Josh Pyke (text) and Stephen Michael King (illustrator), Your Head’s not Pthe Place to Store problems… In, Scholastic Press, September 2023, 32 pp., RRP $26.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781761293023
This wonderful picture book with rhyming text and wacky creatures is a humorous exhortation to young readers on how to tackle the worries and stresses of life. Tackling mood swings and coping with problems, a couple of lines are repeated with slight variations throughout like a refrain: “We’re full to the brim with unknowable things but your mind’s not the place to store problems in.”
Stephen Michael King’s zany illustrations show various creatures such as dragons, dogs and mice wandering around with their sliced-open heads crammed full and overflowing with all sorts of shapes and colours. (This is not as gruesome as it sounds!) And the author’s rhyming text reads aloud well.
The book ends on an optimistic note with the suggestion to talk all our problems out with someone and Josh Pyke’s lovely dedication is to someone who has been his “problem sharer since 2004”.
It is unusual to find a book about mental health issues for such young readers. This book would be a wonderful discussion starter in any home, library or classroom and is an original and innovative approach to an important topic.
Reviewed by Lynne Babbage
