"Do you ever have a worry that won't go away? What is a worry, anyway?
A worry is a thought that stops you from having fun, from feeling good, from being happy."

This book portrays a worry as a physical creature that lurks nearby and fills children with oversized concerns. Many of the concerns are ridiculous, like how you might not have enough lemonade to offer if a houseful of elephants show up at your house. But this is great for children, who feel deeply, become very anxious about their originally small worries, and still believe that goofy and unbelievable things might happen in every day life. I liked the art but thought the worry creature was a bit creepy. I think my son enjoyed the creepy factor. (He's a big fan of kids' books with monsters, if that affects your conclusion from this.) Wolff really does a good job turning the problem around: showing the reader how to approach their worries differently and to "show them the door." I think this is a really great book for anxious children, children who like slightly strange illustrations, or even those who just like a good rhyme.

I love the concept of this book. We all have had to deal with things that worry us and sometimes it can take it's toll. However, while the concept and description pulled me in the book could not hook my attention. I like the idea and some of the illustrations are nice but it just seemed to fall flat for me. This is a book that would be helpful in discussing worries and how they can get big and what you can do. It is not one that will sustain attention long for some students though.

This is a child scary book with illustrations similar to that of where the wild things are. It's cute. Children will love it. I wish it rhymed

Liked: Making worry into a monster that is kind of scary, lurking and hiding waiting to pounce. In the end I liked that the story not only shows what worry does but also how to combat it.

I did receive and review this book via a Netgalley ecopy. I know I would have loved it in a print board version.
As a digital version I was unable to fully appreciate the wonder of the illustrations.
Based on text alone, this is a wonderful book I would love to purchase for children.

We all have worries, and this book shows us all (young and old) that we have the power to control them. I thought this was a very important book, and it addressed the concept of anxiety in a way that makes it accessible to children. Anxiety is a BIG deal in our family, so I'm always on the lookout for books that deal with this kind of topic. The illustrations showed worry as the monster on your back, and the text even described worry that way..." You can feel tired from a worry. Or sad. Or sick. A worry can feel like a heavy sack is on your back". There were a lot of simple and silly examples of worries and great advice on ways to get rid of them. This book uses ALL the tricks for coping: avoidance, distraction, checking the facts. There are just a whole bunch of great skills to build on in this little book. And in the end we get to see how easy it is to send those worries packing and SLAM the door. This book would definitely be useful sitting on the shelf of every child therapist, psychologist, guidance counselor, or parent of a child with anxiety. As a matter of fact, I highly recommend it for grown ups! I think I could use a copy of this for myself. I would pull it out frequently.

Love the way childhood fear and anxiety is approached gently through the worries of comical characters in silly situations. Kids are given tools to conquer their fears. Must have title for SEL lessons in elementary!

I enjoyed this short book, and think it would be great to read with young children (no too young - 4 upwards maybe). It's beautifully illustrated, and makes gentle fun of worrying 'situations', and encourages chldren to think of creative situations. I think this would certainly be a good book for an anxious child, and a great conversation starter for parents.

A cute children's book that introduces the fact that everyone has worries, and presents ideas as what to do to help ease the worry. I'm not so sure about the illustrations; they seem quite scary to me. In fact, they reminded me of the book portrayed in the horror film "The Babadook". I think most kids will be creeped out by them.....I certainly was.

Hilarious, funny, interesting and a must read for young readers

A fantastic book that I shared with my 8 year old daughter who has anxiety, as do I. It made her see that she is in control of her worries and all she needs to do is think about something else or talk to me and we can imagine a better scenario.

This was a fabulous book. My son deals with anxiety as part of his autism symptoms and this book was a great way to talk to him about feelings. I highly recommend any parent dealing with worried kids to try this book.

A wonderful children's book thinly veiled as a kind of self-help manual for little worriers!

I really like this book. It uses a big, blue monster as a symbol for Worry or anxiety. It explains page-by-page how one might become worried or anxious, and how to overcome this. It suggests talking to someone about Worry, engaging in activities or hobbies to take your mind off of Worry, telling Worry to go away, etc. I love how it even hints gently at the idea of mindfulness as a means of easing anxiety, something which I think is important for children to learn from a young age: to think about what is happening now and not what could happen.

The illustrations, too, are wonderful. They are very Tim Burton-like, which I love. They aren't too scary, however, for young readers.

Is a Worry Worrying You is a lovely little children's book that I think would be both an enjoyable and a useful addition to your children's library.

"It's hard to worry when you're reading this book. The pictures make you laugh so hard, you can't remember what it was that made you worry in the first place." This unsolicited review from a 10-year-old, self-described 'worrywart' is what totally sold me on this book. If you've a young child or even a young adult in your home/library/classroom who suffers from anxiety, you know how hard it is to turn their attention to something else when they descend into worrying. Try this book. It's hard to keep worrying for the few minutes it takes to read through, so at least you'll break the 'worry cycle' for a bit! Good read-aloud for small groups of first- through fourth-graders. Teens in my library got a kick out of it as well, and it sparked discussion about how to help those who worry.

This lovely and inventive book intends to help children deal with their worries and fears. Beginning with the definition "A worry is a thought that stops you from having fun, from feeling good, from being happy." From there, the author presents a series of amusing and improbable things that might happen and produce a worry. Things such as 100 elephants stopping in for tea to a monster moving in under your bed, each with a handy solution of how to deal with the situation. Kids are reminded that everyone has worries, not just them, and that they have the power to deal with those worries and make them go away.

I wanted to like this book. I actually read it three or four times, hoping that I would like it more on each reading. But that didn't work; I actually liked it even less. I love the premise of the book - teaching children how to handle anxieties and worries. But when I asked the children in my life about the book, they didn't like the looks of it and didn't even want to read it together. The pictures were just too scary for them. The picture of a monsterish sort of thing (the worry personified) on nearly every page, plus all the dark outlining and shading - it's all just too scary. A couple of the children couldn't understand the personification of the worry at all.

I liked some of the suggestions -- choosing to actively do something else rather than dwelling on the thoughts, singing songs, and so on -- were all great ideas. I would have liked to have seen them illustrated a bit better.

I received this book as an eARC from the authors, publisher, and NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased review.

Great book on a serious subject, but in an easy for children to understand format. While reading this book, my son and I discussed his worry, which was serious, but because of the book was discussed and his pain was eased. I love children's books that are not only fun for the children to read, but touch real life emotions or problems children's face and helps them find ways to fix them. This book is one of those and will be pulled out when either of my sons have a worry, showing them worrying is not a fun way to do things and cannot change anything. Great book to help children facing something!

An interesting book using humor to help kids problem solve through their worries.

I loved this. Anxiety based mental health issues are extremely prevalent today - and children are no exception. I understand that as they learn and grow, anxiety is common when aspects of their lives and routines change. This charmingly written book explores what constitutes a worry, and how one might live with one.

I also think this novel is an exercise in compassion and sympathy for an adult reader. The worries explained in the tale are fantastical; having only one tea bag but a herd of 30 elephants for example. However, the symptoms are realistic and worthy of sympathy. I think an adult reader might look at a temper tantrum slightly differently after reading this with a young one.

The only negative aspect of this read for me, was the overabundance of solutions provided. There were dozens of suggested solutions to stop a worry from worrying you. In one way, this reflects that everyone must address a worry differently. However, I suspect is more likely to be overwhelming for a young reader.

Ultimately, this was an incredibly clever look at anxiety geared towards young reader and I applaud the intent. I will likely purchase this for the young readers in my life.

Is A Worry Worrying You? is a perfect book for children who often, or even sometimes, feel anxious, usually regarding irrational fears. I really like how the author uses a monster as a symbol for an intrusive worry as well as the animal characters, who are appealing to children.
As an adult who experienced severe anxiety as a child, this story would have been an excellent resource for me. I had irrational fears and didn't understand I could release my worries through use of the suggestions featured in the book.
My favorite aspect of Is A Worry Worrying You? is the author's inclusion of strategies aimed at anxious children to combat their fears. As a social worker, this book is definitely a resource I will use in my practice!