Desi, Mami, and the Never-Ending Worries

Actor Mendes, making her picture book debut, offers a practical approach to mindfulness cloaked in a story of bedtime fears. When distressed young Desi insists there’s a monster under the bed, Mami firmly responds, “No way, chica! I already cleared out all the monsters.” As the two chat through the child’s concerns, Desi says, “It feels like I’m always worried.... Maybe it’s my brain that’s the monster?!” Mami explains how brains are so busy that they sometimes “get used to being on high alert and forget how to relax.” Moreover, if they’re not given positive things to process, “they can act like bullies with thoughts we DON’T want to think about.” Stressing that no one is their brain, Mami shows Desi ways to separate from negative thoughts, including empowering techniques such as visualization and deep breathing. Bryant’s lively digital images include a friendly brain, pink and cloudlike, and a domestic world of soothing aquas and magentas. Characters cue as Latinx. A Spanish version publishes simultaneously. Ages 3–6. (Sept.)