Michelle Vasiliu has been a teacher among many roles working with children and is an award-winning children’s and YA author who likes to help her readers make sense of their world.
Gwynneth Jones drew all through her maths book at school, so left to study art and hasn’t stopped drawing since! Gwynneth is the illustrator of The Chalk Rainbow, Dance with Me, Don’t Think About Purple Elephants, Finding Granny, The Great Sock Secret, and Patch and Ruby.
What Book Next?
“A sad but beautiful picture book exploring a child’s view of a parent’s depression. These feelings, along with the young girl’s confusion and anger is portrayed in darkening squiggly lines the further you venture through the book. The squiggles lighten again, and although they are still there, new connections help keep them at bay. The bond between father and daughter is evident on every page. Gorgeous. A gentle way of explaining depression and a way forward that a child can relate to.” Click here to read more.
Donovan’s Bookshelf
“Parents looking for an introduction to adult depression that will reach and teach the very young will find this compelling picture book the perfect start to a conversation about depression and a revised approach to life.” Click here to read more.
Rebekah Gienapp – Included in: 12 stereotype-busting children’s books starring disabled characters
“This book prompted important conversations with my son about how mental illness affects people, including my own experience having an anxiety disorder. (Recommended for ages 3 – 7, #ownvoices).” Click here to read more.
Bridget and the Books – 8 year old Bridget reviews
“This is a picture book about a kid and their dad. Their dad is sick and it explains what kind of help he needs.
1. This book would be a good book for kids who’s parent is sick, especially with mental illness.
2. This book would work pretty well for kids in therapy. It explains how you can approach things differently.
3. It’s just a really nice book about a tough topic.” Click here to read more.
Read For Fun
“I highly recommend this book for any family dealing with depression, or anyone who wants to explain this to children. It goes a long way to helping reduce the stigma of depression as it gives hope of recovery and explains this in a way that children will understand.” Click here to read more.
NZ Booklovers Review
“Compassion and empathy are the key message of the book and Vasiliu conveys that in a simple, understated, but incredibly powerful way.” Click here to read more.
Early Childhood Educators Australia – Every Child Magazine
“This beautiful book touches on the difficulties that children may experience in understanding the changes that occur in their parent/s if they struggle with mental illness. In this book it is the Father who “feels sad”.
SchoolDays Magazine
“A story of a young child learning to adapt to her new found and unwanted things going on in her family life and how she learns to cope.” Click here to read more.
Midwest Book Review
“Together Things is a lively picture book illustrated by Gwynneth Jones and offers a compelling story about adult depression in a book that encourages kids to understand the presence of mental illness in the world around them.” Click here to read more.
ABC Wide Bay with David Dowsett
“There is still a lot of stigma and a lot of reluctance by parents and carers to talk about mental illness. They think that by doing so children won’t understand, or that by doing so it might make them more scared. But experts have done lots of research which shows that that is not the case at all. Children are looking for the truth. They do want to talk about these topics. If they are not told what is going on, they get even more scared.”
Hit 90.9 Syndicated Nationally – Breakfast
“It’s so important to have open and honest discussions about mental health … particularly at this time when families might be really feeling the impact of mental health issues with financial stress, job losses or just feeling lonely. Together Things is about who a little girl handles her father’s mental illness.”
Pinerolo
“A little girl remembers the adventures she used to have with her father, but now they’ll do different things because he is ill. Sensitively illustrated.”
Herald Sun
“This clever picture book helps kids whose parents may be battling depression or other mental health issues navigate their own confusion and anger because they want the old Dad back. But as it explains in simple terms, they can share different activities while Dad gets better.”
Reading Time
“In a society where one in five adults will experience mental health issues during their lifetime increasing community awareness of illnesses such as depression and reducing stigma around this sensitive topic is a positive step and where better to start than the very young.” Click here to read in full.
Blue Wolf Reviews
“Children struggling to accept change in their family caused by mental illness, will benefit from this warm hearted story helping them understand the reality of depression, suffered by one in five adults.” Click here to read in full.
What’s Up Down Under
“tackles mental health head on”
Westchester Family
“the compelling story and beautiful illustrations help teach empathy, compassion and patience”
Buzz Words
“looks at adult depression from a child’s perspective … beautifully illustrated … has themes of love, family, mental illness and resilience and is suitable for children aged 4-8.” Click here to read in full.
Miss Jenny’s Classroom
“I highly recommend this one for school counsellors, therapists, social workers, hospital/GP clinics. The more this topic is portrayed and talked about the easier it is for parents to open up about it to get help.” Click here to read in full.
The Bottom Shelf – Edu Blog
“Sharing this story and talking about how common the issue (of mental illness) is will help those kids seeing it firsthand realise that they are not alone and that there are many ways to show and share love.” Click here to read in full.
The Strawberry Post
Today I’m delighted to invite author of Michelle Vasiliu on to this blog. Together Things is a brilliant book I was recently given the opportunity to read and review, you can check out my review for it here.
Westchester Family
Teaching Kids About Mental Illness