Hello, friends! Our book today is P Is For Psychology, written by Natasha Schvey and illustrated by Nicole Jones Sturk, third in a series of alphabetic primers of advanced fields, illustrated by Sturk and written by subject matter experts.

Little readers will have a crash course in psychology terms, some simple and more broad (such as “mindfulness”, “attachment”, or “therapy”), and some more specific to the field of mental health and study (like “Classical Conditioning”, “Delusions of Granduer”, or “Melanie Klein”). The illustrations display the concepts, often converting them into humorous or simplified visuals for little readers to laugh at or connect to (two dogs training a human with a bell and a slice of bacon for “Classical Conditioning” was a favorite).

These books have been sleeper hits in our household, and the newest follows the tradition of E Is For Economics and L Is For Law by providing clever and memorable visuals to punch up rather complex subject matter. Best of all, this book is the first to feature a glossary of terms in the back, an immense help for readers of all ages who might like to learn more about what the “Zone of Proximal Development” is. For those well-versed in psychology, there are cute, clever visual winks, such as a recreation of the Stanford marshmallow experiment to illustrate “eXperiment”. And perhaps best of all, all of the subjects relating to emotions and therapy are depicted in a positive, encouraging light; the artwork for “Therapy”, in which a smiling boy calmly and casually chats with his therapist, is a great way to show little ones that there is nothing scary or wrong about mental health. Sturk’s illustrations feature a diverse cast, the length is fine for a quick read, and as I said, JJ loves these books! A cute primer for families who have experience in the field of mental health, or would love to learn more together, and it’s Baby Bookworm approved!

(Note: A copy of this book was provided to The Baby Bookworm by the author in exchange for an honest review.)