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The I’m Not Scared Book ISBN: 9780316431989
Parr, Todd
Published by Hachette Books, 2011
Parr’s bold, simple picture books are renowned for their help for children facing some of life’s dilemmas. This one is about fears lots of them. The concept is that each fear has a solution, usually quite a simple one, and the two-page spreads present both the fear and the answer to that fear. Fear of the dark is solved by having a night-light; fear of ghosts and monsters is solved by people taking their masks off so the little boy can see they aren’t real; being frightened when families fight is cured by everyone saying sorry and hugging. Some of the fears are a tad esoteric: the little boy doesn’t like buying new underwear, but is okay when he can put the new underpants on his head! And it may not be easy to solve fear of flying by being able to look down from the sky to see ‘the world from above’; equally, a fear of dogs may not be helped by the dog ‘giving kisses’. Other fears include being scared of losing mum in a shop, the first day of school, thunder and lightning, doing something wrong (like breaking a lamp), and being frightened of making mistakes in school. The last fear of all is that of not being perfect, to be solved by finding a friend who is just the same. The illustrations are a delight and children will enjoy the brightness of lots of self-colours with bold, black outlines on each page.
Age: 4+