Wellbeing 11

Collins Big Cat supports every primary child on their reading journey from phonics to fluency. Top authors and illustrators have created fiction and non-fiction books that children love to read. Levelled for guided and independent reading, each book includes ideas to support reading. Teaching and assessment support and eBooks are also available.

Dive deep into your emotions, and discover how writing about them can help you explore how you’ re feeling, and find healthy ways of dealing with your thoughts.

Diamond/Band 17 books offer more complex, underlying themes to give opportunities for children to understand causes and points of view.

Pages 54 and 55 allow children to re-visit the content of the book, supporting comprehension skills, vocabulary development and recall.

Ideas for reading in the back of the book provide practical support and stimulating activities.

A few words from Michael on why he wrote this book: I wrote this book because I’ ve found writing about my state of mind really helpful and fun at the same time. Sometimes this is because I’ ve been troubled – devastated even, as when my son died. Other times I’ ve wanted to celebrate and remember great times I’ ve had. The help it’ s given me comes from seeing myself reflected back at me. This helps me view myself with some degree of detachment, and this enables me to put myself into the company of others, other people who may have experienced this pain or joy too. Togetherness feels better than isolation. I wanted to share these ideas with young people because I know mental health is a big issue for many young people and I hope this book will help them.

Viviane Schwarz is an award-winning author and illustrator of interactive books, picture books, graphic novels and craft books. She lectures in illustration and game design at university level.