Chil­dren’s

My Friend the Wor­ri­er: Con­quer­ing Anx­i­ety and Obses­sive-Com­pul­sive Disorder

Rif­ka Schon­feld; Yoel Judowitz, illus.
  • Review
By – June 22, 2016

Part of a bib­lio­ther­a­py series geared to chil­dren and their par­ents, this book deals with anx­i­ety issues and gives chil­dren the vocab­u­lary and con­fi­dence to begin to iden­ti­fy what feels wrong and some tools to help con­trol some of the prob­lem­at­ic behav­iors asso­ci­at­ed with anx­i­ety. It is geared to an Ortho­dox read­er but could be help­ful for any­one who can use the infor­ma­tion. It is nar­rat­ed by a boy who has a friend who has an anx­i­ety dis­or­der which is esca­lat­ing and caus­ing prob­lems in dai­ly life. It may be help­ful for chil­dren who suf­fer from some of these syn­dromes but it is also hoped that these chil­dren are receiv­ing pro­fes­sion­al help through their schools and oth­er sources. It will be help­ful, though, for their friends and class­mates who may not under­stand why these odd-seem­ing actions occur and it may help increase accep­tance and decrease mis­un­der­stand­ing that could lead to unkind­ness and bul­ly­ing. Back mat­ter gives tips in chart form which may help con­trol wor­ri­some thoughts and behav­iors and there is also a sig­nif­i­cant amount of back­ground infor­ma­tion for par­ents and oth­er adults to deep­en edu­ca­tion and understanding.

Rec­om­mend­ed for ages 8 – 12.


Relat­ed Content:

Michal Hoschan­der Malen is the edi­tor of Jew­ish Book Coun­cil’s young adult and children’s book reviews. A for­mer librar­i­an, she has lec­tured on top­ics relat­ing to lit­er­a­cy, run book clubs, and loves to read aloud to her grandchildren.

Discussion Questions