Value Bookshop's Reading Notes

SAM FEELS BETTER NOW!
Author: Jill Osborne
Illustrator: Kevin Collier
ISBN: 9781932690606

This is not your normal storybook that you would read to your children at bedtime. This book was written for a very special purpose and that is to help children overcome a traumatic experience. Many things can be traumatic for children e.g. sexual ,physical or verbal abuse, war, natural disasters, dog bites, death of a loved one, accidents, etc….

What’s in the book:
It’s a simple story of Sam, a young boy, who has been traumatized by something awful. He goes to see a special therapist who helps him to cope with the effects of that trauma. Within the story are promptings for children to draw pictures:

• draw a picture of someone who is scared
• draw a picture of something awful or scary
• draw a picture of people that Sam can love and trust
• draw a picture of a place where Sam can feel safe at home
• color Sam’s feelings
• draw ways that will help Sam relax etc…

The story is formatted into stages:
- identifying the source of the problem
- identify people who can give support
- thinking out a safety plan
- identify feelings
- learning how feelings can be felt in the body
- relaxation methods

Sam’s trauma is not indicated in the book. This part is left open for children to fill in the blank. And the interaction exercises gives opportunity for children to inject their own experience into the story. So you can see, if children are traumatized by something, they can tell their experience without apprehension. As you know, some children may not want to tell what happened to them but they are okay telling what happened to Sam.

The author suggest that this book be used as part of a trauma therapy session. It does not replace a therapy but rather works as one of the tools. At the end of the book is a therapist’s guide and a list of references and resources. This book is invaluable for those working as child counselors and professional child therapists. It is especially geared towards children 4-10 years old.

Can parents use this book?
Since I don’t have children suffering from traumatic stress, neither am I a child therapist, I wondered if this book would still be useful to me. Well, I believe almost all children do have some kind of fear e.g. fear of the dark, fear of ghosts etc…. Maybe not to the extend of being traumatized by it but the process of identifying, talking about how to feel better definitely is beneficial. It gives parents an idea of how to approach such problems rather then dismissing their children’s feelings with a “don’t be silly, there’s nothing to be scared about” attitude.

So, in summary, this is not a book you would cuddle up and read with your child. It is a resource book to help children deal with traumatic stress. Ideally, it should be used by a professional therapist as part of a trauma therapy but regular parents like me could benefit from learning what it’s all about too.