Willetts and Waite have written a stellar "beginners guide" to anxiety. It's a perfect introductory resource book for upper elementary aged children and their parents. I read this book with my own anxious ten year old and she agreed that it was spot on in its portrayal of anxious feelings and behaviors. She especially appreciated that the narrator of this book is also a ten year old girl The language is age appropriate and uses proper medical and psychological terminology without being scary or overwhelming.We were especially taken with the section on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and learned new ideas about how to think about and respond to anxiety producing situations and anxious feelings. The annotated bibliography at the end of the book looks to be an excellent resource!

I am extremely appreciative to the authors and Jessica Kingsley Publishers for letting a US reader see an advance copy of this book. I will be recommending it to other families struggling to understand their anxious young people. I only wish there was a corresponding US version (the current issues contains references to treatment options/facilities in the UK).

Reading this book was like reading my own daughters diary. The book described everything exactly as a child with anxiety problems experiences it and I recognised my daughter on every page. Unfortunately we are still on camhs waiting list so I cannot confirm how accurate that section is but the rest of the book is 100% accurate. It has helped me understand my daughters fears much better, I thought she was being 'silly' about not going upstairs on her own especially as she's 9 now and used to go up on her own when she was 3. The book helped me to see that this was because her trigger happened between these times and she was truly terrified of it now. My daughter also read this book with her best friend and her friend said it helped her to understand my daughter better and why she was sometimes clingy and needy towards her friends. I would thoroughly recommend this book for anyone who has a child with anxiety problems, all school librarys and for the children who suffer as well as their friends. I will be buying a copy of this book for the primary school I am a govenor at and will be recommending it to others in the area.

This book does a great job of simplifying anxiety disorders to make them understandable for kids. It's told from the perspective of a young girl, so kids will be able to easily relate to the character as well. Different type of anxiety, causes for anxiety, coping strategies, how to get help, and coping strategies are just some of the topics covered in this book. There are also sections for parents and teachers, other related problems, and lists of books, organizations, and websites that can help. This would be a great book for kids who have anxiety, or or anyone to read who wants to understand anxiety.

There are other books in this series, and I'll be checking those out as well. I recommend these for any upper elementary classroom.