Prasha Sooful (text) and Geeta Ladi (illustrator), My Brain is Magic, Soaring Kite Books, April 2023, 32 pp., RRP $39.50 (hbk) ISBN 9781953859617
Here is another picture book written with an express and specific purpose, by an author invested in raising awareness for an issue dear to their heart.
My Brain is Magic has been created to shine a light on the differences and needs of sensory-seeking children. The book doesn’t have a story as such, rather the narrative is a young child expressing what is going on in their brain by comparing themselves to different animals. For example, sometimes their brain is an octopus and just wants to touch everything to comprehend texture and even taste. On other days their brain might be more like a lion or a sloth or a bee or a fish. The young narrator also tells the readers that when they feel overwhelmed, they try to calm down, just like a wise owl, and then sleeps like a whale.
The strategy of relying on stereotypes of animals to describe feelings and understand behaviour is clever. It will help the child to express themselves in a way that an adult can begin to comprehend. I’ve seen this done in other picture books, but as yet, it’s not something I’ve tried as a parent to implement.
The illustrations throughout this book definitely reinforce the intended audience as being quite young children, probably pre-schoolers. The colours are bright, though not brash, and they capture the movement of the energetic narrator.
At the end of this book there is a section by the author for parents and carers with information on helping and understanding their sensory-seeking child. Though I would suggest that many of the strategies might be useful to all parents as they learn to deal with the developing independence and personality of their young people.
Reviewed by Cherie Bell
