In this story, Worry is a monster who lives in the main characters head. It comes out at various times such as when she takes a test or wants to play with others. Worry speaks and shouts at her saying things like, "It's too hard" or "They don't like you, they think you're weird" and so on. This poor girl can't sleep and is afraid to do much of anything. She begins to use self-talk to drown out the messages from the Worry Monster.

Again, this seems like a pretty simple answer to a very big problem, but it is a start. Self-talk is a great way to overcome worry, frustration, anxiety etc. The thing is, it is something that needs to be taught if you have a child with severe anxiety issues. Allison Edwards has done a great job writing this book using and imaginative concept of worry as a monster. It is good to note that as we teach children monsters are not real, this could transfer to their worries as well. The situations in this book are simple ones that all children deal with, and this book could be used by parents, teachers and caregivers to deal with those simple worries. I think it would take more for a child with stronger anxiety who thinks about other things such as someone dying, fires, storms etc. I like the fact that this book helps teach children about how to deal with being worried about normal things as that is a fact of life. I also enjoyed the illustrations. The Worry Monster was great and gives the reader something real to look at. The young girl showed expressions throughout the story that could be discusses showing her confidence build. Overall, “Worry Says What?” is a good book about dealing with your worries that would be beneficial in families and classrooms where it is normal to have children with these issues. At the back there are three tips to helping your child overcome worry that reiterate what is taught in the story. The National Center for Youth Issues generously provided me with a copy of this book upon my request. The rating, ideas and opinions shared are my own.

This book is excellent, very easy to understand and follow with some gorgeous images.

I loved the theme of the book and it is definitely one I would recommend to all parents should their children ever have doubts about their abilities-very well done and a lovely story to read - 5 stars!

I love this book. The story is cute, but it speaks to the reader or listener too. There is a helpful message there making it a great book to help children when it comes to worry. I recommend it. The pictures are a delight as well.

Excellent book! Good topic to read with kids and discuss. Sometimes kids are not sure and need to realize it is ok to worry but also work through it. Great illustrations! Would recommend!

This book is written by a professional counselor who sees children with anxiety frequently. This is a very easy-to-understand book and will help many children who face these problems. I liked the illustrations and how well they connected with the story. My own child would benefit from this book and I could see it being a good addition to every school library or classroom. I wouldn't change anything about it and I think it is great.

A great story. Worry is a fuzzy monster in this tale. He whispers into his little girls head and tells her she cant do things, that things are scary, etc. Until our girl makes a plan to stop listening to Worry and show him the door. I love how the author has taken an idea or emotion and made it a living thing that can be talked to and seen. And sometime to stand up to and conquer. Plus, it isn’t hitting the reader on the head again over and over and over, with steps to make him go away. Just self confidence boosters.

My Thoughts:
‘The greatest thing to fear is fear itself’ is a quote I read or maybe heard years ago and it stayed with me since. It is a simple and yet not-so-simple truth. And I believe the same thing is true about worry as well. One of the worst things to worry about is worrying itself. Because it lends itself to the worst sort of vicious cycles.

While this book does not talk about the worry of worrying about worry itself (sorry!), it will help kids (with the target demographic being kids of age 5-12 years) deal with all those worries they might face on a more regular basis. ‘Did I study enough for that test?’, ‘Is there a monster under my bed?’, ‘Will they be friends with me?’, and more of a similar nature. This might hopefully nip the problem in the bud and thus end those vicious cycles before they begin.

The book takes us through the battles a little girl has with worry and of how she faces this worry-monster and emerges the victor! She personifies worry as this furry monster who literally sets up camp in her mind and constantly nags her to that point where she gives up on things she has to do everyday. I loved that the illustrator drew Worry with the right mix of adorable and scary to make the point of it being a monster across while ensuring it is fine for the younger audience. Once she realizes how Worry is stopping her from almost everything, she decides that enough is enough! And, well, Worry now starts shrinking as she outshouts him, ignores him, and challenges him, and finally decamps from her mind…

An inclusion somewhere of how universal worry is might have made it more comforting and I felt like I wanted to read it out in rhyme at times (which it was not)..

So Should You Read This Book?
Yes, with the quick tips included at the end of the book for parents, educators and care-givers to help children deal with worry, and the adorable illustrations and overall self-help nature of the book for kids, this is a great addition to classroom libraries and homes as well.

Rating: B+
Reading Level: Elementary school age kids (Grades K – 5)
Reread Level: As much as needed 🙂

Disclaimer: Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC of this book.

Worry Says What? by Allison Edwards is an adorable picture book for kids about anxiety and how to deal with it. Worry is a fluffy monster who lives in the mind, and Whispers fretful things like 'you can't do this’ or 'people don't like you’. The more you listen options worry, the bigger it gets. But if you believe in yourself, and pay attention to what is actually going on, then worry diminishes. This is a great book to teach kids the value of mindfulness, and using affirmations to lessen worry. It presents a realistic view of things, too, by noting that worry may grow less, but it never completely goes away. I read this with my cubs and we all enjoyed it. It prompted a lot of discussion, too, as I suffer from generalized anxiety, managed by medication, and all of the worries listed in this book were amplified a hundredfold when I was a child. I have one in the family nearly as fretful as I was. A book, teacher, or family member with a grounding in mindfulness and affirmation may have helped mitigate the anxiety in my childhood, and bolstered confidence at a critical age. I think this is a great addition to any classroom, or child's personal library, teaching necessary skills in a fun way. Highly recommended!

***Many thanks to Netgalley and the National Centre for Youth Issues for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Great tool to use with children to help explain how Anxiety and Worry impacts our daily lives and how we can flip it and use it to remind them of what they are capable of accomplishing.
This is a perfect resource as a teaching tool for students with anxiety. I will be incorporating this into my classroom teaching in my Learning Centre.

*I received an advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This is such a great book and something I wish I had as a kid. Being someone who struggles with worry and anxiety I can deeply relate to this book. Also, the art style is absolutely ADORABLE!

Interesting book on how to deal with anxiety about little worries in a kid's life.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for providing the eARC.

This important book is written by Allison Edwards, a Licensed Professional Counselor, whose specialty is working with families and children. She is the author of the bestseller book "Why Smart Kids Worry". She takes us on a journey with a little girl who is plagued daily with a big hairy Monster called Worry which causes her anxiety and fear around everything she tries to do.


"Worry's songs tie my tummy up in knots,
and the things he says make my heart beat very fast.
Sometimes he speaks in a whisper, and other times
his voice gets so loud I can't hear anything else."


Worry is constantly giving her negative feedback about her decisions thus blocking her from making friends... ("They don't like you"), from doing well on her math test ( "It's too hard! You can't do it! You'll never get it right!"), or performing a handspring in gymnastics ("You'll fall. Everyone will laugh at you. You're gonna get hurt!") Oh my! Worry steals away her self-confidence and scares her so she doesn't even want to try! Everything she attempts to do he blankets with negativity and a sense of failure and doom.


She discovers her quality of life is driven by Worry and he is prohibiting her from having a happy, exciting life. She realizes the power he has over her and makes a bold decision to take back authority over her fears. She stands up and shouts, "I am DONE letting Worry be the boss of me!" Yes!!!!

The very next day she reclaims her emotions (and life) and tells Worry to take a hike because she's in charge now. She starts filling herself with positive words and feelings and as she does she notices one beautiful thing...Worry begins to shrink smaller and smaller. He realizes his power has been taken from him and decides and to move on to the next victim that he can terrorize and keep in bondage.

Personifying her worry as an intruding monster who sets up camp in her mind and heart makes him very real and much easier to deal with. The more she practises shunning and ignoring his constant yattering in her ear the easier it becomes to keep him at bay.

The author wisely includes three strategies that parents and teachers can use to help children understand and conquer their own Worry. This book should be included in classrooms and in school libraries. "Worry and anxiety are currently the top mental health issues among children and teens today. The problem is not with the worries themselves, but that children believe the worries to be true." I highly recommend this book and wish I had had its wisdom growing up as I was dubbed a classic worrywart from a very early age.

This was such a sweet book! A great message for little kids to better understand their worries and anxieties. I'm sure this will also teach children to have sympathy towards other kids who tend to worry more than others. Such a creative way of illustrating Worry. Every page was done so well.

In this picture book, worry is anthropomorphised into a large gray monster that looks a bit like a critter from a book by Maurice Sendak. Worry tells the unnamed little girl that she cannot do things, will not be liked and is not safe at night. Sometimes Worry whispers while at other times Worry shouts. Worry follows her everywhere. The young girl in the story learns how to successfully talk back to Worry and notices that Worry then shrinks in size and moves on to someone else. Interestingly, in this story, the girl figures things out for herself; she does not turn to an adult. This may be an empowering message for children although perhaps the book would have been strengthened by showing a connection to a trusted adult as well. At the end of the book there are strategies for adults to help children. Recommended as a good addition to a young person's mental health bookshelf, for school libraries and for those who work with children.

Worry Says What is written by Allison Edwards, a Licensed Professional Counselor who specializes in working with families and children. This is a wonderful book for children of all ages, focusing on how to overcome their fears in regards to worrying. It is also beautifully illustrated to help tell the story.

All children worry, whether it is about an upcoming test, making new friends, or bedtime monsters. This story explains a way for children to meet that worry head on, and gives examples on how to change that worry into something positive. Worrying also has a lot to do with self-esteem, and it is important for all parents to give their children the necessary tools for achieving a positive outlook and overcoming their fears.

I would definitely recommend this book to all parents of young children. I would like to thank Independent Book Publishers Association and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book. My opinions are my own, and are in no way influenced by anyone else.

Worry Says What? would be very helpful is teaching young children about day to day worries. I love the idea of using positive self-talk. I only thing I would add is maybe encouraging children to talk to someone is the worry monster continues to hang around. I would add this to my counseling library. Thanks National Center of Youth Issues and NetGalley for the ARC of this title for review.

As someone who has suffered from anxiety for most of her life, I was interested in reading this book for kids to see how the topic of worry would be dealt with. I was one of those kids who was always worrying about something: dying of old age, losing my teeth, nuclear war (hey, it was the early '80s, and the Cold War was still on), the sun expanding into a red giant. I'm still a worrier, though much of that has to do with a severe case of OCD. This brings me to my main worry (pun intended?) about this book.

Simple worries, such as the ones portrayed in the story (the worry that you won't do well on a test, the worry that the other kids won't want to play with you, etc.), are fairly easily shot down because they can quickly be verified to be false (you take the test and do well, you ask someone to play with you and they say yes, etc.). But what happens when you're worrying about something far in the future? How can you prove to that little voice in your head that there really is nothing to worry about?

That seems to be beyond the scope of this book, but for kids who are bona fide worrywarts, tips on how to deal with those sorts of worries might have been helpful. There's also the matter of worry and anxiety that can be brought on by physical causes, where no amount of reassurance or self-talk is going to help because the anxiety is being caused by brain inflammation. You simply can't talk your way out of that. (For a great example of how approaching these problems from a purely psychological viewpoint can go horrifyingly wrong, check out Susannah Cahalan's story, Brain on Fire.)

If this book had been given to me when I was a child, I know that it would have made little difference. And then the worry would have been compounded, because I would've felt like a failure for not being able to get my worries under control. (I know this, because this is how I felt for much of my childhood; no matter how hard I tried, there was just no way to work around my worrisome thoughts. I still have a number of self-help books for kids sitting around as evidence that this sort of approach doesn't work for everyone.)

So I'm a bit conflicted about this one. The idea is laudable, the story is easy to understand, and the illustrations are beautiful. Would it work for kids who have mild anxiety and worry? Maybe. They might even find it empowering. But I'm concerned about the kids with more severe anxiety that might be rooted in physical causes. I'm afraid they won't get much out of this, and their self-esteem will take another hit as a result. I have to recommend this one with reservations.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was written by a licensed therapist, and it is very well written. It helps children understand worry and anxiety and how to overcome it. The story is cute and very helpful. If you have a child with anxious thoughts or feelings, I highly suggest picking this up.

As someone who has been diagnosed with Generalised Anxiety Disorder, I find it can be difficult to put my experience/feelings into words to explain it to those who don't personally go through it.

Worry says What? captures the base idea behind anxiety in a perfectly succinct manner. I believe that if I had read a book like this when I was younger (which is the demographic of the book) that I would have been able to put my feelings into words a lot easier. Allison Edwards provides an easy to read narrative with Ayesha L. Rubio's beautifully paired illustrations.

While it goes through examples of the anxiety monster making itself known, it also shows that you have control over the anxiety monster and that you have the tools within you to make things a bit easier.

I loved how the book ended with three wonderful tips for helping children overcome worry. I may even put them to use myself.

I would highly recommend this book to any parent who has noticed that their child may be withdrawn or pressures themselves with the idea of perfection.

The book starts off with a young girl mentioning about how there is a monster called Worry that would set up camp inside her brain and say things that would worry her. Whenever the girl receives a math test, the Worry monster would tell her that she cannot do the math test and the girl ends up not finishing the math test due to being worried. Another time was when the girl wanted to play with the other kids at recess and the Worry monster would tell her that the other kids will not like her and the girl ends up not playing with the other kids.

Can the girl overcome Worry?

Read this book to find out!

Allison Edwards has done a fantastic job at writing this book as the narrative is both imaginative and emotional! I like the fact that Allison Edwards tackled the issue of being worried about certain situations as many kids in real life do worry about whether or not they can do a certain task. I also liked the fact that this book help teaches children about how to deal with being worried as many children do get concerned about what they can and cannot do and it is great that there is a children’s book out there that helps children overcome their worries about a particular situation. Ayesha L. Rubio’s artwork is adorable to look at as I loved the images of the girl herself as she looks truly adorable and her facial expressions were so well done as I enjoy seeing her confident and worried expressions throughout the story. I also like the way that Ayesha L. Rubio did the artwork for the monster itself as it does not look threatening and it actually looks like a humorous gray furry creature that mostly has a mischievous look on its face.

Overall, “Worry Says What?” is a truly fantastic book about dealing with your worries that children who go through the same thing will definitely enjoy! I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book.