it I feel very motivated and look forward to reading it with him so we can talk about his own fears of ‘baddies’ and how I can support him in overcoming them.
*Thanks to NetGalley and Jessica Kingsley Publishers for providing an early copy for review.
Whimsical Dragonette 