Hi. My name is Gabrielle and I battle fear and anxiety.

Yes. This is me. And so when I discovered this book about fear...I knew I had to read to see what it was about. It's the story of a young immigrant girl who has always had fear. Yet when she moves to a new country, it escalates. It keeps her up at night. It keeps her from doing things she enjoys. It makes her want to stress eat. Fear tells her people don't like her because she is different.....and then she meets someone who not only sees past the girl's fear....but has their own as well. After all, we all do on some level.

Yes. You could argue this story is about refugees and society's not understanding them. But it's more than that. It's about living with fear, having healthy fear, and accepting others for their fears. We help each other conquer them. It's an empowering message. ( )

This book is good for elementary aged students. This book is great for students who have fear or anxiety with school and everyday life. As the book progresses the characters fear gets smaller as she gets more comfortable. And she eventually understands that everyone else has fear just like her. This would be great to use in the classroom on the first day of school when everyone has nerves and anxiety about coming to school. Or a good read for a student who struggles with fear. ( )

I really enjoyed reading this book. The author personifies the main character's emotion of fear, which I think is a really good way to explain this sort of situation to young readers. ( )

Note: I received a digital review copy from the publisher through NetGalley. ( )

Goodreads Review:
When a young girl has to move countries and start at a new school, her fear tells her to be alone and afraid. How can she hope to make friends if she doesn't understand anyone? Surely no one else feels the same way...

From the award-winning author and illustrator of The Journey, this insightful and delicately told story shows that we can all find friendship and comfort when we share our fears.

A great message about being anxious and afraid. Easy to relate to for kids and adults. ( )

A book that would have been very helpful for a young anxious me. Follows a young girl whose relationship with her secret friend fear changes after she moves to another country. ( )

GREAT picture book about having a fear and overcoming that. This story talks about a girl with a pet “fear” but that pet really represents her fears of being in this new place and attending a new school. At the end of the story her fear shrinks smaller and smaller and she notices that everyone at her school has a fear too. Great illustrations as well. ( )

A young girl moves to a new country and a new school accompanied by her friend, fear. Fear is depicted as a positive to begin with, attributing it with safety and care, but as time goes on, fear gets bigger. Fear is a visual representation of the anxiety a young girl at a new school faces. The story was very straight forward and something that I feel would be relatable to all kids, regardless of the situation. All kids experience fear and need to learn healthy ways to talk about it. This would be a good introduction to naming a child's feelings and creating those conversations. ( )

Fear is a secret “tiny friend” first portrayed in a positive light as a factor that has “kept me safe.” But being in a new place is overwhelming, and her fear has grown exponentially, both in size and in stubbornness, preventing the narrator from exploring her new world. ( )

This book is very interesting to read and it's what everyone goes through when they are little. ( )

This is a must-have book for anyone who has ever dealt with anxiety. A young girl's secret fear grows bigger and stops her from enjoying things until she makes a friend and realizes she's not alone. ( )

Top 100 pick because:

An imaginative and insightful story about the manifestation of fear, how it grows and changes, and how it can be "tamed". It is an empathy driven approach to a picture book discussing the realities of a life upheaved and the difficulties in adjusting to a new life and place. It's unabashedly tender but also allows itself to show raw emotions in a new way. The illustrations are recognizably by Francesca Sanna, stylized and powerful. I've only read 2 of her books (if she even has any more I don't know), but I think she's a new favorite author/illustrator. I'll have to keep an eye out for future ones by her. ( )

When I saw this book, it attracted me right away. Having a grandchild with severe anxiety, I though this book would be a good one. It is a beautifully illustrated book about being the new child in school and the community, and overcoming your fears. This book focuses on a girl who moved to a new country, but it fits for any child who has moved to a new school. I loved the depiction of the girl's fear and how it increased in size as her fear increased. This is a book that would be beneficial to any child with the fear of fitting in to a new group or place. The ending is wonderful where she realizes that the other children all have different fears and they begin to play together. My only confusion with this book is what age level will understand the message. Obviously the message of being kind, welcoming and playing together is geared to anyone, but even though my grandson could tell me the message that everyone is afraid of something, he is too young to internalize that yet. This would be a good book to keep on my bookshelf to read him again when he is older and more able to utilize and understand the anxiety message. The publisher, Flying Eye Books, generously provided me with a copy of this book to read. The rating, ideas and opinions are my own. ( )

A girl starts a new school year at a new school and it seems that she always has a companion with her. Fear is always by her side. Every single day the fear grows bigger and bigger. Once she realizes that other people have fears too, then she realizes that she does not have to be afraid! The fear grows smaller and smaller.

I think this book is a great message for children. Children may understand fear as being scared of the monster underneath your bed. But, I do not that think that children are taught to deal with all types of fear. Moving to a new school where no one speaks your language is something that happens in real life and it is very scary. It is important to teach children on how to deal with fear in a healthy manner. This book does just this! ( )

This book is about a little girl who has a little fear following her around. Her fear is portrayed as a little chunky white blob. (that is actually really cute!) As the story goes on her fear gets bigger and bigger-until she meets a friend. He shows her his fear and hers begins to shrink.

I really really liked this book. I thought it was a good way to show kids that you can overcome your fears and that you are not alone in having them! I also LOVED the illustration of fear, so darn cute!!

Picture book. This book is about a girl who struggles with depression. She is by herself because she feels that no one likes her and she is an outcast. To top it off she has this big white blob that fallows her that represents her fear that runs her life. That all changes when she meets this boy who is nice to her and tells her that everyone lives with some kind of fear. When the girl realizes this she all of a sudden feels better and is able to be social with people and takes back control of her life. ( )

Summary: This book is about a little girl that has a "fear" following her around. Eventually the fear gets smaller and smaller. The book is depicting how anxiety goes away the more a person does things.

Personal summary: I think this story is great for children who have anxiety and can relate to a book. Even without having anxiety, this is a great story for young children to read.

A girl dealing with changes in her life has a little friend named fear who is growing bigger all the time. She is stopped from doing many things because of her fear, but then finally she makes a friend. Her friend shows her that they have a fear too. Her fear starts to shrink and in the end of the book we can see that her fear has shrunk down to about the size of everyone else's fear.

I thought this was a really ingenious way to approach this topic. The fear is so cute and cuddly, it made me so sad that it was keeping her from being really happy. I like how talking about it and realizing that everyone has a fear was what helped make her fear less burdensome.

Summary: This book is about a little girl that has a "fear" following her around. Eventually the fear gets smaller and smaller. The book is depicting how anxiety goes away the more a person does things.
Opinion: As someone with a panic disorder, this book would've been really cool to read as a kid. I think all kids should read it. It's good to know that fear and sadness are normal. ( )

a possible way to discuss childhood fears ( )

A book about anxiety and fear. The young girl has a friend named fear and as she grows older, her friend gets bigger. When she starts school, Fear usually keeps her to herself, but eventually a boy attempts to show her something and she feels more comfortable with the idea of making friends and being more social. Fear shrinks and the young girl realizes that everyone, even a dog has a Fear.

I love this book. It is such a good tool for students who struggle with anxiety and to help students understand how fears work. ( )

Please see my review on Amazon.com under C. Wong. Thank you. ( )