A book review of Name & Tame Your Anxiety: A Kid’s Guide by Summer Batte
Stars: *****
Free Spirit Publishing (2021)
Children/Teen Nonfiction> Mental Health
144 pages
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This post contains affiliate links.
Summary: Anxiety in kids is on the rise: 4.4 million children between the ages of 3 and 17 have diagnosed anxiety disorders, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And even more kids experience some level of anxiety in their daily lives. In kid-friendly language, award-winning Name and Tame Your Anxiety explains what anxiety is, how it works, and how to manage it.
Written by a parent whose child has anxiety and vetted by Myles L. Cooley, Ph.D., author of A Practical Guide to Mental Health & Learning Disorders for Every Educator and an expert in the field with more than forty years of experience, Name and Tame Your Anxiety provides practical strategies to help kids manage anxiety.
This book helps kids understand what is happening in their brains and shows how learning to manage anxiety can help them do the things in life they need and want to do—by practicing anxiety-taming strategies, going to therapy, and/or taking medication. It includes information about how kids can self-advocate for what they need to manage anxiety as well as how to interpret some of the common things adults say to kids about anxiety.
Name & Tame Your Anxiety
I was more than happy to review this book because I have two kids with anxiety diagnoses and I want to include more SEL (Social Emotional Learning) in our homeschool next year. This book is perfect for that job.
You don’t have to homeschool to benefit from this book of course. You can give it to your older kids to read on their own or read it with your younger kids and discuss as you go. The book is listed for ages 9-13 but I would say 7+ could understand it if an adult read it to them. I will be reading it to my 8 and 11 year old next year.
Name and Tame Your Anxiety helps kids better understand and improve their mental health. It also includes self-check and planning exercises, quotes from real kids, and a glossary of terms about anxiety.
The book is divided into two parts: Understanding Anxiety and Taming Anxiety. Part one covers What is Anxiety?, What Causes Anxiety? and Types of Anxiety. Part two covers How to Stop Anxiety from Being in Charge, Therapy, How Anxiety Works in Your Brain (and how medication can help), Self Advocacy and ends with a chapter called Before You Go.
In the for adults section at the back, the author makes the point that if you (the adult) don’t know a lot about anxiety, you could read the book too. I think that’s very important. Anxiety has been a part of my life since I was young so I’m no stranger to it. However if you are finding your child is suffering but you don’t have anxiety, you may want to read the book either before her or with her.
I highly recommend this book if your child has anxiety.
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