Your Mind is Like the Sky

Bronwen Ballard is a coach and psychologist who teaches mindfulness-based thinking skills in primary schools. She has a degree in Philosophy and Modern Languages from Oxford University, in Psychology from London Metropolitan University, and an MA in Applied Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology from the University of East London (specialising in Mindfulness). She has 20 years’ experience of working with corporate clients, adults and children, often on the same topic: thinking about how we think and finding ways to do it better. Since her first daughter started school, Bronwen has made it her mission to help children avoid the thinking pitfalls so many of us fall into. She lives in South West London with her husband and two daughters. Your Mind is Like the Sky is her first children’s book.  Laura Carlin graduated from The Royal College of Art in 2004 and has lived and worked in London ever since. He picture books include The Iron Man, The Promise and King of the Skies, published by Walker Books, and A World Of Your Own, published by Phaidon Press. She is the illustrator of Your Mind is Like the Sky for Frances Lincoln Children's Books.

Our most cherished picture books tend to be those that contain an underlying wisdom. Giraffes Can't Dance (Giles Andreae) affirms that it is all right to be different; Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar has inspired Marxist, feminist and queer interpretations - but is described by its author as "a book of hope", showing how even the most insignificant-seeming creature can unfold its talent. But our busy modern children do not need whimsical stories to help them make sense of the world. Instead, they can take direct advice from a growing library of self-help books, designed (to quote the author of one, Create Your Own Happy) to help them take "positive steps towards their own happiness and positive self-esteem!"Some parents might find the idea of children's self-help off-putting. But Your Mind is Like the Sky, by Bronwen Ballard (a "personal coach and organisational consultant"), is an exemplar of the genre. It is aimed at readers of seven, but would be suitable for younger ones too. "Your mind is like the sky," it begins. "Sometimes it's clear and blue", with "white, fluffy cloud thoughts", but sometimes it is full of "darker, meaner, raincloud thoughts". This is the problem that the book addresses. Most children's self-help books take anxiety as their theme. Unusually, however, there are no games or activities suggested here, and no "calm down tactics". The message is relayed solely through the pictures and text, which show a little girl wrestling with her dark thoughts - and finally beating them. "When a raincloud thought comes into your head, you say, 'Oh, it's a raincloud thought'. And then you notice all the white fluffy cloud thoughts as well." With lyrical illustrations by Laura Carlin, this is an engaging and refreshingly jargon-free book, which would be ideal for any worried child.