Weberly Worried

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Wemberly Worried

Author: Kevin Henkes

Type or emotional/crisis issue(s) addressed: anxiety

Year of Publication: 2000

Publisher & Location: HarperCollins Canada

ISBN#:

0688170277

Target Age Level: Upper and Lower elementary

# of Pages: 32

Quality of Illustrations: Kevin Henkes does the illustrations and they are colorful. All of the animals have cute features. Chidlren enjoy these.

Brief Summary: Wemberly the mouse worries about everything: big things, like whether her parents might disappear in the middle of the night; little things, like whether she'll spill grape juice on her toy rabbit, Petal; and things in between, like whether she might shrink in the bathtub. What she is more worried about than anything else, however, is her first day at the New Morning Nursery School: "What if no one else has spots? What if no one else wears stripes? What if no one else brings a doll? What if the teacher is mean? What if the room smells bad?" Happily, Miss Peachum introduces her to a kindred spirit right away. Jewel doesn't have spots, but she is wearing stripes and holding a doll. As Wemberly plays with her new friend, she still worries, but no more than usual.

Personal Comments/Biases, and/or Things to Consider When Using This Book With Children: Wemberly is adorable and so easy to like. It would be best for small children because Wemberly is going to nursery school but you could have older children remember when they were starting school and talk abou their feelings.

Activity:
A teacher could make a worry list with the class and then decide what is rational and what is irrational. Then students could identify one worry and decide if it was rational or irrational and what they could do to overcome their worry.