I was just taking a train journey on a sunny afternoon when I felt a sudden and overwhelming sense of dread. For some reason, my heart was pounding as though I was about to jump out of a plane with only a plastic bag for a parachute. The feeling intensified when I realised I couldn't understand any of the train announcements, or anything that anyone around me was saying. All I could hear was an indecipherable gobble-de-gook. The whole thing lasted for about five minutes, during which I used up a lifetime's supply of adrenaline and was completely terrified. I have created literacy graphic organizers for Ruby Finds a Worry. You can find them at my Teachers Pay Teachers store. There are many activities for each literacy area to differentiate depending on your student’s ability/age. They include activities for: Adorable art with a well-intended story, but the simplistic solution , ironically, made me worry a bit. All kids have worries. A lot of them think they are alone. The worries can grow if you try to ignore them. Knowing you are not alone can help. This is all true, and this is all the great part of the book. But Ruby finds another child who also has a worry (great!), and they talk about them (wonderful!), and the worries go away (you were so close!). Ruby’s Worry is about a typical little girl, Ruby. This sweet little girl enjoys the swings and exploring, but Ruby’s world begins to change when she finds a worry following her. At first the worry is just a small fuzz ball, but as the story progresses, the worry grows. As the worry expands, Ruby begins to feel very sad and concerned. To return to her former carefree self, Ruby finds a conversation and the friendship of another child the key to removing her worry ball from her life.

Ruby has a Worry that follows her everywhere, but she discovers the best way to get rid of it is to talk about her worries. Ruby Finds a Worry by Tom Percival gives you the opportunity to teach: It's not such a big Worry, at first. But every day, it grows a little bigger... And a little bigger... Until eventually, the Worry is ENORMOUS and is all she can think about.A reassuring and sensitive book – the perfect springboard for talking to children about sharing their hidden worries. From the Big Bright Feelings series by Tom Percival

Resources to support the delivery of early years sessions in an outside space. These activities are aimed at children aged two to five but can be adapted for other ages.But it was the nineties, so you have to give me a break. Now, you might think that it's rare for a teenager to feel so relaxed, and you'd be right - it was a complete fabrication. part grid to help children reflect on the book Ruby’s Worry. This grid was created with a focus on Mental Health for Mental Health Week 2019. It has been successfully used in Year 2. The National Literacy Trust is a registered charity no. 1116260 and a company limited by guarantee no. 5836486 registered in England and Wales and a registered charity in Scotland no. SC042944.

I didn't specify what Ruby is worried about in the book because ultimately, it doesn't matter what the actual problem is - the solution will always be found by opening up about your worries and talking them through with someone, ideally someone thoughtful, sensible and sensitive! One day Ruby gets a worry, and as time goes on the worry grows and grows until she can't focus on anything but the worry. Ruby thinks she's the only one with a worry until she meets she sees a boy at the park who also has a worry. And talking to him she discovers how to make her worry smaller. I have anxiety. More importantly, I parent a child with severe anxiety. If I had read this to her when she was younger, it would have made her so sad. Talking about her worries does not make them go away. We have tried that. In fact, if she starts talking about them, it sometimes magnifies them and she can't think about anything else. This book would have made her worry even more that she was not normal because talking about her worries doesn't fix them.

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A perceptive and poignant story that is a must-have for all children's bookshelves. From Tom Percival's bestselling Big Bright Feelings series, this is the perfect book for discussing childhood worries and anxieties, no matter how big or small they may be.

But when Ruby befriends a young boy, she discovers that everyone has worries, and not only that, there's a great way to get rid of them too... Maybe it's not going to be the whole solution, but it's always the starting point, and once you know where to start, who knows how far you'll go?

Reading "Ruby Finds a Worry" gave me so many exciting feelings. I wish books like this were around when I was a little girl. To me it means so much to see a dark brown little girl with curly, bushy afro puffs and braids as the main character of a book. As an educator, I would like to read this book with my class during of one our morning meetings. I think this will help me to get a sense of what my students are feeling and to observe their expressions. To begin, I will start a conversation by letting them know that I, their teacher, has worried, (still worries), and then ask them questions like: "What are feelings?, "What are emotions", and, "Has anyone ever felt worried?" "What was it like? What did you notice or observe about your self?" Can you describe your feeling(s)? "What did it/they look like (color, size, shape, etc)?" If your child has a worry - and all children do have worries - this is the ideal book to encourage them to talk about it For more books about starting school or nursery see our Starting school or nursery booklist on Words for Life.