Olivia is a regular girl who does regular things, but when she has worries, prickly vines that only she can see grow from her belly and wrap around her, causing her to freeze or turning her into a prickly ball that no one wants to be around. After an incident during a class trip to the pool, Olivia’s teacher suggests strategies for tackling the vines when they begin to grow, helping Olivia manage her worries. Using a combination of ink, watercolours, and markers, Dumais’s vibrant, colourful images depict elements of the story, several filling double-page spreads. Endpapers are decorated with illustrations of objects found in the story. On the final page, the author explains anxiety, referring to the coping strategies Olivia uses in the story. The questions posed invite the reader to reflect on their own worries and coping strategies. This book is listed in the OLA Best Bets Top Ten.

Other End Matter: Anxiety information page
Images: Colour illustrations
Bibliography: No
Index: No

Source: Books BC - BC Books for Schools

Maude Nepveu-Villeneuve is an editor and professor of literature at CEGEP in Old Montreal. Between writing projects and lesson prep, Maude dances ballet and reads to her daughters. This is her first picture book for children. She lives in Montreal.

Maude Nepveu-Villeneuve's profile page

SANDRA DUMAIS writes and illustrates comic books, picture books and stories for kids and other silly people. Her books have even received a few different honors and nominations, most recently Le Prix des Libraires in Québec. She lives in Montreal, Quebec with her husband, their two children, and a polkadot rescue dog named India.

Sandra Dumais' profile page

Charles Simard is a Québécois editor and translator from Montréal, also known as Tiohtià:ke and Mooniyaang. He works as poetry, fiction, and non-fiction editor for Talonbooks in Vancouver on Coast Salish Territory. His published work includes the essay Littérature, analyse et forme: Herbert, Tolkien, Borges, Eco (EUE, 2010) and a number of translations for Orca Book Publishers, including Elise Gravel’s The Wrench and Myriam Daguzan Bernier’s dictionary of sexuality, Naked. As a lexicographer, he has collaborated on the making of the popular linguistic suite Antidote in its bilingual editions. He holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in comparative literature from Université de Montréal and was a postdoctoral fellow at the City University of New York’s Graduate
Center. His doctoral and postdoctoral publications focused on the poetics of avant-garde composer and writer John Cage. He lives in Montréal, Québec.

Charles Simard's profile page

• Commended, CCBC Best Books for Kids & Teens

“Style of illustration...lessens the visual stimuli and provides a more comfortable reading experience for sensitive children…Accomplishes that difficult balance between being specific about a particular condition and not trivializing it by generalizing anxiety into the sort of nerves any child might have while, at the same time, also building common ground such that readers without anxiety can still easily empathize with Olivia. Highly Recommended.”

CM: Canadian Review of Materials

“Perfectly capture[s] the sense of anxiety that can play out in the lives of children through Olivia...Teachers, librarians, and care givers might want to look to this title as students head back to in-person classes after months of virtual school. Highly Recommended.”

School Library Connection

★“Scenes are evocative and provide endless opportunities for discussion with young children. This book is ideal for all libraries as a non-threatening and productive story that can give hope to children who feel like Olivia.”

School Library Journal, starred review

“The expressive illustrations…have their own childlike charm. A picture book that offers validation and hope to children dealing with anxiety.”

Booklist

“A good introduction to anxiety…Adults and older children will like this book and find it useful.”

Children's Literature