Title: Everything Changes – And That’s OK
Author: Carol Dodd
Illustrator: Erin Huybrechts
Publisher: Penguin Random House India
Length: 30 pages
Type: Paperback
Age group: 3-7 years (publisher’s recommendation is 5-8 years)
Change is something that small children struggle to cope with. Even a small change in their routine acts as a trigger for a full-blown tantrum. I am sure every parent has witnessed this a few times. But instead of looking at it as a tantrum, it helps both children and parents if it is rightly viewed as confusion and/or fear arising out of a sudden change. That “tantrum” is their way of asking for help. The only way to help them is to prepare them for change – change in general as well as any specific change that you anticipate. This book offers a perfect way to start a conversation on change.
The book has big, bright pictures that grab attention for longer. Each page has a common “change” that usually happens around us, and that children can relate to – day changing to night, seeds growing into trees and bearing fruit, people growing old, or going to a new school. Every scenario is softly presented in writing as well as the pictures. The book also sensitively touches upon the feelings of sadness or confusion that a change might bring. That is also the part that touched me the most.
“You might feel sad
for quite a while,
then something happens
to make you smile.”
The line “Everything changes, and that’s OK” repeats multiple times throughout the book, and helps in really emphasising the point. The pictures in this book represent people of all ages and ethnicities, different places and their climates, and animals and birds. Each page takes us into a new world.
My children love looking at the pictures, especially of animals. Each picture has a lot more to say than the words accompanying it. They love the idea of seeds from a fruit growing into a tree. And when you care for it, it grows and bears fruit again.
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