Stressy Jessy

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A book review of Stressy Jessy: A Book About Organizing The Mind by Carmel Shami

Stars: *****

Self-Published (2021)
Picture Book
36 pages

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This post contains affiliate links.

Summary: Jessy wakes up every morning with cluttered thoughts that make him feel very anxious and uneasy. He feels distracted. He’s nervous about school—relationships with friends and teachers can be tough to manage! At the end of the day, it’s hard for him to fall asleep because worry and excitement keep his mind too busy. Jessy’s mom knows how it feels, and she has some fun and helpful tools to teach Jessy how to organize his thoughts, calm his mind, and feel peaceful.

For many kids who feel like Jessy, it can be tough to know how to deal with busy, worrisome thoughts. Excitement and anticipation can also become too much to handle! Through this charming story, Carmel Shami, founder of the Organization Whisperer, shows kids an easy and unique method of mentally decluttering and how to avoid dwelling on the past or over-worrying about the future. As kids learn and grow, and life becomes more complex, these valuable skills will help them stay centered and calm.

In this book, “Stressy” Jessy learns a new, unique way to better deal with his cluttered thoughts. Jessy’s mom teaches him how to organize his thoughts into categories: fears, responsibilities, dreams, problems, and new ideas. By placing things like conflicts with friends, nervousness about tests, and excitement about vacations in their appropriate spaces, Jesse starts to feel less stressed—kind of like having a clean and organized bedroom! Jesse’s mom teaches him how to put everything away in its place in his mental room so he can pull out his thoughts and deal with them one at a time when he needs them. Then, when a fear or conflict is overcome, it can be put in the trash for good! Happy memories can be placed in a special spot for revisiting at any time. The book concludes with step-by-step instructions and a blank chart for young readers to begin organizing their own thoughts.

For any child facing stress, anxiety, ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, dysregulation, or other challenges, this book can be a fantastic tool to help learn self-regulation techniques. Join Jessy as he learns how to begin to feel calmer and free to enjoy his life!

I saw an ad for this book and immediately contacted the author to see if I could review it. Why? Well, because the book is all about children with stressed out minds and anxious thoughts and that describes some of my kids perfectly.

I just knew that if the book was as well made as it seemed to be from the ad, it would be perfect especially for my 8 year old. I read it to my 8 and 11 year olds and they could definitely identify with Jessy in many ways.

I think this would be a good book to read to a child ages 4+ who has anxiety or stresses out easily about things. It’s sad to think about a 4 year old stressing but such is life now.

The illustrations by Rani Bar-Segev are a wonderful accompaniment to the book. The book isn’t just a story, it has real actionable steps for your child to take to prevent Balagan (the Hebrew word for clutter.) The steps are listed again at the end along with a chart and list that your child can fill in to practice the skills. Or you can photo copy those last pages to use more than once.

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Find Stressy Jessy at Goodreads.