Sammy Feels Shy

Sammy Feels Shy

Tom Percival

Bloomsbury, 2025

32pp., pbk., RRP $A16.99

9781526673947

At home with his dad, Sammy loves having fun but when he goes to school he freezes – there are so many people, and if the spotlight is on him, he can’t even talk.  It seems that no matter what he does or where he goes, something happens to make people look at him, and even though they are sympathetic and tell him not to be shy, he begins to believe that being shy is who and what he is.  Not only that, he starts to turn a vivid shade of pink until he is pink all over!!!

It got to the stage where he was so self-conscious that he didn’t want to go anywhere or do anything … until his dad had an idea.

Shyness is a feeling that smothers many of our little ones, particularly if they are used to being one of just two or three and therefore in control of much of what’s happening around them because they are at its centre,, but when they have to compete with those who are more outgoing, exuberant and boisterous, they can feel overshadowed and overwhelmed so it is much easier to retreat into their own world.  While it’s OK to feel reticent at times – and it’s amazing how many times  that the exuberance of some is a mask for underlying feelings of uncertainty and awkwardness – it can become an issue if, like Sammy, that reticence begins to impact the things we do, the places we go and the people we mix with.  So while Dad’s idea may be daunting at first,  it turns out to be the best thing for Sammy. 

This is another in this series for young readers to learn to cope with big feelings that includes Bea’s Bad Day,   Ruby’s Worry, Perfectly Norman, Ravi’s Roar, Meesha Makes Friends, Tilda Tries Again, Milo’s Monster and Finn’s Little Fibs, each of which deals with everyday situations that our children face and are better off learning to navigate than being shielded from them. 

Apart from acknowledging, confronting and beginning to overcome the emotions that might be holding them back, children learn that they are not alone in their experiences, that everyone has something that makes them uncomfortable in certain situations and that the “negative” emotions we have do not need to define or limit us.  Often “fake it till you make it” isn’t a bad approach. And even if we never quite “make it” who we are as we are is enough.