A New Day by Emmaline Carroll Southwell, illustrated by Heather Dryden (Affirm Press) HB RRP $22.99 ISBN: 9781922992345
Reviewed by Dannielle Viera
‘Today’s a new day, today’s a fresh start.’ The child protagonist knows that each time she wakes up, she should forget about past events and fully embrace the fun of the present. If she can’t, she must remember her ‘magic five’: breathing, looking for the good, listening to her intuition, showing kindness and being comforted by her family. With these five affirming guides, she’ll always find peace and happiness.
Emmaline Carroll Southwell’s rhyming couplets encourage readers aged four to eight to dive deep and discover their resilience, especially when life’s challenges threaten to swamp them. Youngsters will soon realise that anxiety, loneliness and sadness quickly evaporate when they allow the warmth of confidence and connection to blaze through their day.
A rainbow arcs airily across the endpapers, and its cheerful colours flood into Heather Dryden’s appealing illustrations. Young readers are sure to spy someone who looks like them among the diverse characters in the book. Visual representations of hope—wide smiles, helping hands, and more—boost the uplifting message of the text.
Bright
and buoyant, A New Day is the perfect
book for kids to turn to when they feel a little blue. If they go through their
own ‘magic five’, their troubles will become water under the bridge.