Tag Archives: mental health

Finding the Words: A Review of A Voice in the Storm 

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A Voice in the Storm 
Written and illustrated by Karl James Mountford 
Candlewick Press/Candlewick Studio 
Ages 3-7 
Available November 5, 2024 

Sometimes, it’s hard not to feel like there is a storm raging inside. In Karl James Mountford’s A Voice in the Storm, Rat struggles with her own emotional storm and how to open up to her friends about her feelings. When a storm starts outside, she runs away from her friends, Jackdaw and Hedgehog. As lightning flashes and thunder cracks, Rat has a frightening experience with Snake, almost stepping into his mouth when he offers to shelter her. Afterwards, she runs into Bear, who teaches her that the storm outside “‘needs time to free its voice’” (p. 22). With Bear’s advice and support, Rat learns how to open up to her friends and give a voice to the storm happening inside her. 

Mountford’s stunning artwork and poignant prose come together to create a touching story that discusses depression and helps guide readers in figuring out how to express themselves. Mountford uses digitally created, geometric illustrations with a color palette of purples, greens, blacks, and grays to draw the eye of the reader and show the intensity of Rat’s emotions. His animals are expressive, showing Rat’s sadness, Jackdaw’s worry, and Bear’s kindness. Mountford’s use of storms as a metaphor aptly describes mental health struggles in a way that’s easy for young readers to understand and relate to. Additionally, the dialogue between characters, especially Rat and Bear, introduces readers to ways they can articulate their own feelings: Bear tells Rat that “‘all voices [are] just noise until someone listens’” (p. 22). When Rat opens up to Bear, she tells him that she “‘[cares] about everything all at once, and yet, [she doesn’t] feel anything at the same time’” (p. 25). This conversation gives readers an opportunity to learn how they can ask for support when they need it. While the publisher recommends this book for preschool-early elementary school readers, this emotionally moving story can serve as a thoughtful conversation starter for all ages participating in discussions about mental health. 

Moving Forward: A Review of I Don’t Want To Be Crazy

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I Don’t Want To Be Crazy 
by Samantha Schultz
Scholastic Inc.
March 29, 2019
Grades 9 and up

In the memoir I Don’t Want To Be Crazy, Samantha Schultz describes her journey with anxiety disorder. The memoir is written in verse and split into five sections. In the book, Schultz begins with her senior year in high school and continues one year beyond college. She describes her relationships with family, friends, and romantic partners. During this period of transition, she begins to identify that she is having panic attacks and to understand what her anxiety disorder entails. At the end of the book, Schultz includes an Author’s Note explaining why she wrote the memoir, noting that she was motivated to “provide comfort for others” by sharing her story and that others have opened up to her about their experiences with mental illness after reading the book. She also includes backup resources on how to talk to one’s family about mental illness and offers steps that readers can take to address mental illness. With clear and believable descriptions, Schultz provides the reader with insight into what her panic attacks feel like and how she manages her anxiety. Furthermore, she also involves family members’ reactions to her mental illness, which include questioning her about it. She writes, “My mother must think I’m blaming them, / but that’s not what I tried to say…./ We have given you everything/ you ever needed, ever wanted…./ What could possibly be so wrong with your life?” (62-63). She internalizes this questioning and feels guilty about her anxiety. Because Schultz speaks directly about mental health in this book, she provides a valuable perspective, letting the readers know that it’s okay to be mentally ill. While she is talking about her personal experience with mental illness, she also provides her readers with a way of moving forward.

Uniquely You: A Book Review of You Are Enough: Your Guide to Body Image and Eating Disorder Recovery by Jen Petro-Roy

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You Are Enough: Your Guide to Body Image and Eating Disorder Recovery
By Jen Petro-Roy
February 19, 2019
Grades 6 and up

You Are Enough is a guide for young people struggling with eating disordered behavior and provides helpful resources, exercises, and information for readers to try and work towards recovery. Jen Petro-Roy writes about her own experiences of eating disordered behavior as well as her attempts at recovery, showing readers that they are not alone in their fight against their eating disorders. The book provides a list of resources on its last pages, spanning from where to get scholarships for treatment, body positive Instagram accounts, books, and websites dedicated to helping those with eating disordered behaviors. The book speaks at length about the need to find comfort in one’s self, rather than trying to make yourself likable to others. Attempts to control how others perceive you through eating disordered behavior will only serve to make you unhappier. By accepting yourself for who you are, and taking pride in what makes you unique, you can start the long and hard road to recovery.

You Are Enough is a non-fiction companion piece to Jen Petro-Roy’s fiction novel, Good Enough, about a young girl with an eating disorder. You Are Enough can be read as a standalone work without Good Enough. While the bulk of the work is meant for those already suffering from eating disordered behavior, it can be used and read by anyone. The book makes a point of showing that the world we live in inundates us with messages of self-worth being tied to self-image and how harmful it can be for our mental health.  This a fantastic book for anyone wanting to better improve their relationship with their own self-image.