Get Me Out of This Book: Rules and Tools for Being Brave

by Deborah Cholette, Kalli Dakos, Sara Infante (Illustrator)

Overview

"GET ME OUT OF THIS BOOK!" shouts Max. Max is a scaredy-cat bookmark until he learns 3 rules for being brave—breathe deeply, make a plan, and think positive thoughts!

When Max the bookmark went into a scary book, he couldn't LOOK and he SHOOK and he SCREAMED, "GET ME OUT OF THIS BOOK!"

Then he learned to (1) breathe deeply, (2) make a plan, and (3) think positive thoughts—techniques used by the Navy SEALs. Max put his new tools into practice and now he's brave enough to face a snake, yucky bugs, and even a seven-headed monster!

This humorous story packs a big punch as it introduces children to mindfulness, self-regulation, self-control, and other techniques for dealing with stress and overcoming fear.

Every copy of Get Me Out of This Book! comes with its very own pull-out Max the Bookmark. He's ready to hold your place in any book and remind you of the rules and tools—just in case things get too scary.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780823449309
Publisher:	Holiday House
Publication date:	06/01/2021
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.31(w) x 11.02(h) x 0.20(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Kalli Dakos is a poet and writer. Her books are very popular with children and include six ILA/CBC Children's Choices. She splits her time between the United States and Canada.

This is Deborah Cholette's debut as a picture book author. She lives in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Sara Infante has won national awards in Portugal, where she currently lives. She has illustrated eight picture books.

Editorial Reviews

"Books that help children deal with fear are always helpful when done right and this one is." —School Library Journal


"Repetitive and at times rhyming, the text builds a rhythm that lends itself to read-alouds, especially for educators with students who seem to have difficulty regulating fear-related emotions. . . . An ambitious blending of emotional and psychological tools with fantasy that will serve the right reader well."—Kirkus Reviews

"Traumatized by frightening illustrations ('I couldn’t LOOK and I SHOOK and I SCREAMED'), a timorous bookmark takes a course in how to cope with fear. . . . Infante effectively employs spiky shapes and garish colors to evoke the bookmark’s initial terror during its training. A serviceable addition to the shelf of advice about dealing with fears, boosted by a clever premise."—Booklist

From the Publisher

06/01/2019

PreS-Gr 2—Max is a bookmark who is afraid of books. Actually, it's the pictures that really freak him out. The king cobra from The Jungle Book is the one that sent him over the edge and he decided he desperately needed to get some help. He went back to school to get a Special Bookmark Badge. At school, his trainer offers ideas on how to face his fears and make them go away. He learns to breathe deeply, make a plan, and think good thoughts. And it works! The art is just perfect for this story. The "scary" images are not nearly as scary as Max seems to think and the interspersing of darker images with the light takes the fright down a notch. Max, himself, is appealing and his emotions are shown best in the shape of his mouth and arch of his eyebrows. Consider pairing it with Ed Emberley's classic Go Away, Big Green Monster!, Patricia Polacco's Thunder Cake, Greg Pizzoli's The Watermelon Seed, and Emily Gravett's Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears. VERDICT Books that help children deal with fear are always helpful when done right and this one is. A solid addition for most collections.—Joan Kindig, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA

School Library Journal

2019-03-17
Max, a formerly anxious bookmark, shares their journey to find strategies to manage their fear of the scary pictures in books.

Stylized mixed-media illustrations create an air of whimsy and encouragement in an artistic style reminiscent of Oliver Jeffers': Scribbled lines pop against generous white space and a muted, textured color palette. Repetitive and at times rhyming, the text builds a rhythm that lends itself to read-alouds, especially for educators with students who seem to have difficulty regulating fear-related emotions. The text depicts Max's instinctive panic response before they demonstrate the three Navy SEAL approaches to fear taught at Bookmark School: "Breathe deeply," "Make a plan," and "Think good thoughts." Typography is utilized well here: The words "RULES AND TOOLS," which serve as a shorthand for the Navy SEAL strategies, are distinguished from the rest of the text by traditional serif type, while the words "SCARIEST pictures" appear in larger nonserif type. Attired in a jaunty red cap with a yellow tassel, Max is a peachy pink bookmark, while their unnamed trainer is a deep red color with a long, blue queue-like tassel and dramatically sloping eyebrows (unfortunately calling to mind problematic, one-sided depictions of Asian characters skilled in mindfulness and martial arts).

An ambitious blending of emotional and psychological tools with fantasy that will serve the right reader well. (authors' note) (Picture book. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews