I'm Busy

Written by Michael Ian Black

Illustrated by Debbie Ridpath Ohi

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

978-1-6659-1524-3

40 pp.

Ages 4–8

Releases February 24 2026 

 

Michael Black and Debbie Ridpath Ohi's remarkable trio—a little girl, a pink flamingo, and a potato—from I'm Bored (2012), I'm Sad (2018), I'm Worried (2019), and I'm Sorry (2021) have returned, and now one of them is struggling with overcommitment and a lack of life balance. Together they've always helped each other through their issues. Can they help this time? And will there be a time when they can fit it in?

From I'm Busy, written by Michael Ian Black, illustrated by Debbie Ridpath Ohi

Flamingo wants to play, but every time he asks his friend, the little girl with the darling yellow barrettes, if she wants to play superheroes or Hula-Hoop, she tells him that she's busy. She may be painting or coding or experimenting or practising her trumpet, but it's always something. And her reasoning? "I can't! School starts in two weeks and then I've only got twelve years before college applications are due!" (pg. 7) Yikes. This child has a lot on her mind and her calendar.

From I'm Busy, written by Michael Ian Black, illustrated by Debbie Ridpath Ohi

Flamingo is very understanding, as is the droll Potato ("I can't read," he says when she shows them her calendar. [pg. 9]), but their questions about when she'll have time disquiet her. They try to help her slow down by watching the clouds, and that finally makes her realize that she needs to find balance to her dilemma. (FYI, a dilemma is not like a soufflé as Potato suggests.)

From I'm Busy, written by Michael Ian Black, illustrated by Debbie Ridpath Ohi

This little girl isn't just busy. She's also stressing because of that busyness. But with the help of her friends, making time for herself, and maybe some playing in the mud, she finds some balance in her life. And she finds it with humour, companionship, and uncommon wisdom. 

 

The humour is courtesy of American comedian (and actor and writer) Michael Ian Black who manages to make readers laugh while guiding them through common childhood dilemmas. Here, taking on more than she can handle is the result of uncertainty about her future and whether she can accomplish all that she feels she must. Though there are no adults in Michael Ian Black and Debbie Ridpath Ohi's I'm books, I can't help but think that there are some adults in the little girl's life compounding her worries. (Mind you, she's already coding so all this could be a result of her own awareness of what she needs to do to be successful.) Her friends may be unusual, but with Flamingo's eagerness for play, and Potato's apparent inertia, Michael Ian Black has created a perfect trio of characters that children will appreciate, maybe even know, and from whom they can learn while laughing, right down to the last line.

 

But I'm Busy needs Debbie Ridpath Ohi's illustrations to bring the story to life. We know the book's characters through her art, as well as Michael Ian Black's voice, but she gives them the colour and shape and expression that makes them easily identifiable and wholly adored. There is never any question that this little girl is accomplished but frantic with busyness. Her eyes are focused, she has a strained or absent smile, and, when she's really anxious, there are despair lines around her eyes. Debbie Ridpath Ohi's artwork is so evocative that she can create deep emotions with just a few lines. (Look at Potato in the illustration below. With just two eyes and a mouth, it is evident that he is cringing at her trumpet playing.) Thanks to Debbie Ridpath Ohi's art, reading I'm Busy is a treat for the eyes as well as the spirit.

From I'm Busy, written by Michael Ian Black, illustrated by Debbie Ridpath Ohi

Help young children find balance in their lives with some humour, extraordinary friends, and an abundance of colour and joy with a reading of I'm Busy. Then read the other I'm books in the series to help them understand their feelings and handle them with self-assurance, with or without a flamingo or a potato by their side.

 

• • • • • • • • • • • 

 

Read all five of the I'm books by Michael Ian Black and Debbie Ridpath Ohi. After all, it's important to make time for the good things in life. 

 

I'm Bored (2012)

I'm Sad (2018)

I'm Worried (2019)

I'm Sorry (2021)

I'm Busy (2026)

 

Also, there are some fun resources 

at Debbie Ridpath Ohi's page for I'm Busy here

• • • • • • • • • • • 

So Long, Stress!

Written by Helaine Becker

Illustrated by Joanna Sevilla

Scholastic Canada

978-1-4431-8770-1

152 pp.

Ages 9-13

August 2023

 

Self-help sections of bookstores are laden with books to help adults cope with everyday stress and debilitating anxiety. But, too often, we expect children to just manage with the same strategies that we might utilize. Just as there is no single solution for coping for us, applying adult strategies to children is problematic. By helping children understand stress and providing them with an array of strategies, they have an opportunity to say, "So Long, Stress!"

From So Long, Stress!, written by Helaine Becker, illus. by Joanna Sevilla

So Long, Stress! is so well-organized, and I wouldn't expect anything less from Helaine Becker who excels at non-fiction texts, making it easy for young readers to follow advice while giving them choices to help them help themselves. The book is divided into 5 parts with an additional section on resources as well as an extensive index. Part 1 deals with the physiology of stress, its purpose in aiding in survival, its symptoms, and how to identify one's own triggers.

From So Long, Stress!, written by Helaine Becker, illus. by Joanna Sevilla

Part 2, the largest section, focuses onto how to prevent and manage stress, from getting organized, developing a mindset to see challenges differently, relaxing through breathing, mindfulness, and exercise, and developing healthy habits for food and sleep.

Emotions are at the heart of Part 3 of So Long, Stress!, and since most of us associate stress with emotional distress, this section is key to helping young readers become familiar with their feelings. Becoming familiar includes acknowledging those emotions, expressing them, and reacting to them, as well as learning how to make meaningful connections with others, and finding creative outlets to help with self-care.

From So Long, Stress!, written by Helaine Becker, illus. by Joanna Sevilla

Inevitably, life will be filled with stresses and Part 4 considers how to deal with overwhelming challenges, including managing conflict.

Finally, Helaine Becker ends her comprehensive book with finding and asking for help, and provides resources that include websites, apps, and more.

So Long, Stress! includes everything, absolutely everything, a young person might use to help them find healthy habits to prevent stress, the means to face those inevitable challenges, and direction when those strategies might need extra support. Helaine Becker keeps her tone upbeat and hopeful that young people can manage, and she's given them a variety of angles from which to approach life's challenges. As an adult, I've had my share of stress and anxiety, and even I gleaned new tactics to help manage and endure. With her light but informative approach, coupled with Joanna Sevilla's colourful illustrations, Helaine Becker gets to the heart of stress and makes sure that young people have the means to deal with it successfully.

The Sun Will Come Out

Written by Joanne Levy

Orca Book Publishers

978-1-4598-2587-1

281 pp.

Ages 9-12

April 2021

If the title of Joanne Levy's newest middle grade novel has you singing the song "Tomorrow" from the musical Annie, then you know what 11-year-old Bea Gellman is wishing for when she has to attend her first summer sleepover camp without her best friend Frankie. All Bea's plans for a fabulous summer at Camp Shalom go out the window when Frankie is accepted to attend an expensive horse camp. Bea knows it won't be the same, even if her crush, Frankie's 14-year-old brother Jeremy, will be there as a counselor-in-training. But all Bea's dad can tell her is to look for the silver lining. 

Very quickly Bea makes a friend of Regan, a girl from Ireland, whose grandparents live locally and wish her to meet some Jewish friends. But also in Cabin 17 are mean girls Carly and Samantha who make Bea the butt of their jokes after she breaks out in hives. And with every new embarrassment, whether it's mistaking the mess tent for the arts and crafts area, seeing Jeremy, or being pushed into him for a kiss, Bea is reduced to hives that send her to the infirmary. There she meets Harry, the thirteen-year-old son of the camp directors, who helps out rather than participating in camp activities because of the meanness of some campers about his appearance. Because Harry has progeria, a rare genetic disorder that is characterized by a number of unusual physical traits including small stature, a large head and no hair, he is happiest helping out in the infirmary and staying behind the scenes.

 

Since Harry is delighted to have some company his own age and Bea appreciates being able to avoid her cabin, especially after learning that Regan and Jeremy were seen kissing after a rehearsal for the camp musical of Annie, the two young people become fast friends, bonding over video games and movies including that of the very musical set to be performed. But while they share a need to cocoon in the comfort of their new friendship, they realize that they're both running away from things that scare them. Harry recognizes that courage may require doing something that is frightening, but...

...even if something doesn't turn out the way you hope, that's not failing. Not trying at all because you're scared is failing. (pg. 235)

At Camp Shalom, there are days of rain and sun, friendships and bullies, and times of angst and glory, and Joanne Levy takes us there for every moment. Of course it has everything that kids experience through the school year, when they are faced with new challenges and people, learning to get by and get along and rise above. There's still much laughter and tears, camaraderie and struggles, but with Camp Shalom as the setting for Bea's newest chapter, Joanne Levy introduces a distinct world of Shabbat services, hamotsi, and ometz lev. But whether they can speak Hebrew or are looking forward to their bat mitzvahs or just figuring out friendships, Joanne Levy has created characters as real as those who may be currently struggling with virtual schools and missing their friends and looking for more.

 

The sun will come out tomorrow, or perhaps the day after, but Joanne Levy helps us see that, with a little humour, a dab of courage and the recognition of a silver lining to most things, almost anything can be endured and even transformative. Most of all, there will be notable moments in our lives when new people come into them, perhaps for only a short time, to offer the kind of friendships that teach us more about ourselves.

Cooper Clark and the Dragon Lady

Written by Valerie Sherrard

Illustrated by David Jardine

Fitzhenry & Whiteside

978-1-55455-462-1

80 pp.

Ages 7-10

2019

Cooper's friends Jared and Nina like dragons but Cooper does not. He just tries to avoid anything to do with dragons: movies, games, play. But when his regular after-school babysitter, Linda, takes a new job and can't look after him anymore and his parents suggest Mrs. Mulligan, it becomes a whole lot harder to deal with his fear.

Cooper's parents don't know what he knows about the elderly Mrs. Mulligan. Older boys Lenny and Matt have told everyone that she has a dragon with a pointy tongue in her basement and sometimes she lets it run free. So Cooper creates a web of lies to try to get out of going to Mrs. Mulligan's house.  When those don't work, the boy takes evasive actions.  In the end, after a series of missteps, Cooper learns a thing or two, including how to knit, and that all dragons are not the same.

Cooper Clark and the Dragon Lady is an early reader that addresses the power of the imagination to feed fears from gossip and rumours. There really is a dragon in Mrs. Mulligan's basement but it's a version that delights not hurts. Sadly Cooper, like most children, believes those who are older and might know better and this proves to be his undoing. Well, that and his fear of dragons that he doesn't share with his family or friends.

Tackling important issues in early readers is not always easy. You don't have the expressive illustrations of picture books that can carry much of a message or the vocabulary and word count of middle grade or YA novels to delve deep into issues such as anxiety and fears. So, for Valerie Sherrard to speak to young readers at their level of worry and the expression of that worry, she has accomplished much with Cooper Clark and the Dragon Lady. It's a short story that accepts that young children will have fears that seem outlandish to those who are older and that they will find clumsy strategies to deal with those fears. However, those fears are very real. But, with some support from others, and a dose of the truth, those fears can be reconstructed into something less destructive.

Lili Macaroni

Written by Nicole Testa

Illustrated by Annie Boulanger

Pajama Press

978-1-77278-093-2

32 pp.

Ages 4-7

August 2019

It's too bad that school, a place of opportunity and learning, can be such a stressful experience for some young children. In fact, it can cause so much anxiety that they need to develop coping strategies to get through. That's a problem with the system, not the child, though it is difficult to see the troubles as anything but internal and very personal. Fortunately for Lili, she learns something about making things tolerable for herself and helps out others in the process.

From Lili Macaroni by Nicole Testa, illus. by Annie Boulanger

Lili can see her family in her hair, in her freckles, her eyes and her laughter. Her joie de vivre fills her days with love and imaginative play. When Lili is old enough to go to school, she looks forward to learning and meeting new friends. She does learn much, including about butterflies and moths. But when her new friends make fun of her last name, calling her Lili Macaroni-and-cheese, and her hair, eyes, freckles and laugh, Lili's joy begins to leak from her.

Why didn't Mom, Dad, Grandma, or Grandpa tell me that it wasn't good to be Lili Macaroni?

From Lili Macaroni by Nicole Testa, illus. by Annie Boulanger

Though she'd always said "I am the way I am," Lili is now envisioning herself as a dark-haired girl with no freckles. But Sophia is not her.

From Lili Macaroni by Nicole Testa, illus. by Annie Boulanger

Her dad suggests she draw one of her lovely polka-dotted butterflies to "help fly the heartache away." Clipping it to her shoulder, Lili feels the weight of the teasing leave her. It's a strategy she shares with her teacher who in turn shares Lili's butterfly solution with all her students.

From Lili Macaroni by Nicole Testa, illus. by Annie Boulanger

Teasing can be playful but it can also be bullying and very young children don't always know when one has become the other. In the mean while, there are little ones like Lili who must endure humiliating comments about their physical appearance and then wish they were anyone other than themselves. Fortunately, author Nicole Testa surrounds Lili with some very astute adults who recognize the little girl's need to feel good about being herself. Without hoovering up her bad feelings or demanding the school take action, they allow Lili to make her coping strategy work for her.  It's positive and it's empowering.

Quebec illustrator Annie Boulanger, who illustrated Nicole Testa's French-language Lili Macaroni: Je suis comme je suis! (Dominique et compagnie, 2017), gives Lili all the attributes the text imbues her with. She's a little wild, a lot of fun, and a whole lot of smart. She's colourful and inquisitive and enthusiastic. But when she' sad, the light is gone from her eyes and her clothing and the page.

From Lili Macaroni by Nicole Testa, illus. by Annie Boulanger

For young children going off to school for the first time, Lili Macaroni will help prepare them to recognize teasing that is insensitive and harmful and help them handle it for themselves as well as for others.

Fox and Squirrel, The Best Christmas Ever

by Ruth Ohi

North Winds Press, an imprint of Scholastic Canada

978-1-4431-5703-2

32 pp.

Ages 2-7

September 2016

Now that the train of Santa Claus parades has begun and Christmas decorations are splattering front yards and homes throughout the country (yes, I know stores have been on the Christmas bandwagon for months!), it feels right to start reviewing some Christmas-themed books.   With Ruth Ohi’s Fox and Squirrel (Fox and Squirrel, 2013; Fox and Squirrel Make a Friend, 2014) making their own plans for the holidays, this might just get everyone else in the mood too.

From Fox and Squirrel, The Best Christmas Ever 

by Ruth Ohi

Once the snow comes, the two unlikely friends are definitely excited about Christmas. But while Fox is enjoying playing in the snow, Squirrel is enthusiastically planning colours, foods and starting a tower of evergreen twigs and red berries.  When Fox wants to help, Squirrel emphatically, almost rudely, fends him off, telling him, “Don’t touch! You’ll ruin it.” (pg. 11)

From Fox and Squirrel, The Best Christmas Ever 

by Ruth Ohi

Squirrel continues to go deeper into the forest, looking for more touches for his Christmas creation, until he realizes he cannot find his way back.  Fortunately, though chastized, Fox continued to try to contribute and was there with his friend to help make their way home.  With an apology and forgiveness, and the partnering of true friends, Fox and Squirrel do make the best Christmas ever.

From Fox and Squirrel, The Best Christmas Ever 

by Ruth Ohi

It’s hard not to love Ruth Ohi’s Fox and Squirrel (actually all her characters). Their eyes beam with joy, their mouths laugh with happiness, and their camaraderie is infectious.  In Fox and Squirrel, the Best Christmas Ever, the two are able to work through the ever-common stress of the holidays and find it’s the gift  of their friendship that makes the season.  This is sweetly conveyed in Ruth Ohi’s words, primarily simple dialogue between Fox and Squirrel, but more so in her cartoon-like illustrations of the two companions.  Their large oval heads with half-faces and bellies of white may be distinct, but it’s the body language and facial expressions that Ruth Ohi communicates with limited strokes that make Fox and Squirrel the lovable creatures they are.  In their watercolour landscapes of snow-covered fields, falling flakes, evergreens, and majestic trunks of bare deciduous trees, Fox and Squirrel exude affection for each other and life, and young readers will feel welcomed to enjoy the snow and the season with the two friends.
 
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Downloadable activities plus cards and bookmarks are available at Ruth Ohi’s website at http://www.ruthohi.com/fox-and-squirrel-winter-fun

The French-language version, Rikii et Rouquin, Le plus beau Noël (texte français de Josée Leduc) is also available.

Cut the Lights

by Karen Krossing

Orca Book Publishers

978-1-4598-0413-5

129 pp.

Ages 11-14

October, 2013

Briar may only be in Grade 10 at the Whitlock School of the Arts, but she already knows that she wants a career as a director.  And being selected one of the seven students to direct a play–in fact, her best friend Ratna's play "Wish Upon a Star"–at Whitlock's Fringe Festival is an auspicious beginning.  But negotiations with the other directors, most more experienced than herself, for the available actors leads to some animosity when Briar doesn't follow protocol and offers Sonata, the best actor at school, the lead role.

Even knowing that "Casting is a balance between the ideal and the real" (pg. 22), Briar seems to be struggling with her crew: Sonata, who gives far too much advice; Mica, her male lead who is too infatuated with Sonata to think straight; Clayton, her rather drab star, who breaks his arm; and George, her stage manager, who is too often distracted from doing his job.  When gossip starts that Ratna's play is cursed, Briar learns the trick to directing is empowering her cast and crew, and recognizing that her vision can be adapted to others' ideas and feelings.

While young readers will enjoy the performing arts aspect of Cut the Lights and other titles in Orca's new Limelights series, it is still the characters that will grab their attention and their hearts.  Karen Krossing's Briar may come across as pushy and bossy but it's just the director in her.  When things seem to be falling apart, she knows enough to get some advice about teamwork and reins herself in for the good of the production.  Surprisingly, it's by looking at her team as individuals beyond their roles that ultimately leads to success.  Without making Briar altruistic or unbelievable, Karen Krossing has created a character who learns to make good choices by considering others' needs, something most of us should do more often.  Those choices make the production a success and mark Briar as a true leader.  I can say the same for Cut the Lights and Karen Krossing, respectively.