Superpowered: Transform Anxiety into Courage, Confidence, and Resilience

by Renee Jain, Shefali Tsabary

Overview

This New York Times and USA TODAY bestseller is the perfect tool for children facing new social and emotional challenges in an increasingly disconnected world! This how-to book from two psychology experts—packed with fun graphics and quizzes—will help kids transform stress, worry, and anxiety. Give it to fans of The Confidence Code for Girls and Raina Telgemeier's Guts.

Now more than ever, kids need to feel empowered as they work through anxiety, overwhelm, and uncertainty brought on by the world around them. With its helpful, hands-on suggestions and tips, SUPERPOWERED will be embraced by every kid with insecurities, worries, and anxious thoughts.

Renee Jain (founder of GoZen!) and Dr. Shefali Tsabary (New York Times bestelling author and Oprah contributor) make readers the superheroes of their own stories. They introduce a toolkit of easy-to-understand methods for recognizing anxious behaviors, identifying the root causes of worried thinking, and realizing that strength can be found in reclaiming one's inner superpowers.

With the help of humorous artwork and interactive elements, readers find their P.O.W.E.R. (an acronym that inspires mindfulness and resilience practices) and gain lasting mental strength.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593126394
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	09/22/2020
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	97,339
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.10(d)
Lexile:	800L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Renee Jain, MAPP is the founder of child-psychology start-up GoZen! and is recognized as a pioneer in the fields of technology and social and emotional learning. Through her writing, product invention and development, masterclasses for parents, and advocacy for children, she works to build the emotional intelligence of kids. She holds a masters in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and has two children. Find Renee on Facebook and Instagram @gozenlove, and online at www.gozen.com.

Dr. Shefali Tsabary is a New York Times bestselling author and world-renowned clinical psychologist who received her doctorate from Columbia University. She specializes in the integration of Eastern philosophy and Western psychology, making her an expert in her field. Dr. Shefali is also the author of The Awakened Family: How to Raise Empowered, Resilient, and Conscious Children; Out of Control: Why Disciplining Your Child Doesn't Work and What Will; and The Conscious Parent: Transforming Ourselves, Empowering Our Children. She is raising a teenage daughter. Find Dr. Shefali on Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook @DrShefali, and online at www.drshefali.com.

Read an Excerpt

You probably picked up this book because you’ve been feeling stressed and worried and want help with that. Trust us, you’re in the right place and you’re going to find more than just a little help. Inside this book you’ll find secrets, strategies, hard truths, science, exercises, and more than a few mind-blowing facts that won’t just relieve your worry but will completely transform it. We’ll go as far as to say that the journey through this book could change your life. We can’t wait for you to dive in. To start, here's a story that might seem familiar to you:

Sabrina’s mom came into her room and opened up the blinds. The sunlight hurt Sabrina’s tired eyes. It took her a moment to fully wake up, to remember what was ahead of her that day. But once she did, her anxiety kicked in, her thoughts started to race, and her stomach felt queasy. She worried about the bus ride. (When her bestie wasn’t on the bus, it was hard to figure out who to sit with.) She worried about her math test. (Last week she was moved to the math group that everyone knew was the “extra help” group.) Sabrina’s thoughts often got so loud, she could hardly hear people in the same room with her. Her stomach hurt. Her head felt like it was underwater. She was hot. It felt like there was a battle inside her body, and she wished everything would just stop. She didn’t remember life being this hard before.
If this book is going to work, we need to be honest with each other. The truth is important. And the truth is that, sometimes, life isn’t easy.

Maybe you knew that. 
Maybe you knew that because sometimes you have that horrible upset feeling in your stomach, like it’s full or burning or about to erupt. 
Maybe you knew that because sometimes your thoughts spin like they’re on a carnival ride, dizzying, too fast for you to focus, too fast for you to sleep, like hundreds of screams spinning round and round. 
Maybe you knew that sometimes life isn’t easy, because sometimes you feel worried. Not just worried about things that might be dangerous, but worried about things that are part of a regular day. Worried about going to school. Worried about playing that soccer game. Worried about not being liked. Worried about feeling worried.
When all of those feelings and thoughts swirl together, it’s called anxiety. Anxiety makes us feel nervous, fearful, and terribly insecure. Anxiety makes us feel like running away and hiding, and sometimes we really do. Anxiety makes us feel like yelling and screaming, and sometimes we really do. Anxiety makes us feel like not trying anymore, and sometimes—well, you get the point. 

There you go. That’s the cold, hard truth. But that’s not the whole truth. There’s more. And believe us, you’re going to want to hear this more. 
Anxiety doesn’t need to feel so awful. There are ways to transform anxiety so that it actually works for you. The first step in learning how to deal with anxiety is to understand why we’re anxious. The moment we can figure this out, the rest takes care of itself. So, why are we so anxious? Time for another truth: the main reason we’re all anxious is because our superpowers have been zapped. 

Are you rolling your eyes because we’re talking about superpowers? Hold on. We’re not saying you have super strength, laser vision, and that you secretly battle villains at night (although that would be cool). We’re saying that if you’re reading this (we’re pretty sure you are), and if you’re human (again, pretty sure that’s true), then you have a special set of powers that can supercharge you through life and help you fight stress, worry, and pressure. The problem? No one told you that you had these powers or how to use them. 

That’s where we come in. We’ve worked with thousands of kids, each one unique, and every single one—without exception—has these skills we call superpowers. These superpowers are hidden deep within us. Sometimes they feel totally nonexistent, but they’re definitely there. Every single one of us came into this world fully charged with five incredible superpowers.

Editorial Reviews

07/31/2020

Gr 4–7—This book uses the acronym POWER (Present, Original, Whole, Energized, and Resilient) to describe the innate "superpowers" children possess to cope with anxiety, worries, stress, and nerves. Divided into three sections, the text allows readers to identify and deal with negative emotions or situations. The text is supplemented by graphics, engaging illustrations, and real-life examples. Jain and Tsabary divide big ideas into easy-to-understand concepts and solutions, providing solid analogies that children can internalize. There are activities that can be completed directly in the book, strengthening reader comprehension. Each chapter offers "key takeaways," which recap what was covered and prevent information overload. Some readers might find some of the language corny. However, if read with an adult, caretaker, or educator, this title serves as a powerful tool to help those who have a hard time understanding their own feelings and worries. The text addresses the reader directly, which is a great way to drive home the message that anxiety is real, they are not alone, and they are seen and heard. VERDICT A serviceable purchase for upper elementary and middle school libraries; hand a copy to every counselor and school psychologist in the building.—Carol Youssif, Taipei American Sch., Taiwan

School Library Journal

2020-07-14
A celebrity psychologist and the founder of a company that sells emotional learning programs team up for a workbook about managing anxiety.

How should kids manage the discomfort and panic that accompany anxiety? Worksheets and exercises teach readers the basics of many common anxiety management techniques in use today, drawing heavily from behavioral therapies for managing anxiety’s cognitive distortions. Fictionalized case studies populate each lesson, illustrated with dynamic, cartoonlike young people drawn with a variety of skin colors and hair textures. The problems the sample kids face are straightforward: Will I fail my math test? Will I fit in at this new school? Their anxieties are usually unfounded, which they learn through following the techniques. The overly tidy framing doesn’t do readers any favors: Adolescence can be scary and dangerous, and contemporary tweens and teens often face serious crises. While the exercises may be helpful for many anxiety sufferers, case studies focusing on self-esteem and perfectionism won’t speak to readers worried about serious illness, coming out, violence, or deportation. The use of Jackie Robinson to convey the idea that inner strength can defeat racism feels tone-deaf. Exercises hop from concept to concept, too heavily packed with acronyms, coinages, and techniques. Global statements addressed directly at “you” may make some readers feel seen while alienating those to whom these generalizations do not apply.

A cutely illustrated, chaotically disorganized, and jargon-heavy repackaging of behavioral therapies for anxiety. (endnotes, glossary, resources, index) (Self-help. 11-13)

Kirkus Reviews

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"A powerful tool to help those who have a hard time understanding their own feelings and worries ... Hand a copy to every counselor and school psychologist in the building." —School Library Journal

"Worksheets and exercises teach readers the basics of many common anxiety management techniques in use today, drawing heavily from behavioral therapies for managing anxiety’s cognitive distortions." —Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher