WORDS ANDY TAYLOR IMAGES SUPPLIED
We first met Craig Phillips ba k in Plenty 13 just after he’d picked up a New Zealand Book Award for Giants, Trolls, Witches, Beasts: Ten Tales from the Deep Dark Woods. He followed that with the rollicking tale of a cat pirate, Jack Scratch, and we knew we were going to be hearing more from this avid illustrator. And voilà – he’s back, having teamed up with fellow Taupō local Bex Lipp to form the barnstorming publishing company Wildling Books, with a new publication on a much more serious topic that is already proving to be a best seller. Nervousness, fear, and apprehension
issues in later childhood, adolescence
may not seem like typical topics
or adulthood, and it can also improve
for a children’s book, but they are
children’s developmental, emotional,
certainly important ones. According
academic and social outcomes.
to the Ministry of Health, 8%, or around 57,000 Kiwi kids, experience “significant” social, emotional and behavioural difficulties, and living with anxiety can sometimes go hand-inhand, or be a part of, these challenging experiences. As adults we know that anxiety can seemingly come from nowhere, and very few of us really know
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Those are pretty big topics for a kid’s book, but Aroha’s Way, created by Craig and Bex and published by their Wildling Books imprint hits those nails squarely on the head, but in a way kids can not only understand but willingly consume. It is a beguilingly beautiful book that takes readers on a young girl’s journey
how to address it.
through four emotions associated with
Research shows that early intervention
thoughts and apprehension – and
with kids can reduce the risk or severity
provides simple, but effective ways to
of certain types of mental health
help manage them.
P L E N T Y . C O . N Z // H A K I H E A 2 0 1 9
anxiety – nervousness, fear, worrying
