You Can Tell Me Anything

Elizabeth Anne Peck MA (Oxon) lives in Cambridge with her family where she teaches Religious Studies in a secondary school. As a teenager she won a regional poetry competition with Ottakar's (later bought by Waterstones) and loves writing for children. She is often inspired by her young daughter. Elizabeth's writing captures profound ideas in simple language, a gift she is able to use to great effect in her books.Elizabeth has an interest in education and parenting. Experience in all areas of her life has convinced her of the fundamental importance of vulnerability and acceptance in relationships and this book seeks to offer parents and other caregivers a contribution towards building such relationships with the children in their care.Her published books to date include Why Does Mummy's Tummy Hurt? (Austin Macauley 2020), God is Not a Man in the Sky (Franciscan Publishing 2021), You Can Tell Me Anything (2023) and Table Manners (2025).Elizabeth also has a particular interest in Franciscan theology and spirituality and contributed a chapter, 'Forming Young Franciscan Minds and Hearts', to Forming Franciscan Minds and Hearts (Franciscan Publishing 2023).

You Can Tell Me Anything is such a beautiful work. It moved and inspired me, and the drawings were the best emotional depictions for a children's book I've ever seen. It's rare to find an illustrator who can capture feelings in such an accurate and moving way. It warms my heart to imagine a parent reading that book to a child on their lap. With a guide like this, you can give your child all the emotional security they'll ever need. This should reach as many parents as possible!Dr Lindsay C. Gibson, New York Times best-selling author of Adult Children of Emotionally Immature ParentsWe are so excited by this book. The poem 'You Can Tell Me Anything' aligns with so much of what we believe in about being listening educators and ensuring that all the children we work with are, and know they are safe. Enormous thanks to Lizzy for creativity, sensitivity, and perseverance.Miriam Mason PhD, Founder and Country Director of EducAid (registered charity) In any institution around the country which deals with children or vulnerable people of any sort, safeguarding is a major issue today. It's not just something concerning those whose job entails guaranteeing that standards of safety are met for the purposes of compliance. It's a question facing every parent or responsible adult who has care of children: how do I get the child in my care to tell me if anything is wrong? How do I help them to know that it's safe to confide in me any fears, concerns or questions they may have? It may not be as dramatic as a safeguarding issue, but if children misunderstand or misinterpret something they have been told or witnessed, they can easily blame themselves or develop anxieties which a timely intervention from a trusted adult could prevent from growing into unnecessary pain and distress. Elizabeth Peck's beautifully illustrated poem, You Can Tell Me Anything offers a wonderful resource for parents, teachers and carers of any sort and the children within their care. It offers reassurance by opening up the conversation in a way that is unobtrusively encouraging and supportive while offering a way through which children can voice their concerns without feeling disempowered or threatened. It's a remarkable piece of writing by a teacher with an instinctive knowledge of children and a surefooted way of navigating potentially challenging conversations. The poetic style avoids anything doctrinaire or overly didactic and the illustrations are sufficiently in storybook mode to make it accessible to young children, while sophisticated enough not to make older children feel they are being spoken down to. All in all, it's a considerable achievement and a much-needed resource in a difficult area of child development.Sr Dr Gemma Simmonds CJ, St Edmund's College, CambridgeI was honoured to be asked to create the illustrations for Elizabeth Peck's book You Can Tell Me Anything. It's the sort of book I wish I'd had as a child. I wish every child could grow up being reassured by this timeless and beautiful message.Lois CordeliaOh my, it's beautiful! I'm not ashamed to say it moved me to tears. It's my firm belief that every parent should have a copy and read it regularly to their children! Not only is it a beautiful book but it reminds us to stop and slow down and listen to our children. I love it so much I'm sharing it on all the childminding Facebook pages I belong to, along with a link to buy a copy.Kathy, parent and child-minderI think this book is wonderful. It's sweet but not sugary; it's enormously reassuring, or will be to any young person who can't really quite believe that the things she does wrong, or the things she can't help being, cannot but affect the love of... her mother, or whoever is the person who is there when the wrong things happen, etc. And above, all it's beautifully written. I love the simple yet exact verse. I also like the drawings very much; Lois Cordelia has caught the author's tone very well.M. Bernard