{"id":2385,"date":"2025-03-25T12:05:38","date_gmt":"2025-03-25T12:05:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=2385"},"modified":"2025-03-25T12:05:38","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T12:05:38","slug":"the-kids-are-alright-writing-the-tough-stuff-for-readers-by-bobbie-pyron","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=2385","title":{"rendered":"The Kids Are Alright: Writing the tough stuff for readers by Bobbie Pyron"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n<\/div>\n

Last spring, I visited with schools in Charlotte, NC. My favorite part of any school visit, is the Q&A\u00a0because the kids ask so many great questions! Invariably, someone will ask, \u201cWhen\u2019s your next book coming out and what\u2019s it about?\u201d\u00a0I was eager to\u00a0talk about my soon-to-be published book, Octopus Moon.\u00a0Yet, I hesitated. Was\u00a0its\u00a0subject too tough?<\/p>\n

Octopus Moon is a novel in verse about ten-year-old Pearl and her struggles with\u00a0mental illness. The story chronicles her journey\u00a0from crippling depression and anxiety\u00a0to understanding and hope.\u00a0Although she\u2019s had\u00a0depression\u00a0even as\u00a0a young child,she\u2019s been able to keep her depression and anxiety at bay by running, skateboarding, and spending time with her BFFs, Rosie and Mia.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Until\u00a0she couldn\u2019t.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Friendships she\u2019s always depended on,\u00a0inexplicably\u00a0change. Her older sister becomes distant. Having to remember locker combinations and class schedules overwhelms her.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And like the octopus in the aquarium where her mother works, with millions of touch receptors on their arms, Pearl feels everything. There is nothing between her and the\u00a0suffering and confusion\u00a0in the world. Pearl withdraws from her friends and family.\u00a0She finds it hard to eat, sleep, and smile.\u00a0Her coping mechanisms crumble.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Not exactly the stuff of rainbows and sparkle ponies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I looked out at the sea of expectant faces,\u00a0took a deep breath,\u00a0and launched into Pearl\u2019s story.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As the kids filed past me to go back to their classrooms,\u00a0one boy lingered until everyone except his teacher was gone. He came up to me.\u00a0\u201cMiss Bobbie,\u201d he said, \u201cI need to read your octopus book. I\u2019m depressed and I worry all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

I put my arm around his shoulder and whispered, \u201cI wrote the book for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, in many ways, I did.\u00a0But\u00a0I also wrote Octopus Moon for my ten-year-old self.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Like Pearl,\u00a0I\u00a0have battled the insidious mental illness of depression my whole life. \u00a0<\/p>\n

I was depressed even as a young child. I rarely slept. I was obsessed with death. At age five, I was certain my beloved beagle was dying, simply because his nose was dry. At age six, I woke my parents in the wee hours with this question: \u201cWill everyone else die when I die?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

This was the early 60\u2019s. No one talked about mental illness. And the idea of a child having chronic depression\u2014inconceivable! I was labeled \u201coverly sensitive,\u201d \u201cmoody,\u201d and \u201cshy.\u201d\u00a0I was well into my twenties before I finally got the help I needed.\u00a0A book like Octopus Moon would have meant\u00a0I\u00a0felt seen,\u00a0and\u00a0less lonely. It would have helped me make sense of what was \u201cwrong\u201d with me.<\/p>\n

Many\u00a0people\u00a0feel kids should be protected from tough subjects like mental illness, sadness, death, homelessness. But the truth is, the world, for all its beauty and wonder, is heartbreaking and difficult. As we all know, E.B. White did not spare readers from this truth in Charlotte\u2019s Web. And yet,\u00a0that book\u00a0continues to be read over and over, generation after generation.<\/p>\n

Kids\u00a0need\u00a0the truth.\u00a0It lets them know they are\u00a0not\u00a0alone in their\u00a0feelings.\u00a0It lets them know their sadness is ok.\u00a0It\u00a0expands their empathy, something this world sorely needs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But along with the truth, kids (like all of us) need hope.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Octopus Moon, I give Pearl things I didn\u2019t have as a child. I give her a supportive family, steadfast friends, and a wonderful therapist. And, ultimately, I give her hope.\u00a0On days \u00a0when\u00a0Pearl\u00a0doesn\u2019t understand\u00a0her depression, she reminds herself of three things she\u00a0does\u00a0understand: her family will always love her,\u00a0the ocean will always be there, and the moon, even when it\u2019s just a sliver in the sky, is always full.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kids are\u00a0strong. Kids\u00a0want\u00a0the truth. Kids need to know what they feel is ok.<\/p>\n

The kids\u00a0will be\u00a0alright.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Bobbie Pyron\u00a0has worked in libraries and bookstores in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah and has been active in local animal rescue work for many years. She\u2019s the author of\u00a0A Pup Called Trouble, A Dog\u2019s Way Home, and\u00a0Stay.\u00a0Bobbie lives in Ashville, NC, with her husband, Todd, and their dog, Sherlock. Visit her at\u00a0www.bobbiepyron.com.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last spring, I visited with schools in Charlotte, NC. My favorite part of any school visit, is the Q&A\u00a0because the kids ask so many great questions! Invariably, someone will ask, \u201cWhen\u2019s your next book coming out and what\u2019s it about?\u201d\u00a0I was eager to\u00a0talk about my soon-to-be published book, Octopus Moon.\u00a0Yet, I hesitated. Was\u00a0its\u00a0subject too tough? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":2386,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2385"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}