Do you know how it feels to be carrying a storm inside yourself? What do you do with that storm? How can you make it stop? How can you get to feel more like yourself?
Rat is carrying a storm inside of herself. Her friend Jackdaw hears her sighing. Jackdaw cares. He thinks Rat has gone to somewhere sad."If you ever want to talk, I'll listen," says Jackdaw. But, you know, sometimes you just can't find the words and sometimes the storm just feels so big you just want to run and run and run. So, Rat does. Rat runs.
This is the journey of Rat who is carrying a big storm of feelings. It's an adventure with danger and kindness showing up along the way. For any child and for most adults, this journey will be educational. First acknowledging that everyone knows what that storm feels like, and everyone wants to run, run, run from the storm, and second offering a different path where Rat finds the courage - with the reassurance of a nearby friend - to turn to her friend, Jackdaw, and finally have the conversation, describing the storm, with someone who cares and wants to make it better.
Every guidance/counseling dept. in our schools should own this book. It will be brought out as a tool to empower and reassure all the young ones who are carrying their storms inside and don't know what to do.
A kindness from Karl James Mountford who must know a thing or two about storms and cares deeply for our children and their storms.
Recommended by: Barb Langridge, abookandahug.com
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With captivating illustrations, the creator of the acclaimed The Circles in the Sky tells the story of a rat who finds herself in a storm of dark emotions—and discovers the courage to open up to a friend.
The air is heavy, and it seems to Rat that the dark clouds gathering overhead echo the jumble of emotions she’s been carrying inside. Running helps, she finds, but when she bumps into a concerned friend, Rat can only run on, deeper into the rain. It’s not until the storm becomes wild and fierce and Rat is too tired to keep running that she meets a lumbering new friend who encourages her to listen for the voice in the storm—and find her own. With luminous artwork layered with pattern and color, Karl James Mountford’s hopeful story highlights the isolation that comes from grappling alone with overwhelming feelings—and the relief that may come after asking a trusted friend for help.---from the publisher
