James Minter's Blog: Writers do it in Public... - Posts Tagged "fear"

When I Was a Child: I Was Always Afraid by Michael Cascio

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Fear is a much needed, deep-seated primary human emotion without which we wouldn’t survive. But fear can become intolerable and take over lives: we become afraid of our own shadow. Fear gains its strength from a lack of knowledge. That is, things we don’t know about or understand make us fearful. As we grow attaining increased knowledge and experience, our fears should become dissipated.

Young children are especially ‘vulnerable’ to fear. The survival instinct that they are born with is founded on fear. As a child develops, they have many different worries and anxieties ranging from fear of the dark, fear of small spaces, fear of sleeping alone, fear of thunder, fear of shadows, fear of spiders, and the fear of loud noises to name but a few. Left unaddressed or just dismissed by adults as irrational worries, these fears can take hold and grow into real anxieties and phobias. Successful parenting is about calming these fears.

Cascio’s book- When I Was a Child, I Was Always Afraid- addresses many everyday fears children face, and provides a useful additional armament for parents in their task to placate fears in youngsters. A combination of beautiful illustrations and words with the metrical structure of verse makes this an ideal read to educate a child and lessen the impact of the potentially fearful world in which they are growing up in. I’m getting a copy for our grandchild.

A copy of this book was provided by the author for review purposes.




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West End Treehouse Mystery, The by Mark Weakland




This story features the exploits of two boys—Matt and Jerry—who are just finishing their time in elementary school before experiencing a massive change in their lives as they move up to Junior high school. Set in the year 1975 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, USA, the work is aimed at 9 to 11-year-olds.

Though not strictly an issues book, Weakland’s latest novel uses traditional storytelling to take a compassionate approach to address topics nearly-teens find difficulty dealing with, like overcoming fear, not accepting change, and failing to show empathy. Personally, I applaud authors who tackle negative feelings with sensitivity while leading the reader to a safer place.

Weakland is a recognised literacy expert and the story he’s imagined reached the page as it should do; meaning that his use of the English language leads to great prose and uncomplicated sentences. The descriptions employed are concise yet fully formed bring to the reader's mind’s eye a clear picture of what is taking place without unnecessary or redundant verbiage.

The story focuses on Matt and Jerry who really only want to build a mega tree-house but people keep getting in their way. Drawing on all five senses, Weakland takes the reader into the woods, to the thick of the action where, through his writing style, you are there experiencing the unfolding events for yourself. These scenes are divided between a gang of teenage boys who rule the neighbourhood with fear and an ageing couple who have failing health but are fearful of seeking help from welfare services because of the consequences it may bring them. Matt and Jerry find themselves conflicted in what they should do and how to act.

A well written compelling story based on positive values giving pre-teens a view of what should be not necessarily what is – always a good lesson.




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