Book Review: Ben's School Daze by Robyn Sims & Joanne Larco

Title: Ben’s School Daze
Authors: Robyn Sims and Joanne Larcom
Publisher: Peence & Rogue Designs Pty Ltd
Pages: 28
Genre: Children’s Picture Book

Purchase here.

Book Synopsis:

This is a story about Ben, a lively and active boy, who finds the sensory experiences within his day to be overwhelming.  

Loud noises vibrate through his body and “shoes and sock bother him.. they never feel just right”.  

This can make it hard for Ben to be a good student.  But don’t worry, his teacher and mum know what to do to help him through his day.

My Review:

If you have a child you feel that gets over stimulated at times, you'll love Ben's School Daze by Robyn Sims & Joanne Larsom.  I didn't have that problem with my kids; in fact, when I would see a child act up in public, I would say to myself thank God he's not mine.  But I didn't stop to think that maybe it was his surroundings or other factors and not that he was a "bad child"?  That's what I believe the authors thought of when they went to write this book.  But what I like about it is that it's not a how to book for adults in handling over-sensory pileup in their child, but a children's book to show the child they are normal.  We need more of these kinds of books for the simple reason that we don't want these children to feel they are different.

This story evolves around Ben who it seems is always on the go.  But sometimes things get out of whack for him.  He acts up apparently for no reason.  How many kids do that?  Lots and it makes you wonder if they have the same thing going on as Ben.  Now Ben will admit himself he doesn't like it when he acts up but doesn't know why it's happening.  Everything makes him upset and it's driving him beserk.  But his teacher understands and offers things for him to fidget with or jobs to do and this helps but doesn't make it go away when he's out of the classroom.  The point of this story is not only to show other children who might be going through this sort of thing that they're normal and can get help, but to show adults how to handle their children when this happens to them.

I love the illustrations - very whimsical and gave a good picture of what is going on in Ben's life.  The author did a marvelous job with this book and for that I give the five rainbows.

My Ranking: