Me And My Fear

Absolutely lovely illustrations and a great message to boot! Even though I teach in middle school, I'm sure many of my students will appreciate the positive message of this picture book and I plan on recommending often!

This book is a complex look at childhood fear. Every child grows up dealing with fears, always worried that they are alone in their misery. Learning to deal with fear and knowing that others have experienced these same emotions, is an important message. Illustrations are clever and engaging.

Me And My Fear is a really insightful little book. Francesca Sanna has done a delightful job of capturing how easy it is to let fear take over and rule one's life.

We follow the story of a young girl who has a tiny companion, Fear. After her family immigrates to a new country, Fear suddenly becomes larger than life as the two face the loneliness and doubts that come with navigating a new world.

I really liked the message here, that Fear is not always a horrible thing, but it's important to make sure it stays an an appropriate size. This would be a great story for any kid, but especially so for one who has trouble trying new things because Fear keeps holding them back.

Thank you to NetGalley and Nobrow for providing me with a free electronic ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really loved the illustrations in Francesca Sanna's The Journey (which I included in my list of picture books featuring refugees). So when I saw she had a sequel out, I jumped at the chance to read it.

In a way, Me and My Fear picks up where the previous book leaves off -- a girl and her mother and siblings have fled a land of war (there are no national identifiers here in order to apply to the broader refugee experience). Here, she is trying to adjust to a new location where she is unfamiliar with the language and customs of the children around her. But she has a little friend who helps to protect her -- Fear.

I like that fear is occasionally portrayed in a positive light -- able to provide some services that are good, and not as something that has to simply be eradicated from a person's life. But this girl's Fear friend soon grows so large that it keeps her from doing a lot of things. It causes her to feel lonely, anxious, and to engage in negative self-talk.

This is also an interesting picture, as Fear is at once an essential part of the girl, but also something outside of her that she has to contend with when their desires are at odds. I thought the allegory was well done, and portrays this often tempestuous relationship in a believable way.

In the end, one thing that helps the girl to deal with her fear is to recognize that, contrary to what Fear tells her, she is actually not alone -- the children around her all have Fear friends as well, even if they're often smaller than hers. This contrast between loneliness and solidarity was also helpful in understanding fears. I think this book could be very helpful, especially for anxious kids or adults, and even for those who are not trying to make the shift between cultures.

(Thanks to NetGalley for the review copy.)

The protagonist learns that everyone carries fear around with them. Makes the emotion of being afraid not so scary to both children and adults.

“Me and My Fear” was amazing. I think it will help a lot of children to understand fear better. I liked how “fear” changed throughout the story, too.

Absolutely gorgeous illustrations that support a message to a book about children’s fears. This book would be an excellent edition to any educator’s library, as it describes the fear of being new in a new place.
Every young boy or girl grows up with fears, and don’t know that fear is shared by all of us. This story tells us that they are not alone in their misery. Learning how to accept and overcome fear, and knowing that others have experienced all these emotions, is an important message. The illustrations are engaging and support the text.

Thank you to #NetGalley and the publisher for a pre-publication ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Excellent picture book personifying the fear and anxieties of a recently immigrated child. At first the child’s fear is preventing her from making new friends, or speaking out at school. However, we see the child’s fear grow and take over simple tasks like eating and sleeping. Her fear is stopping her from making new friends in the strange (to her) new place in which she lives. She looks at her fear as a secret, which only exacerbates the problem, until she finds a friend who is also a little afraid. Through friendship the girl is able to shrink her fear to a manageable size. I appreciated how the book doesn’t eliminate the fear, but rather makes it smaller. After all, we all have anxieties, insecurities and fear. The key is to make them manageable. The story is timely and could help children suffering from anxieties not just about moving, or immigrating, but really anything that could be causing them to feel insecure or have trepidation.

Do you know a child who has been afraid? Do they have a fear that just seems to grow and grow? In this short children's book, the author personifies fear as an ever present companion to a school-aged girl. Over the course of this story, the protagonist's fear shrinks to manageable size. She learns that many of her peers face fears as well and so she is not alone. This is a reassuring book that maybe some of us adults could benefit from as well!