Early Book Review: All Birds Have Anxiety by Kathy Hoopman

All Birds Have Anxiety by Kathy Hoopman is a children’s nonfiction book currently scheduled for release on March 21 2017. Life as a bird can be stressful! From worrying about airplanes, windows, and getting enough worms to eat, it is clear that birds can be anxious beings. Through a light-touch, quizzical depiction of bird behavior, this book uses colourful images and astute explanations to explore with gentle humor what it means to live with anxiety day-to-day, and how to begin to deal with it.
All Birds Have Anxiety is a book that deals with anxiety, and how to cope with it. I like that the book pairs images of real birds with the explanations of anxiety- what it is, what it feels like, and how to mitigate its effects on your life.  This makes the book a great tool for children dealing with anxiety themselves, or for those that have seen it in others and want to understand. Even adults reading this with their children or a classroom might find little phrases from the book that bring home something they might have missed in understanding anxiety. I really like that the book offers the simple information, like how anxiety can make  you feel, as well as resources for those that need more tools to handle their own anxiety. I am thrilled that the book points out that everyone feels anxiety, but that some of us have more than others- and it is not fun but it is not something to feel ashamed or more anxious about. The tools and resources the book offers are very useful and I think the book offers humor and face in a package that can encourage understanding and empathy.

All Birds Have Anxiety validates the experiences of anxiety, provides understanding of the many symptoms associated with anxiety, and offers compassionate suggestions for change. The combination of humor, understanding, and resources make this a valuable introduction to anxiety disorder for those diagnosed with this condition, their family and friends and those generally interested in understanding anxiety.

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