A review by angiew23
Facing Mighty Fears about Throwing Up by Dawn Huebner, Liza Stevens

5.0

The "Facing Mighty Fears" series by Dawn Huebner features a fantastic set of non-fiction books which aim to support children who suffer from anxiety in an non-intimidating and interesting way. Each page has simple illustrations, short paragraphs and interesting facts like the number of bones in a cat or quotes from famous people. There are also simple and straight forward strategies that children can use to counteract anxiety with clever names or acronyms like W.I.N. or steps in a staircase.

Facing Might Fears about throwing up really focuses in on the fear of throwing up and how that can be debilitating for young children, preventing them from going certain places, eating certain foods or doing certain activities for fear of throwing up. The strategies involve finding a silly word for throw up that they prefer, talking about their fear with adults and to challenge yourself to not avoid parts of life out of fear. I love how well written this story is and how approachable the author has made this subject. There is also a list of ideas that could be new things to try. There is a note to caregivers with examples and suggestions as well as a list of resources. The illustrations are very inclusive, children in different cultural clothing, wheelchairs or other unique attributes are featured throughout the story.

I could 100% see myself using the books in this series in my Grade 3 classroom. I would recommend them to parents of anxious children. I could also see using a page or two as part of a small group or whole class mental health lesson, or just to offer to children who could use new strategies. This book could also be used by parents and guidance counsellors as well as teachers of children ages approximately 5 to 10, maybe others as well depending on developmental levels.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read and review this fabulous book!