Poppy’s Monster by Shelly Higgs and Francesca Costa

Title: Poppy’s Monster

Author: Shelly Higgs, illustrated by Francesca Costa

Genre: Fiction

Publisher: Starfish Bay

Published: 5^th February 2025

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 40

Price: $24.99

Synopsis: Poppy’s anxiety monster is making her miserable until one day she realises her monster might just be frightened too.

Poppy’s very brave, but often she gets scared and needs to hold someone’s hand. That’s when she knows her monster is around.

She has all sorts of ways to help her not feel afraid, but none of them seem to work on her monster. Until one day Poppy realises… maybe monsters need their hands holding too.

Drawing-style illustrations create a colourful, creative world.

• Helps children understand and overcome anxiety by giving it a visual form.
• Provides several strategies and ideas for helping children manage anxious and fearful emotions.
• Creative illustrations with a child’s drawing style encourage children to express their own emotions through art

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Poppy has anxiety, and there’s a shadowy monster that is always following her around, making her worry about being in school being in the playground, sleeping, eating new things and everything in between. There are things and people that make her less scared, but Poppy can’t always have those around…and she knows that when the monster is around. She thinks she is the only one with an anxiety monster…but does the monster need help too?

This charming picture book explores anxiety and fear through the eyes of a child. It’s not judgemental, but gentle, showing what anxiety can look like – and what it probably does look like for so many people who have anxiety. For Poppy and her friends, they are monsters that also get scared. Because anxiety can’t be seen, it’s often misunderstood by people who don’t know what it feels like to completely shut down, to want to speak but the words just won’t come, to have everything feel like its closing in on you. It can be debilitating, and it’s not something that can be controlled all the time. Tackling the monster can be hard, and taking small steps to get there is hard. But easing anxiety over the small things can help. But anxiety needs to be understood first, and that is where this book is so good.

It gives anxiety something visual and tangible – a monster – for people to relate it to. A monster that hovers over everything and makes life hard. For kids, this can be hard to explain and deal with, so giving it a visual character can help children – and adults identify what it feels like, what the sensations are when words are hard to get out. It’s a tricky thing to deal with at any age, let alone as a child trying to navigate so many new things in their lives. But its more than that – it is a story that families can share, with a tone and illustration style that reflects what a child sees and does.

This is important because it reminds kids and readers that messy emotions and a messy life is okay. Nothing is perfect, and everyone is who they are. Meaning anxiety, and any other difference or disability someone may have is part of them. It should be accepted, they should get help if they need it, and it is also a reminder that everyone is perfect – just as they are. As someone who has anxiety, and has times when it gets bad, a book like this is also a good reminder that I am not alone in what I go through. And whilst anxiety is different for everyone, I love that books like Poppy’s Monster and other friends in the Australian Kid Lit Crew are talking openly about it. It really can make people feel less alone if they know that there are other people struggling like they are.

I adore this book and its honesty and ability to explain anxiety in simple terms, so everyone can understand it and help people. It really is beautiful to see acceptance in so many books, and I hope this one flies into the hearts of everyone who needs it.