Wemberly Worried

A little mouse with anxiety learns to unclench when she meets someone who shares her concerns.

This is one of the rare Kevin Henkes books my daughter didn't like. She was always dealing with her own anxieties and this seemed like a checklist of new things to worry about rather than being relatable or a reassurance that things will get better. I mean, a two-page literally shouts worries at the reader in bold type. Yikes.

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Rated “Indifferent" in our old book database by Rod and Adelia.

Kevin Henkes did a really good job of portraying a young child (or in this case, a young mouse) with an anxiety disorder. This book covers a pretty hefty topic, but by simplifying it down to a young mouse worrying about going to school, Henkes is able to appeal to a younger crowd while still maintaining a complex theme. Thinking back to when I was younger, I could identify with Wemberly's fears of things like school and not having any friends, and as a student who has taken psychology classes, I can understand how her worries could have stemmed from an anxiety disorder. All the smaller details, like how Wemberly would check her parents' bedroom in the middle of the night to make sure they were still there, make her situation seem very show more realistic, and it makes her finding a new friend in Kindergarten class seem like a greater accomplishment. It was really cool to see! show less

"Wemberly Worried" is about a mouse named Wemberly who finds herself worrying about many things. She worries about big things, small things, and everything in between. Her parents comfort her when they see that she needs it and she also finds comfort in the little stuffed animal, named Petal, that she has. Then, Wemberly starts school and a whole new set of worries start. When she walks into her class though, her teacher, Mrs. Peachum, introduces her to another student. Wemberly then meets Jewel, who worries just as much as she does, and this makes them bond. Their friendship ends up helping Wemberly come out of her shell more and she ends up taking more chances at having fun with the other students. At the end, we see Wemberly become show more less worried and more confident. Overall, this book was wonderful to read. I found myself relating to Wemberly because I suffer from anxiety. Wemberly's experience reminded me of my own childhood anxiety and how I was always worrying about everything as well. Reading this book made me wish I could have read this when I was younger because I bet it would have helped me to feel less alone back then. This is also the reason why I would definitely read this to my future students one day. I would want to inform my students about the subject of anxiety and that being anxious isn't something to be ashamed of. I would teach them that it's important to find comfort with ourselves by reaching out for help and doing activities that help them worry less, like Wemberly has. show less

Wemberly Worried is a fantastically written and illustrated story about a little mouse who worries all the time. The language is clear and easy to understand, and the writing is engaging and flows beautifully. Using different font and size for different inflection. The plot is well developed, establishing the character of Wemberly early on then introducing the conflict of worrying about the first day of school. This is resolved when Wemberly finds a friend who is also worried about her first day of school. By the end of the story, not only does Wemberly have a new friend, she is no longer worried about school. This is an ideal book for anyone who worries and anyone nervous about school. The big idea of this story is that, we have show more nothing to worry about when we have friends. show less

To summarize this book, the big picture is not to spend all of your time worrying. Worrying about things is something that all people feel from time to time, but sometimes young children can get fixated on worrying about all possible things that could go wrong in a certain situation. I think the author of "Wemberly Worried," tastefully walks us through a story about a mouse named Wemberly who worries too much for her own good. The author counters these worries with examples of how the situations turned out just fine even though she did all that worrying. For example, she worried that there would be too many children dressed up as butterflies on Halloween, but then when there were no other butterflies, she worried that she would be the show more only child dressed as a butterfly. The author also supplies a happy ending, Wemberly meeting a friend that allows her not to worry so much at school, further showing that not everything needs to be worried about. show less

This book shows kids that sometimes it's okay to worry, but when you worry all the time you miss out on fun things. It also shows them that sometimes being brave is a lot more fun than worrying about everything.

This is an adorable book that made me giggle a number of times. Henkes does a wonderful job using repetition, illustration and believable characters to create a good time story. Henkes continually repeats “and she worried and she worried and she worried.” This easily and effectively symbolizes how much Wemberly worried throughout the story. Henkes also chose to expand upon his language through illustration. Whatever messages he did not convey through his writing, he included in his drawings. An example of this is when he would simply write, “and she worried,” without the illustration we would be lost as to what had Wemberly troubled. But, if we take a look at the illustration you could easily tell that school had her worried. show more Finally, he made the main character, Wemberly, extremely relatable since each and every one of us worries about something. This also leads into his main message that worrying fixes nothing. He even goes as far to say that sometimes going with the flow is the best solution to your troubles. show less