Lilly Tames Her Worries by Carole Heaney – Review by Tara Johnson Barnes

Lilly Tames Her Worries by Carole Heaney
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Lilly Tames Her Worries is a kid’s book designed for children between the ages of six to ten years of age. The story centers around the character of young Lilly who suffers from the heebie-jeebies. Since she was born, she has always had her stuffed rabbit Hun Bun to keep her calm and soothe her worries. While in a hurry one morning Lilly forgets to put Hun Bun in her backpack before she goes to school. Once she is at school the pesky heebie-jeebies return and Lilly becomes stressed. Her palms begin to sweat, her heart starts to beat loudly, and her tummy starts to do flip flops. Not feeling well, Lilly asks her teacher if she can go to see the school nurse. She tells the nurse how she is feeling, and the nurse asks Lilly to try Square Breathing when she starts feeling the heebie-jeebies. When Lilly tries the breathing exercises, she feels better and practices using them throughout the day whenever a situation makes her worried. She also stops to ask herself what about the situation is causing her to feel the heebie-jeebies.

This was a wonderfully written book that helps children learn to manage stress and anxiety in situations that make them feel worried or nervous. The illustrations are bright, colorful, and really help bring the story to life. Although geared towards school-aged children I feel that it has some helpful pointers that adults, such as myself, could use as well. The techniques Lilly used through Square Breathing helped her to not only tame her worries but also helped her to be brave enough to do things that would otherwise be hard for her to do. She learned to ask herself what about the situation made her feel worried. Why was she feeling that way? What was she worried that would happen? Once Lilly tried the breathing exercises and realized why she felt the way she did it helped her to manage her worries and be brave enough to overcome them. This is a great resource for any home or school library to help children who suffer from worry, stress, or anxiety. I highly recommend this book!

View all my reviews@tarab