Katie O’Donoghue has a new book, The Little Otter Who Tried (Gill Books, 2023) and it’s just as wonderful as her first book The Little Squirrel Who Worried (Gill Books, 2021). As with her first book, she weaves together her knowledge of psychology and art to unfold a story that offers lessons for the reader, of any age.
The Otter’s Story
In her latest book, Katie O’Donoghue shares the tale of Little Otter who is afraid to swim on her own. This fear is deterring her, but her riverside friends have also had their share of learning something new and offer support. Little Otter keeps trying and her perseverance and resilience soon helps her realize how strong and capable she really is! This helps her feel confident in swimming on her own while her friends reminded her that everyone starts somewhere when learning something new.
Katie O’Donoghue is a child and young people’s therapist with a background in Fine Art and Design. She hails from Kerry and has a master’s degree in Art Psychotherapy and a PhD in Healthy Psychology. Her expertise in these two fields helps guide her story writing to reinforce positive mindset and growth for children. She writes her books to attend to the challenges children face and to support the inner child in us all.
Lessons to Learn
The Little Otter Who Tried brings a beautiful hand-painted story to life for children, while also sharing valuable lessons. The clever combination of story and psycho-education is supportive of children in learning perseverance and resilience. These skills help support children through challenges and build confidence.
Learning perseverance and resilience can help children develop a growth mindset, which is the belief that intelligence and abilities can be developed through hard work and dedication. With a growth mindset, children are more likely to take on challenges and view mistakes as opportunities to learn and improve. When children learn to persevere, they develop a sense of determination and grit that can help them succeed in many areas of their lives. Resilience is the ability to bounce back from setbacks or failures. When children learn resilience, they develop the ability to cope with adversity and to adapt to changing circumstances. All these then help build confidence. Confidence is important because it allows us to believe in ourselves and our abilities. When we are confident, we are more likely to take on challenges and pursue our goals, even in the face of obstacles and setbacks. Confidence can also help us to be more assertive, to express ourselves more effectively, and to make better decisions.
Katie O’Donoghue’s books are brilliant because they are supportive of and encouraging positive psychology in children, but without feeling like a lesson is being taught. She is gifted at telling a story while drawing you in. If you have the opportunity to buy one of her books, or both, you’ll enjoy reading and re-reading them as we do here at my house.
