Sophie - Picture Book

Silly Billy

Silly Billy is written and illustrated by Anthony Browne (2006) and is a lovely picture book about a young boy who is, 'a bit of a worrier'.  Billy worries about all sorts of novel things such as hats, clouds and shoes and despite his parents best efforts to reassure him, he still worries. When he has trouble sleeping he speaks to his Grandma who gives him worry dolls. She explains that if he tells each of the worry dolls his worries before he goes to sleep at night and puts them under his pillow they will do the worrying for him.

As always Browne's illustrations compliment the story with colour playing an important role. The colouring used in each illustration highlights Billy's mood and feelings.

Browne explains in an after note that worry dolls come from Guatemala and are a tradition to help children sleep easy and wake feeling less troubled. They are made of tiny pieces of wood and scraps of cloth and thread. Worry dolls are still used in Guatemala to this day and the tradition is said to have spread around the world.

In the classroom this could be the introduction to a Geography lesson where students could research where Guatemala is and find out more about the country and culture. It could be further connected to Art, or Design and Tech where students could design and make their own worry dolls. Worry Dolls could also lead to a cross curricular topic incorporating Health, where students could learn about other effective ways to cope with worry and stress.