Sinarski, Jessica. What’s Inside Your Backpack? Illustrated by Joanne Lew-Vriethoff. Chattanooga, TN: National Center for Youth Issues, 2020.

Summary

All around us, children are carrying backpacks that are heavy with more than just textbooks. Each day, they also bear the weight of difficult life experiences and intense feelings.

Zoey Harmon just wants to feel light-hearted and carefree. Unfortunately, she keeps getting weighed down by pesky “books” in her backpack, like Worry and Shame. Much to her surprise, she’s not the only one! Zoey learns that the adults in her life deal with difficult feelings too! Luckily, they have some ideas that can help her set aside the books she’s not meant to carry. Will it be enough to help her unload the heaviest book of all?

“You look a little worried, kiddo,” Zoey’s mom said, giving her a squeeze. “Sometimes I need a bright thought to help me when I’m feeling upset. Here, try this.” She slid a bookmark into Zoey’s hand. Zoey looked down and read: Imagine with Hope.

“What’s this?” asked Zoey.

“When we don’t know what to expect, worry wants us to imagine with fear, to think about all the worst possibilities. This is a little reminder I use to think of the good things that might happen when I imagine with hope instead.”

While there are no quick fixes for all of life’s complex problems, What’s Inside Your Backpack? highlights some of the ways we can nurture resilience in body and mind. Using the metaphor of books and bookmarks, author Jessica Sinarski offers gentle, effective strategies to help children impacted by trauma. By sharing their burdens with people they trust, kids can lighten their load and realize just how strong and courageous they really are!

Purchase What’s Inside Your Backpack? on Amazon

My Kid Review

This is one of those books I wish didn’t have to exist but I’m glad it does for the kids who need it. There are no details in the story but it sounds as though Zoey and her mom escaped an abusive relationship. Zoey is dealing with shame, worry, and all the other emotions that go along with abuse.

What’s Inside Your Backpack? helps readers understand the baggage they may carry that pulls them down. The caring adults in the story help Zoey and readers learn a little about how to handle that baggage. 

The book closes with some tips for caring adults. These tips may help teachers and counselors who work with children who carry a lot of hard things in their backpacks. 

What’s Inside Your Backpack? does contain a lot of helpful information. However, since the information is not Bible-based, Christian school librarians may want to read the book for themselves before making a purchasing decision. 

I received a complimentary copy of What’s Inside Your Backpack? This is my honest review. 

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