Our final brief for the year focuses on designing a picture book for children aged 3-11. The topic of my book is going to be Social Anxiety. I feel that anxiety is a hard emotion to comprehend especially when you’re a child. It feels lonely when you think no one else is going through the same thing and you can’t explain these feelings to your peers or carers and therefore ask for help. As a child you haven’t learned about those feelings yet which can be scary. I think a book which helps to explain social anxiety or at least show that others understand what a child with social anxiety is going through would be extremely helpful. The presentation I attached includes a quote from Child Mind Institute explaining that even though social anxiety usually develops in adolescents it may also start during childhood. This was another reason why I felt strongly about focusing my book on this topic.
I’m going to aim my book at children aged 5-7. This is because 5 years of age is the age that children are expected to go to primary school in UK and I feel that after the age of 8 children need a more elaborated read. The Guardian wrote an article on the recommended reads for children aged 5-7 which also guided me in the direction of the age range I should stick to. Ideally I’m planing to create the whole book and have it printed but this will depend on how much time I have. I might continue with this project over the summer if I do run out of time before the deadline. I’m also aiming to finish this brief in 3 weeks just in time for the April break.
Below is the presentation I used to pitch my idea:
Bibliography
http://www.childmind.org/
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/oct/22/recommended-reads-children-5-7