ReadItDaddy's Second Book of the Week - Week Ending 15th March 2019: "How Not To Lose It: Mental Health - Sorted" by Anna Williamson and Sophie Beer (Scholastic Children's Books)

Our second Book of the Week is a really fantastic resource for children and parents, to help them navigate the minefield of mental health issues that arise as kids pass from tweens to teens, thus making it absolutely perfect for coverage on our blog.

"How not to Lose it - Mental Health Sorted" by mental health expert and presenter Anna Williamson comfortably covers a broad range of subjects in an expert and informed way.

Whereas we've seen many books that are well meaning, but not always written by folk who are qualified and experienced. As well as being a television presenter, Anna is a qualified Childline counsellor and ambassador for the Princes Trust.

Drawing on real-life cases and issues that children face, Anna has put together a fantastic book along similar lines to her "Breaking Mum and Dad" but with more of an emphasis on the increasing pressure and mental health issues that children are now facing at an increasingly early age.

Sophie's graphics help to make the book feel more friendly and approachable

The book covers anxiety, worry, depression and fear, but also covers relationships, issues around self-esteem and has loads of extra resources and external links so that kids can get the help they need.

One thing Anna does that others seem to fail to do is taking "Me" out of the equation. We've seen so many self-help guides for kids that just feel like the person writing it would rather talk about themselves or their own experiences, whereas Anna draws in cases as examples and helps kids and parents to decode and understand each issue in a really effective way.

Anna is here to help!

There are so many excellent points and observations here that it's hard to pick just one great example that impressed us, the whole book works brilliantly either as a reference to dip into, or as a cover-to-cover 'map' of the sort of things children regularly experience in conjunction with their own mental health worries or stresses.

We are all complicated, wonderful human beings and yes, we all do have mental as well as physical health to consider in our daily lives. 

Hugely impressed with this one!

Sum this book up in a sentence: A vital mental health resource from someone who really feels like they speak with friendliness, authority and experience.

"How not to Lose It: Mental Health Sorted" by Anna Williamson and Sophie Beer is out now, published by Scholastic (kindly supplied for review).