Six picture books for children whose senses run loud
Zola hears the fridge humming. She smells the rain before it arrives. She notices the colours the rest of us hurry past. Most days that noticing is a gift — and some days it is simply too much.
There is one book for each way the world can get to be a lot, and every one ends with a real, repeatable tool a child can use the same day. Ages 3–7.
Get the free calm-down cardsAll six coping tools on cards you can print, cut out and stick on the fridge. Teachers, OTs and SLPs — please take the whole set.
Download free (PDF)Start with the book that matches the day your child is having.
when the world is too loud
Zola hears the fridge humming and smells the rain coming. But at the street fair the drums go BOOM, a siren wails, and the fun turns into a wall of noise. Her dad kneels down, hands her orange headphones, and teaches her a breathing trick she can use anywhere.
Tool it teaches: Smell the flower, blow out the candle
when clothes feel wrong
It's class photo day and the red wool sweater feels like a hug from a handful of bees. Dad doesn't argue and doesn't make her tough it out — he finds a soft undershirt to wear underneath, like armour.
Tool it teaches: Squeeze and breathe, and layer something soft
when food and smells are a lot
The school lunchroom is a wall of clatter and clashing smells, and Zola's tummy ties in a knot. Her Safe-Foods Plate keeps her steady — and her amazing nose solves the mystery of the vanishing lunchboxes.
Tool it teaches: A safe-foods plate, and one tiny bite
when light is too bright
Everyone says fireworks are beautiful. For Zola they're too bright and too sudden. With dark sunglasses and a star-counting breath she finds her calm — then spots a lost little one nobody else can see in the dazzling dark.
Tool it teaches: Dim it down, and count five stars
when talking is hard
The new boy, Milo, never says a word. When folded paper birds start appearing on desks, Zola works out who's leaving them — and does the kindest possible thing with what she knows.
Tool it teaches: Sit side by side; friendship without words
when the dark is somewhere new
Zola's first sleepover at Nana's. Then the house starts talking — a CLANK, a moan, a scratch at the window. So she goes and finds each sound, and names it.
Tool it teaches: Name the sound — a named sound stops being scary
Sensory-sensitive, autistic, ADHD and highly sensitive children — and the grown-ups having the hard afternoon with them. They are used at home, in calm-down corners, in preschool and SEL classrooms, and by occupational and speech therapists who want a story that names sensory overwhelm without ever treating a child as a problem to be fixed.
Zola notices everything — what will she notice next?