Mind Over Monster! My Monster and Me by Nadiva Hussain

THIS IS MY MONSTER.

AND THIS IS me.

IT'S ALWAYS BEEN THERE.

The boy is little. The Monster is huge, with a great big yellow belly and two sharp horns.

Nobody else can even see the Monster. When the boy tries to tell his mom about him, he disappears. And later, the Monster gets even bossier, keeping him inside when he wants to play outside with his friends. One day he even follows him over to his Gran's house. She asks why he is crying!

And finally he tells her.

I TOLD HER HOW MY MONSTER WOULDN'T LEAVE ME ALONE. EVER.

And as he speaks, suddenly his Monster begins to shrink, growing smaller until he fits in the boy's pocket.

And the boy is fine with that.

MY MONSTER IS PART OF ME. WE'VE KNOWN EACH OTHER SINCE THE BEGINNING.

But the Monster now knows who's the boss, in Nadiva Hussain's My Monster and Me (Viking, 2021). Hussain's message, that fears are part of the human condition, is given a soft sell in this easy-going picture book, illustrated with gentle humor by Ella Bailey, which reaffirms FDR's maxim that "we have nothing to fear but fear itself." And talking about fears helps helps cut them down to size before they turn into constant anxiety. "Charming and effective," says Kirkus Reviews' starred review.

Defense Mechanisms! Playing Possum by Jennifer Black Reinhardt

ALFRED WAS A POSSUM, AND WHEN A POSSUM FEELS NERVOUS, IT FREEZES AND PLAYS DEAD.

The well-known defense mechanism of freezing in place among possums is a real problem for Alfred in school. Taking tests and answering questions out loud leave him stiff as a board. To try to make friends is unthinkable. But one day he discovers he is not alone.

Sofia is an armadillo. When an armadillo feels anxious, it rolls into a ball. And when Sofia sees Alfred looking at her in the the library, she curls up, nose to tail and stays that way for a while. That makes Alfred so nervous that he falls down flat and still, too. But in the quiet of the library, no one notices, and when the two shrinking violets grow calmer, they relax.

THEY REALIZED THAT THEY HAD SOMETHING IN COMMON.

SO! Alfred and Sofia realize that they are not the only ones who become immobilized by anxiety! Little by little, they get used to each other's strange behaviors. Of course, it take a lot of patience to be friends, but they make the best of it. Sofia uses Alfred's stiff, outstretched arms to hold her yarn while she knits. Alfred doodles on his drawing pad while Sofia curls into a ball beside him.

And then they make a real discovery. Other animals use the same defense to react to anxious feelings. Fainting goats flop over flat when frightened. Tortoises withdraw all their moving parts into their shells. Hedgehogs go all roly-poly, and blowfish puff up into prickle-ish globes with fins. Porcupines sling spines and skunks shoot stink. Chameleons and octopi change their skins into camouflage colors!

And then--what if others who feel anxious just don't show it on the outside, but feel it very much on the inside? That's a comforting thought that makes new situations easier to manage.

Handling fears and social anxieties that come with going to school and a lot of other life situations is the serious subject of Jennifer Black Reinhardt's latest,  Playing Possum (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Clarion), 2020). Author-illustrator Reinhardt's low-keyed narration is set off beautifully and with humor in her charmingly comic but lovely mixed media  illustrations in this reassuring story for youngsters who find the mixing and mingling of life intimidating. Reinhardt rounds out this lively read-aloud with an informational picture glossary of her featured supporting cast of scaredy-cat critters. 

Says Publishers Weekly, "The author’s minimal text leaves the primary storytelling role to her gently dappled, luminous mixed-media art, which features springtime hues and an anthropomorphized cast. Notes on the spotlighted animals’ self-protective behaviors cap this sensitive tale." 

No Changes! Anxious Charlie to the Rescue by Terry Milne

Charlie is nervous. After all, bad things COULD happen any day.

But Charlie's got it all figured out. He does everything the same way every day, and so far, everything is okay.

He hops on his hind legs when he gets out of bed.

Every day, Charlie walked once around the fire hydrant on his way to the market. And he always walked on the same side of the old oak tree.

Every night he arranges his toy animals in the same order before he goes to bed. And it must work--nothing bad has happened yet!

But one morning Charlie is startled out of sleep by his phone, ringing anxiously. There's no time for protective hops! Duck is on the line, quacking frantically.

Their friend Hans was stuck.

There's no time for protective routines. Charlie runs straight to the scene, where he finds his friends looking worried and only terrier Hans' rear end and tail sticking out of a long pipe. Charlie is the only one who can get into the pipe to help Hans.

And Charlie knows what to do!

Grabbing one of Duck's feathers in his mouth, he pushes his way down into the other end of the pipe.

Charlie tickled,

and Hans giggled.

And Poof! Hans exhales and POPs out of the pipe!

Charlie can't believe it. Something bad happened and he handled it!

On the way home, Charlie didn't think about which way he passed the oak tree.

Real life is just one long ad-lib, as the Charlie learns, in Terry Milne's funny tale of an obsessive-compulsive weiner dog, Anxious Charlie to the Rescue (Candlewick Press, 2018). Charlie is an adorable dachshund hero who discovers that a little improvisation in his life can be life-changing. All of author-illustrator's Milne's animal characters are charming--Bruce the droopy-jowled hound and Hans the ring-eyed bull terrier especially--done spot-art style on each page, along with a couple of double-page spreads, in which Charlie and all his toy animals snooze in abandon, spread-eagled all over the bed. Solid storytelling and delightfully funny illustrations make this one a lighthearted look at OCD that might nudge some young worrywarts out of their routines.