Timid - Harry Woodgate - ★★★.¾
AUTHOR: Harry Woodgate
ILLUSTRATOR:
GENRE: Children's Picture Book
RATING: 3.75 stars.
In a Nutshell: A lovely story about a shy boy who is intimidated by their “lion” whenever they have to perform in front of others. Loved the intent, liked the content, adored the illustrations.
Story Synopsis:
Little Timmy loves to perform. They spin around in their homemade costumes, singing at the top of their voice and becoming whoever they wish to be. The problem is that this performance is restricted to the confines of their room. Though they dream of performing on stage someday, they know the dream will never come true because of a giant hurdle: a lion. Whenever they try to do anything new, the lion pops out of nowhere and roars away their confidence. When the teacher announces the upcoming class play, Timmy is too dejected even to sign up. Their friend Nia decides to help them out.
The problem of shyness is a fairly common one, in adults as well as kids. In a world where we are forced to be outgoing and stage-confident, shy people have a tough time navigating the maze of unsureness and underconfidence to face the world from a dais. This is even tougher for children who are afraid to verbalise their anxiety. The story does a brilliant job of highlighting this difficult issue. It doesn’t stop only at depicting how the leonine roars affect Timmy’s confidence, but also incorporates a couple of simple techniques to overcome nervousness.
The metaphor of the lion to represent fear works quite well. Seeing the scary lion drive away Timmy’s little confidence is a great visual representation of how anxiety works in real life. I liked how the lion didn’t disappear at the end, but motivated Timmy from the audience. One doesn’t always get rid of fears, after all; one just learns to accept them and confront them. That said, the plot could have handled the ending better. Going from “we should face our fears together” to a confident stage performance was too big a jump. How exactly do you face fears together on the big day when your feet are shaky and your nerves are jittery? Perhaps an added paragraph or an afterword on this topic would have helped because Timmy’s transformation at the end is too instantaneous to be convincing.
I can’t skip mentioning Nia’s role in the story. Such a sweet little child! She knows what she wants, and despite her own shyness, she doesn’t hesitate to help out Timmy with their confidence. Of course, being a smart girl, she also gets assistance in return for her own costume. A perfect give-and-take friendship, this! I loved how both of them worked together on facing their fears and making their own costumes for the play.
You might have noticed my using the ‘they/them’ pronouns to refer to Timmy. Right on the first page where we meet Timmy, there’s a lovely photograph on the wall of their room, declaring, “Hello! My name is Timmy. My pronouns are: They/them.” My heart loves this decision. As far as I know, children’s books haven’t yet explored the concept of individualised pronouns, even though there have been picture books on gender identity awareness, same-sex relationships, and other such inclusive topics. In that sense, using they/them as dominant pronouns through the book is almost a revolutionary concept. But my head reminds me of the reason this hasn’t been done so far. At that young age (I guess Timmy is about 5-6? Their exact age isn’t specified), most children aren’t aware of pronouns other than the traditional set. They are still learning the nuances of language and ‘they’ is just a plural pronoun for them. So introducing the other ‘they’ to this young age *might* become confusing. I am not against the idea, but I feel it will better suit an older age group. I might be wrong, of course. This is still a developing topic, so perhaps educators might have a more expert opinion on this.
(And while we are on content, please note that the book mentions the words ‘drag queen’ once. I have no opinion about this either way, but some adults might be hesitant about this inclusion.)
The story is written in simple prose. Each page has 1-3 small text blocks. Most of the words are easy to understand. The book is targeted at readers aged 4-8 years, but the younger set will need assistance reading this.
The illustrations are stunning! The cover art gives you a great visual clue of how mind-blowing the graphics inside the book are. Every page is a treat to the eyes. All the colours of the rainbow seem to be dancing across the vibrant illustrations. Can’t forget to point out the rainbow-coloured highlights on the lion’s mane!
All in all, I did enjoy this book, though I am not sure of a couple of its content inclusions and I wish the ending had been more detailed.
Recommended, yes. But take a call based on the above information. It’s a brave book, perhaps a little too brave.
My thanks to Hear Our Voices Book Tours and Little Bee Books for a complimentary copy of “Timid”, and for allowing me to be a part of this blog tour. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.
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Author Harry Woodgate:
Their books include Grandad's Camper, Grandad's Pride, Timid, Little Glow, Shine Like The Stars, My First Baking Book and The Very Merry Murder Club.
Grandad's Camper, their debut author-illustrator title, won the Waterstones Children's Book Prize Best Illustrated Book in 2022 as well as a Stonewall Book Award Honor from the American Library Association, then went on to win Children's Illustrated Book of the Year at the British Book Awards in 2023. It was also shortlisted for the inaugural Polari Children's & YA Prize, and was nominated for the CILIP Yoto Kate Greenaway Award.
Harry is passionate about writing and illustrating diverse, inclusive stories that inspire children to be inquisitive, creative, kind and proud of what makes them unique.
Connect with them on:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/harryewoodgate
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/harrywoodgateart/
Website: https://www.harrywoodgate.com/
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Blurb:
Timmy is struggling with their inner cowardly lion in this picture book about friendship and overcoming anxiety.
Timmy loves nothing more than performing, that is, until they have an audience. They live in the shadow of their inner cowardly lion who loves to come out and ROAR all their confidence away. As Timmy dreads the upcoming school play, they form a powerful friendship with their classmate Nia. Together, they work to overcome their shyness and tame the lion. But when it's time to take the stage, Timmy feels the familiar swoosh of the lion's tail.
Will Timmy be able to calm their anxiety and put on a show-stopping performance?
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Check out this book:
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This has been a stop on the #Timid blog tour conducted by Hear Our Voices Tours. (@hearourvoicestours) Thanks for stopping by!
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