Nicky Hancock – författare

A guidebook to help children who:are trying to manage their too painful feelings by themselvesdo not let themselves cry, protest or say that they are scaredare living with too many unresolved painful emotions from the pasthave had disturbing, overwhelming or confusing experiences, which they have been unable to think through or feel through properlyare full of unexpressed feelings because expressing them feels far too dangerous; and are full of unmourned grief.

How Hattie Hated Kindness is a story for children locked in rage or hate. Hattie lives by herself on an island. She likes sharks, and crabs and stinging centipedes. She likes anything hard and spiky. Lots of people try to bring kindness to Hattie on her island, but each time she is very horrid to them, smashing and spoiling everything they try to do for her. So after a while they all stop coming to the island. Hattie is very alone. So she sits by the water's edge and tries to figure out why she hates love and loves hate.She thinks it must be because she is a very bad girl indeed. But the lapping water-over-her-toes helps Hattie to understand that because she'd been a very sad and frightened little girl in a too hard world, she had become hard too, so that the awful fear and the awful pain would go away. The lapping-water-over-her-toes helps Hattie to move from cruel to kind. In the end, Hattie builds a bridge to the warm and cosy world across the water.

Ruby hates herself so much that she often feels more like a piece of rubbish than a little girl. Children at school bully her. Sometimes Ruby feels so miserable that she wants to sleep and sleep and never wake up again. Then one day, Ruby meets Dot the lunchtime lady, When Ruby feels Dot's kindness and understanding, something warm happens in Ruby's tummy.Over time, Dot helps Ruby to move from self-hate to self-respect. In fact Dot's smile makes Ruby feel like a princess. After a very important dream, and help from Dot, Ruby decides enough is enough. She finds her voice and her anger, and stands up to the bullies. She makes new friends and knows what it's like to feel happy for the first time in her life.

A guidebook to help children who:worry a lot or exhibit signs of ongoing anxietyexperience the world as an unsafe placesuffer from phobias, obsessions or nightmaresare scared to tell someone that they are scaredknow a terrible lonelinessfeel insignificant in a world of adult giantsfeel defeated by life or need help in being assertiveand feel so impotent that their only way to feel any potency is to be mute.