Together Things: When her father feels sad, a little girl finds ways to keep the bonds of love alive

Description

Her mother says you can't see her daddy's hurt because it's inside his head ... One in five adults experiences depression in their lifetime, but young children are often left in the dark when their mother or father suddenly can't play like they used to. Together Things will resonate with the thousands of young children who know what it's like to live with a parent experiencing mental illness, helping them to understand - in an age appropriate and sensitive way - that it is okay for them to feel mad or sad about their parent's illness, but that, while their parent is getting better, they may have to do different things together to preserve their relationship, such as reading stories or drawing pictures, instead of the imaginative play their parent cannot currently envision through the haze of mental illness. Through wonderous illustrations and a compelling story, young children can understand the importance of mental health discussions and that sometimes they must adapt their interactions while the people in their lives focus on their mental health.

Michelle Vasiliu has been a teacher and youth-worker among many roles working with children. She is now an award-winning children's and YA author who writes sensitive, serious, sometimes sad stuff. She likes to help her readers understand and make sense of their world. Gwynneth Jones drew all through her maths book at school, so left to study art at TAFE and then majored in Plant and Wildlife Illustration at university. Since then, Gwynneth has been imagining, drawing and exhibiting.

"This clever picture book helps kids whose parents may be battling depression or other mental health issues navigate their own confusion and anger because they want the old Dad back. But as it explains in simple terms, they can share different activities while Dad gets better." * Herald Sun * "Compassion and empathy are the key message of the book and Vasiliu conveys that in a simple, understated, but incredibly powerful way." -- NZ Booklovers Review "This beautiful book touches on the difficulties that children may experience in understanding the changes that occur in their parent/s if they struggle with mental illness. In this book it is the Father who "feels sad"." -- Early Childhood Educators Australia - Every Child Magazine "A story of a young child learning to adapt to her new found and unwanted things going on in her family life and how she learns to cope." -- SchoolDays Magazine "There is still a lot of stigma and a lot of reluctance by parents and carers to talk about mental illness. They think that by doing so children won't understand, or that by doing so it might make them more scared. But experts have done lots of research which shows that that is not the case at all. Children are looking for the truth. They do want to talk about these topics. If they are not told what is going on, they get even more scared." -- ABC Wide Bay with David Dowsett "A little girl remembers the adventures she used to have with her father, but now they'll do different things because he is ill. Sensitively illustrated." -- Pinerolo "In a society where one in five adults will experience mental health issues during their lifetime increasing community awareness of illnesses such as depression and reducing stigma around this sensitive topic is a positive step and where better to start than the very young." -- Reading Time "Children struggling to accept change in their family caused by mental illness, will benefit from this warm hearted story helping them understand the reality of depression, suffered by one in five adults." -- Blue Wolf Reviews "tackles mental health head on" -- What's Up Down Under "the compelling story and beautiful illustrations help teach empathy, compassion and patience" -- Westchester Family "looks at adult depression from a child's perspective ... beautifully illustrated ... has themes of love, family, mental illness and resilience and is suitable for children aged 4-8." -- Buzz Words "I highly recommend this one for school counsellors, therapists, social workers, hospital/GP clinics. The more this topic is portrayed and talked about the easier it is for parents to open up about it to get help." -- Miss Jenny's Classroom "Sharing this story and talking about how common the issue (of mental illness) is will help those kids seeing it firsthand realise that they are not alone and that there are many ways to show and share love." -- The Bottom Shelf - Edu Blog "A sad but beautiful picture book exploring a child's view of a parent's depression. These feelings, along with the young girl's confusion and anger is portrayed in darkening squiggly lines the further you venture through the book. The squiggles lighten again, and although they are still there, new connections help keep them at bay." -- What book next? "Together Things is a lively picture book illustrated by Gwynneth Jones and offers a compelling story about adult depression in a book that encourages kids to understand the presence of mental illness in the world around them." -- Midwest Book Review "It's so important to have open and honest discussions about mental health ... particularly at this time when families might be really feeling the impact of mental health issues with financial stress, job losses or just feeling lonely. Together Things is about who a little girl handles her father's mental illness." -- Hit 90.9 Syndicated Nationally - Breakfast