Some Things are Scary

Some Things are Scary by Florence Parry Heide
Illustrated by Jules Feiffer
2000

     Jules Feiffer adds his wonderful illustrations in this edition of Parry Heide's 1969's text.  When you're little, some things are truly scary.  Like holding someone's hand thinking it's your mother's when it isn't, or seeing a big warning sign but not knowing how to read what it says, or getting scolded, or "being with your mother when she can't remember where she parked the car," or ... It's all scary.  Or "thinking you're never going to get any taller than you are right now," or climbing a tree and not knowing how to get down.  It's all scary, but not as scary as "knowing you're going to grow up to be a grownup. Now that's scary!
     Some Things are Scary has a timeless sense of humor.  Feiffer's drawings of the boy's facial expressions are captivating.  Children will relate to many of those fears and the book will also give them a space to add their own lines and share their own fears.  The book could also be used in the classroom for students to share their fears and create a group text.