Hannah Peck – illustratör

What are you most afraid of? Perhaps you''re scared of hairy spiders hiding in corners, huge-winged bats who fly through the night or enormous sharks lurking in the oceans These animals may seem TERRIFYING to us humans, but what if you found out that some weren''t quite so scary after all?

Scary encourages children to talk about their own fears. Using the some of the world''s ''scariest'' animals as a springboard, Laura Mucha unpicks what causes fear, what it feels like and what it does to the body. Although fear and anxiety can be useful for survival, they can sometimes spiral out of control, but by learning how fear and anxiety work, we can make these feelings a little easier to manage.

Meet some of the world''s most frightening (and fascinating!) animals - from the fearsome lions who make devoted parents to the big-toothed dinosaur who is a vegetarian and the fiercely loyal vulture who just wants to feed his family. Find out why they''re so misunderstood, why they might be scared themselves and why many are more endangered than dangerous. Every animal speaks for itself in its own poem, some co-written with real school classes.

It''s time to face your fears, explore anxiety and get curious about scary animals!