CM Magazine: Stress Less: Tips and Tools to Help You Chill.

________________ CM . . . . Volume XXIV Number 36. . . .May 18, 2018

Stress Less: Tips and Tools to Help You Chill.

Helaine Becker.
Toronto, ON: Scholastic Canada, 2018.
96 pp., trade pbk., $6.99.
ISBN 978-1-4431-4870-2.

Subject Headings:
Stress management for children-Juvenile literature.
Stress in children-Juvenile literature.
Stress (Psychology)-Juvenile literature.

Grades 2-5 / Ages 7-10.

Review by Tanya Boudreau.

*** /4

Excerpt:

When things go wrong, and you feel frustrated and overwhelmed, you might think things will never go your way- that the universe is out to get you and things like this don't happen to other people.

Not true. Things don't just go wrong for you. The world is imperfect. People makes mistakes. Software has bugs. Time runs out.

Feeling frustrated on occasion is completely normal. It can even be helpful because frustration drives you to make changes that will help you solve your problems in the long-run. So take a breath. Take a break. Then come back and take another crack at it.

There are over ninety suggestions in Stress Less, a nonfiction book for school-age children. The suggestions encompass mental and physical health, creativity, and relationships. The explanations, suitable for both boys and girls, are each one page in length. Black and white cartoon-styled illustrations can be found throughout the book. Decorative spot art complements the headings. The three popsicles on the cover help emphasis the topic (and part of the title) of the book, which is "chill".

The tips can be used for schoolwork or friends (keep a calendar, skip the comparisons); within the home (get more sleep) and for personal development (face fears). Each paragraph of information provides reasons for why the tips should be followed, and steps for how to set them in motion. The tone of the narration is friendly, almost enthusiastic, and encouraging.

Some of the pages include quotes from famous people and findings from research, all of which make the tips more powerful and motivating. The pages of the book can be read randomly. Readers can flip through the book until they find a suggestion that works for them. There are suggestions in the book that can be used inside, or outside, and with one or several people. Parents and teachers who would like to recommend healthy eating, physical activity, positive self-talk, mindfulness, and art (as just a few examples) to their children as a way to deal with stress and anxiety will find Stress Less useful.

Recommended.

Tanya Boudreau is a librarian at the Cold Lake Public Library in Cold Lake, AB.

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