Jennie Allen, author of the million-plus bestseller Get Out of Your Head: Stopping the Spiral of Toxic Thoughts (WaterBrook, 2020), has a new picture book releasing April 29 with WaterBrook that has its genesis in the popular book for adults. What to Do with Your Whirly, Swirly Thoughts helps children ages 4-8 face and deal with their anxiety, depression and spiraling thoughts in language and pictures just for them.
She points children to how their brains work for good—“Your amazing brain can create masterpieces. And it helps you talk to Jesus”—but also how brains can get wrapped up in “scary things, bad things, the things that make you embarrassed.” The solution is that brains can be trained. She writes, “God says we can help our brains get stronger! Your brain is a wonderful, powerful gift from God.”
Allen's suggestions are backed by science, Scripture, and personal experience. She remembers reciting the verse “Take captive every thought” from 2 Corinthians 10:5 when her own thoughts spiraled. “We can interrupt thought patterns that are spiraling us down and reroute them,” says Allen.
But while the book is clearly faith-based, Allen points out that Get Out of Your Head was read by many people outside the faith market and she hopes that this children’s book will be as well. She had professionals who work with children experiencing anxiety and related issues review the text and offer suggestions on solutions to those whirly, swirly thoughts. “Did you know you can get out of your head by saying your thoughts out loud?” she writes in the book. “Did you know you can get out of your head by being thankful?” And, “Did you know you can get out of your head by moving your body?”
Equipping parents and kids
“There are universal truths here for parents wanting to have these conversations with their kids,” Allen said. “I want that connection between caregivers and kids, to put words to their feelings and what they are experiencing, offer a place to start the conversations.”
Allen started writing the book in 2020 when Get Out of Your Head was released. Now is the right time to release the children's book, she said, because she had in mind her own children and “so many stories about kids struggling. I wanted to fight for them, to help equip them with tools accessible to kids that I didn’t have when I was young.”
Her goal is to help children and their caregivers be able to talk about mental health issues. “Parents are desperate to know what to do to help their kids,” says Allen. “Yes, there are more conversations about mental health now, but also there are more mental health issues caused by technology, isolation, pressure, and the chaos of the world. My goal is to not water down their experiences, to normalize big feelings and dark thoughts, and to show them that they don’t have to stay that way.”
