We’re delighted to announce the exciting news that Sophia (Year 12) has recently published a children’s book, The Worry Wasp.
Written and illustrated in its entirety by Sophia, the book centres around the importance of sharing one’s worries with others, as well as encouraging children to provide a listening ear and support. Whilst the message of coping with worries using healthy strategies applies to all young children, it is a particularly great read for quiet and shy children who struggle to make friends or speak up, as it focuses on social anxiety.
We recently caught up with the author herself –
“My recently published children’s picture book, entitled “The Worry Wasp” emphasises the importance of talking about your worries with others, focusing on social anxiety. As someone who has experienced how people respond to my own unease in social situations, I really feel that social anxiety is not represented or talked about enough in today’s society. Following Solomon the squirrel on a journey through the woods, this book aims to draw attention to the reality of social anxiety, with all of the feelings of isolation and frustration that it brings, in the hopes to reassure children who felt just as I did at their age that they are not alone. I wanted to show how social anxiety can often act like a mask, demonstrating how we should never assume everything about a person or immediately assign their identity to their reservedness before getting to know them. Through showing how hiding or avoiding your worries can only make them worse, the message of talking to others about how you feel is key to this story. And this even more so applies to those suffering with social anxiety, as talking to others in itself can be especially daunting, whatever the subject matter. In publishing this book, I hope to show children that their worries don’t have to limit or control them and, instead, that they can use them to their own advantage.”
If you are interested in purchasing a copy of the book, it is available on Amazon here.
We would like to offer our warmest congratulations to Sophia on this exceptional achievement. The Worry Wasp is both beautifully written and skilfully illustrated, and we’re proud of you for creating such a remarkable piece of work!
