My little girl is a bit of the nervous disposition. She is a sometimes worrier, generally about things that one might not expect to bother her. She very often gets right up close to the moment or thing that causes her anxiety before she announces "I am feeling a bit nervous." For this reason, among others, we have been very much enjoying Sergio Makes a Splash by Edel Rodriguez.
Sergio is a penguin, who has long been a consistent fan of things like ice cubes, fish, and cold rain. All things that you would expect. However, Sergio is very nervous about the ocean, because he isn't yet a swimmer and despite the fact that he is a penguin, he isn't sure that swimming is for him. The ocean is big, you see.
This book approaches the subject of Sergio facing his fear with both a quirky sense of humor and a bit of realism. Sergio does eventually confront his deep ocean fears and decides to join his friends for a swim, just as we trusted he would from the beginning. However, this doesn't mean that everything goes just perfectly. Sergio's first attempt at something new and anxiety provoking is a little rough around the edges and the message that Rodriguez gives children through this story is that this is really, truly fine. Summoning the courage to try something that you are new at, or a bit afraid of, doesn't mean that you will instantly excel at it. But it does mean that you can feel proud of having tried, and you can certainly have a good time in the process.
Sergio Makes a Splash is a fun read, with bold, modern illustrations. It is enjoyable enough just on the surface level of being a nice picture book. But, for our family, it is also a bit more than that. It is another voice reassuring my daughter that it is perfectly normal to worry a bit about new frontiers and that when she feels brave enough to approach them, she can certainly do it in her own way.
