Available:*
Material Type | Library | Call Number | Suggested Age | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Book | Searching... Cabell County Public Library | KAS | Juvenile | Searching... Unknown |
| Book | Searching... Hurricane Public Library | KAS | Juvenile | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
An adorable, heartfelt picture book debut from Manka Kasha, Small Knight and the Anxiety Monster follows the magical quest of a knight finding the courage to confront an ever growing monster.
The worry kept growing day by day, until... one morning Small Knight woke up to see a huge inky monster in their room.
When Small Knight feels pressure from their parents to be a perfect princess, an anxiety monster shows up. No one else can see the monster, so Small Knight and their best friend Tiny Bear, decide that it is up to them to save themselves. They set off on a magical quest, only to discover that the answer was inside themselves all along. Turning to face the Anxiety Monster, they learn how to keep it under control.
Personal and whimsical, Manka Kasha's debut picture book is a beautiful story about understanding your anxiety and finding the courage to face it.
Author Notes
Maria Biktimirova, aka Manka Kasha, is a University teacher born and raised in Russia. She has a postgrad degree in English Language and Literature, and is reluctantly trying to work on her PhD in her free-from-drawing time. When she is not teaching her students (who are absolutely the best), or drawing, she prefers to read, listen to cast recordings of some musicals, or binge-watch TV-shows. Small Knight and the Anxiety Monster is her debut picture book.
Reviews (2)
Horn Book Review
Kasha tells an encouraging story about being brave and conquering anxiety in service of being true to oneself. "The king and queen hoped their child would be a proper princess," but princessing isn't for Small Knight ("...not that being a princess is bad..."). Taking "Proper Princess Lessons" distresses the young adventurer, though, and their parents are cluelessly dismissive: "One day a brave knight will save you!" Use of nonbinary they/them pronouns for Small Knight adds another layer of meaning to the narrative. The emotionally charged illustrations effectively depict Small Knight's worries about parental disappointment as a creature-shaped mass of angry sharp lines. In the end, a wise dragon provides the key: "What you should do is look inside yourself." (c) Copyright 2023. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
This fairy tale is partially, and powerfully, about facing anxiety, but also about finding the courage to defy expectations. Small Knight is a wild-haired child living in a castle, whose parents, the king and queen, expect them to become a "proper princess." Small Knight wants nothing to do with being a princess, confined to looking pretty and behaving beautifully. They want to go on adventures, but as soon as they defy the royals, they notice a small, dark, hairy blob nearby, which keeps growing until it becomes a truly scary, inky, evilly grinning monster. Small Knight's parents tell them not to worry about the monster and that a prince will someday save them. They set off on a quest through the forest to find how to defeat the monster, learning that facing their anxiety head-on is the answer. The illustrations, done in watercolors and ink, provide astonishing bursts of color and comic, or sometimes scary, details. The sort of book that may stick with kids years after reading.
