Your Head’s Not The Place To Store Problems (Josh Pyke, illus Stephen Michael King, Scholastic)
By replacing human characters with a diverse range of animals, such as bears, dragons, fish, and dogs, Your Head’s Not the Place to Store Problems skilfully demonstrates to children the importance of clearing their minds of worries and offers a captivating narrative that engages young readers. The story takes readers on a journey inside our heads and shows how problems can weigh you down and make your mind too noisy and busy. It also explains how sunshine thoughts can turn to rainstorm thoughts and how sharing problems is the best thing to do. By the end of the book, young readers are assured that sharing their worries or anxieties out loud with friends and family is where those problem thoughts belong. Author Josh Pyke (Family Tree) and illustrator Stephen Michael King (Koala Ark) have created a relevant and much-needed book on mental health awareness. The illustrations are whimsical and bright, with a playful and decidedly Dr Seuss-style to the pictures and rhyming text. This important story is sure to spark conversations between parents, teachers, librarians and young readers aged 4–8.
Books+Publishing reviewer: Brenton Cullen is an emerging children's author and freelance writer of articles, reviews, and interviews when not working part-time in a bookshop. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.
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Category: Reviews