This book immediately jumped to the top of my to-be-read pile when it arrived. Due the nature of the children I work with, and the anxiety my son suffers from, I was intrigued to read a middle grade title which primarily focusses on that theme and is drawn, partly, from the author’s own experiences.

‘Josh is such a worrier. He worries about everything. Water slides. School. Global warming. Sleepovers. But he knows something is really wrong when his mum and dad begin to act strangely…

His family is moving to Brighton and he must start a new school with new teachers, new pupils and new everything! He used to have his own Worrybot – a home-made cardboard robot which was supposed to eat up his worst fears if he wrote them down on bits of paper and posted them into its mouth. It did help a bit … but now Josh is terrified that his anxiety will return when he starts at his new school.

He is more than a bit surprised to discover that there’s a robot in his new class – a real-life learning robot which sits on the desk next to his and allows classmate Charlie to join lessons remotely. Soon Charlie becomes Josh’s best – perhaps his only – friend. Will Charlie’s friendship help Josh overcome his fears, or will it just give nasty Noah more reasons to make fun of him? Why won’t Charlie come to school anyway?’

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Love, love, love this! It addresses anxiety, school refusal, and the use of remote technology in classrooms to allow pupils to access education in a way which informs and reassures.

This story shows how easily a series of negative school experiences can spiral into something which infiltrates all areas of a person’s life. I liked how it focussed on the techniques used by Josh when he felt his anxiety starting to build and feel that this would be useful to others. I also liked that it focussed on the importance of relationships with adults in helping develop to build these.

Although the story has several quite serious themes at its core, it successfully manages to be warm and funny at the same time. Readers will be rooting for Josh (and Charlie) by the end of the book.

Highly recommended for children aged 9+ and any adults who work with anxious children.

Jo.

*Many thanks to Uclan Publishing for sending me this title to review*