Anxiety and insecurity leave Sarah feeling like a tiny ant in
comparison to others. Sarah feels awkward and thinks she doesn't fit in
with other kids her age. A piece of bad advice leaves her feeling even
worse, but a change in mindset gives her strategies to overcome her
social anxiety, make friends, and become a leader with confidence!
Sarah is an intelligent, quiet school-aged girl. She doesn't quite feel
like she fits in with others. She has a peculiar interest in her ant
colony, and she feels too nervous to raise her hand or call attention to
herself in class. She is anxious about attending a basketball clinic,
sure she will embarrass herself in front of the other players. When she
walks in on the first day, she exhibits sure signs of insecurity,
feeling like others are talking about and laughing at her, blushing, and
reluctance to partner with other students. As she compares herself to
others, she feels smaller, less talented, less beautiful, and less
important. Her inner thoughts of comparison and insecurity distract her
from doing her best. Her older brother, with a very outgoing
personality, seems to know everyone and feel comfortable in any
situation. He gives her bad advice to try to gain confidence by finding
faults in others, but following his advice leaves her feeling even
worse. Finally, she is given good advice from her step-father to stop
comparing herself to others, but to focus on improving her skills and
encouraging others. Her mom helps her practice confidence and
relationship skills such as eye contact, good posture, and giving
genuine compliments. With this advice, she is able to focus on doing her
best while also building positive relationships. Her confidence grows
and she finally feels like she belongs with this new group of friends.
This book showcases diversity in positive ways with characters that span
various cultures, ethnicities, family situations, physical challenges
and more. Readers of all backgrounds will see themselves in these pages
while learning to value the diversity within their own community and
being exposed to differences from around the world.
About the Help Me Understand series
The Help Me Understand series provides elementary children with tools to
identify, understand, and responsibly manage difficult emotions. Each
book follows the life of one of our sixteen diverse MVP Kids and
contains a discussion guide with further insight and reflection
questions related to the book's content. Themes include children
overcoming and managing anger, anxiety, insecurity, boredom, arrogance,
and more. Through difficult challenges, the MVP Kids learn to make the
right choices in the midst of big feelings.
About MVP Kids
Families with a diverse range of cultural and ethnic backgrounds drive
the inspiration for child education and social emotional learning. MVP
Kids enables real-world kids to address the challenges in their lives
through story-based character lessons where the kids interact at school,
in social situations, and in their communities. MVP Kids board books
enrich preschool readers while hardcovers and paperbacks focus on
school-aged children. Each MVP Kids book includes extensive coaching
information for parents and educators that promotes character education,
wise decision-making skills, and social and emotional learning.
