Kathy Hoopmann

All Birds Have Anxiety

Non-fiction Resource

Life as a bird can be stressful! From worrying about airplanes, windows, and getting enough worms to eat, it is clear that birds can be anxious beings. Through a light-touch, quizzical depiction of bird behaviour,All Birds Have Anxiety uses colourful images and astute explanations to explore with gentle humour what it means to live with anxiety day-to-day, and how to begin to deal with it. 

Following the style of the best-selling All Cats Have Asperger Syndrome and All Dogs Have ADHD, wonderful colour photographs express the complex and difficult ideas related to anxiety disorder in an easy-to-understand way. This simple yet profound book validates the deeper everyday experiences of anxiety, provides an empathic understanding of the many symptoms associated with anxiety, and offers compassionate suggestions for change. The combination of understanding and gentle humour make this the ideal introduction to anxiety disorder for those diagnosed with this condition, their family and friends and those generally interested in understanding anxiety. 

PEEK INSIDE

https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/All_Birds_Have_Anxiety/pnY8DQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Hoopmann&printsec=frontcover 

Why I wrote it…

This book has been eight years in the making… well, it grew in the back of my mind over that time anyway. In 2009, when All Dogs Have ADHD came out, a psychologist who had helped me research ADHD urged me to write next about anxiety. “A huge portion of my patients, both adults and children have some sort of anxiety related issue,” he said. At the time I knew nothing about anxiety and had no personal experience with it, so I didn’t pursue the concept. Jump forward eight years and during that time, I have encountered numerous people with a whole variety of anxiety issues. I have seen adults crippled with it and know children gasping for breath because of it. It disrupts lives, as many cannot manage regular school or office hours. It strains friendships and hurts families. As I began to research more for this book, I knew that I wanted to deal with two main issues. First, it was vital to explain how debilitating an anxiety disorder can be. It is far too easy to dismiss symptoms by believing they can’t be too bad, ‘as everyone gets anxious sometimes’. Anxiety Disorders are NOT just being a bit anxious. So I spend a lot of time trying to get the reader to have empathy for the extent of the problem. But I also wanted this to be an optimistic book. Anxiety does not have to rule a person’s life forever and there are many proven and tried techniques and steps that can be used to alleviate the worst of the symptoms. I have included as many of them as I could, hoping that through them, the reader can find joy when facing the future.

As an Anxiety Disorder is often found alongside other difficulties, All Birds Have Anxiety is printed in the dyslexie font that has been designed with every letter unique so that when the letters are flipped or rotated they do not blur with other letters. For a person with dyslexia, this can help alleviate one extra stress in their lives. 

It was a labour of love to find all the bird images for this book.  Who knew that little beaks could be so expressive! I am particulary thankful to my brother and his wife, Martin and Pauline Oldfield, for allowing me to use some of their wonderful photography.  Check out pages 20 (Martin), 34 (Pauline), 40 (Pauline) and 63 (Martin).

In brief, I pray that All Birds Have Anxiety will bring understanding and hope to the millions of people worldwide who struggle daily with various Anxiety Disorders.

Awards and Recognition

2017-2020

All Birds have Anxiety
Jessica Kingsley Publications, UK 2017

  • 2020 Selected as part of the Reading Well Scheme (UK) to promote awareness of Mental Health in Children
  • 2019 ALCS Educational Award (UK) shortlisted
  • 2018 Charlie Waller Memorial Award Opt-in Book (UK) 1000 copies given away to promote awareness of mental illness
  • 2018 The People’s Book Prize (UK) shortlisted
  • 2018 Nautilus Award (US) Children’s Illustrated Non-fiction: Silver Medal
  • 2017 Living Now Awards (US) Children’s Picture Book: Silver Medal

Reviews

 I will not mince words: this book is silly. It follows a very simple formula of describing the symptoms of anxiety, general worry, and stress alongside photographs of birds. The funny expressions candidly captured on the bird’s faces somehow seem to always illustrate the specific situations and emotions being described in the text more perfectly than I even could as a professional illustrator. It’s really good fun and would be an especially great resource for a parent/carer/teacher to read along with an anxious child – jumping off and discussing how they relate to what the birds look like they’re feeling as they go.

Anthony Lloyd Jones https://shepherd.com/book/all-birds-have-anxiety 

 

“Whilst anxiety is a normal and universally experienced emotion, problems with anxiety are becoming increasingly common in children. Anxiety affects many aspects of children’s functioning. Children who experience excessive anxiety find it more difficult to learn, and they feel uncomfortable socially. Anxiety can take the fun out of childhood. In the book, All Birds Have Anxiety, Kathy Hoopmann creatively communicates in a developmentally appropriate way information about anxiety, how it affects people and most importantly what can be done to manage it. Using beautiful pictures and carefully crafted words, All Birds Have Anxiety is an excellent book that will enable adults to discuss anxiety with children and together develop better strategies to cope with this difficult emotion.”

Associate Professor James Scott, Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist at the University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research

 

” With their mix of words and pictures Kathy Hoopmann’s books have always put a smile on my face even as they’ve explained complex and sometimes scary issues in terms any child can understand. All Cat’s Have Asperger Syndrome made autism relatable to thousands of children. Her new book on anxiety promises to do the same for a much more common condition that all of us know, and many of us live with.”

John Elder Robison, NY Times Bestselling author, Look Me in the Eye and Switched On; Neurodiversity Scholar, The College of William & Mary

 

” Kathy’s wonderful book is a powerful educational resource for parents and teachers alike. This book normalises the experience of anxiety, it explains how worry happens and how it affects us, but it also gives hope on how to overcome worry, stress, and fear. It helps children and adults overcome self-doubt and life challenges. The beautiful images are carefully selected, displaying common emotions amongst all living beings. I strongly recommend this fun book to children of all ages, educators and parents.”

Dr Paula Barrett, International Author of the Friends Resilience Programs, www.friendsresilience.org

 

” Once again, I am in awe of Kathy’s ability to make the seemingly complicated, simple and accessible for all. Anxiety runs deep in our society – sometimes emerging as a pattern, and impacting on a negative way in our classrooms, home places and work places. All Birds Have Anxietyis a wonderfully engaging resource that reminds us how to recognise the symptoms of anxiety in ourselves and others. She provides practical advice on how to acknowledge and deal with this emotion effectively. Not only will this book benefit the children that access it, but so too will it remind the adults in their lives of effective strategies that we can employ for ourselves and model for the children in our care. I will be recommending this resource as part of an intervention strategy to be implemented by parents, teachers and therapists of children that are facing challenges in managing anxiety. So too will I recommend it for use as part of a pro-active approach to promoting and maintaining positive mental health in our schools.”

Gráinne Boyle, Educational Psychologist and Director of The Innovation Hub, Dubai

 

 

Where you can buy it…