Children's Book Review: What Are You Thinking?

Our minds are extremely powerful. Our thoughts control our emotions, which then drive our actions. This is sometimes a hard concept for people to grasp. So much of what occurs in counseling involves helping people think differently about their situations and/or problems. If this is difficult for adults, it is certainly difficult for children to understand.

What Are You Thinking?, written by Valerie Ackley, is a children's book that teaches children about the power of their thoughts. This book teaches children that their thoughts, both negative and positive, will influence the feelings they have, and ultimately affect the decisions they make. Creative and fun illustrations are used to help children in understanding that they can completely alter their thought processes and change what occurs during their day.

I was instantly drawn to this book because I have not seen any children's book like it. I spend so much time of my work day discussing this very concept with children. I repeat "You can change your day around" over and over. I currently have students whose depressing or anxious thoughts completely drive their day. They have extreme difficultly with changing their thoughts. I love the fact that What Are You Thinking? has such amazing, fun, and creative illustrations to help teach the concepts. The illustrator, Lori Nawyn, provides fabulous pictures that capture children's attention. They make the context more meaningful, which ultimately will help children retain the information. I look forward to reading this book with my students!

More about the author:
Valerie Ackley lives in a beautiful valley at the base of the Wasatch Mountains in Utah. She is married to Jeff Ackley and together they are raising five sons.

She graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in Business Management and worked eight years in the telecommunications industry before becoming a full-time homemaker.

*Disclaimer: I did not receive monetary compensation for this post. I received a free book for the purpose of this review. The opinions expressed here are my own.