This review was published on Lost in a Good Book - https://wp.me/p3x8rS-34C
 

I really like this idea as a concept. Sometimes things aren’t going right and there’s no real reason why, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do something about it. If things are scary or something isn’t going well Colagiovanni tells us you can change it.

I liked the play on words about going right and left. It’s so simple but one that is obvious and eye opening. It’s a fantastic course of action to implement and easy for kids to understand. The little personified voices of the fears and worries were also great, and super fun when you read them out loud.

There is a rhythm to the story without it needing to rhyme. The repetitive actions make it predictable towards the end which actually works well and makes interacting with the story fun since the book already addresses the rhythm a little bit in the layout style.

I loved the illustrations and the colour scheme. I loved the dark colours for the not going right parts, and the brighter colours as we start going left. The gradual shift from darker shades to light was a great visual change of how the light can be at the end of a tunnel and there is a way from the dark, even with little choices like this character makes.

It is a great book about choice and how sometimes you have some agency in how you feel. You can choose to not be scared and try something new, choose to ignore your fears and doubt and leave them behind. I loved there was no given reason for why things weren’t going right and it’s only small changes that start to improve things. Colagiovanni acknowledges that those frustrations and doubts may still be there, you might not get rid of them entirely, but they will be easier to carry, and you’ll have a plan in place if it happens again.