DownloadThe Portobello Bookshop Gift Guide 2024

What to Do When You Worry Too Much

A Kid’s Guide to Overcoming Anxiety

Dawn Huebner author Bonnie Matthews illustrator

Format:Paperback

Publisher:American Psychological Association

Published:15th Sep '05

Should be back in stock very soon

What to Do When You Worry Too Much cover

Gold NAPPA Winner (National Parenting Publications Awards) 

What to Do When You Worry Too Much guides children and parents through the cognitive-behavioral techniques most often used in the treatment of anxiety.

Did you know that worries are like tomatoes? No, you can't eat them, but you can make them grow, simply by paying attention to them. If your worries have grown so big that they bother you almost every day, this book is for you.

Lively metaphors and humorous illustrations make the concepts and strategies easy to understand, while clear how-to steps and prompts to draw and write help children to master new skills related to reducing anxiety. This interactive self-help book is the complete resource for educating, motivating, and empowering kids to overcoming their overgrown worries.

Engaging, encouraging, and easy to follow, this book educates, motivates, and empowers children to work towards change. Includes a note to parents by psychologist and author Dawn Huebner, PhD.

Also available in Spanish Qué Hacer Cuando te Preocupas Demasiado ISBN 978-1-4338-3866-8

From the Note to Parents:

If you are the parent or caregiver of an anxious child, you know what it feels like to be held hostage. So does your child. Children who  worry too much are held captive by their fears. They go to great lengths to avoid frightening situations, and ask the same anxiety-based questions over and over again. Yet the answers give them virtually no relief. Parents and caregivers find themselves spending huge amounts of time reassuring, coaxing, accommodating, and doing whatever else they can think of to minimize their child’s distress.

But it doesn’t work. The anxiety remains in control. As you have undoubtedly discovered, simply telling an anxious child to stop worrying doesn’t help at all. Nor does applying adult logic, or allowing your child to avoid feared situations, or offering reassurance every time the fears are expressed.


This book is part of the Magination Press What-to-Do Guides for Kids® series and includes an “Introduction to Parents and Caregivers.” What-to-Guides for Kids® are interactive self-help books designed to guide 6–12 year olds and their parents through the cognitive-behavioral techniques most often used in the treatment of various psychological concerns. Engaging,...

A Gold NAPPA (National Parenting Publications Awards) winner

"A rare feat: a self-help book that bypasses jargon to become a terrific resource for kids."—NAPPA

“This book takes ideas that are overwhelming for a small child and presents them in manageable chunks. It is the first step to saying goodbye to anxiety!”—Portland Book Review

“The title says it all really, what to do when you worry too much. Huebner gently explains that worries are normal and all kids have them. She uses humorous illustrations and metaphors to explain that if your worries have grown so big that they get out of hand and bother you almost every day, you might need some extra help.”—The Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand

"Dr. Huebner has created a completely accessible, easy-to-understand book to show worrying children a new way of life. Kids will breathe a sigh of relief to learn solutions that really work."—Tamar Chansky, PhD, author of Freeing Your Child from Anxiety and Freeing Your Child from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

"This one is unique in that it’s meant for the parent and child to share, working together to develop strategies to conquer anxiety. It’s a great concept, and would be an excellent tool to start with if you’re dealing with an anxious child."—Chad Hayes MD

"One reason that this book is a popular recommendation of child psychologists is that it talks to kids at their own level. Huebner does an excellent job incorporating humor into the book to help children understand why they are feeling anxious."—WebPsychology

  • Winner of NAPPA Gold Awards (Ages 9 & Up) 2006

ISBN: 9781591473145

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

80 pages