Traveling Rose
Traveling Rose is about a stuffed bunny with OCD. Her first book is called Unraveling Rose. In the sequel, Rose is getting ready for a trip to London with her boy and a stuffed hippo named Iris. Rose is opposite of Iris, who seems to be ready for anything. “Iris did not walk—she charged. If Rose climbed down carefully from the park bench, Iris jumped right off.”
Rose worries about every little thing. Will she get cold? Will she be able to fall asleep? Did she turn off her bedroom lamp? Rose’s special to-do list keeps her from worrying out of control.
At the airport, Rose sits and worries about the lamp while Iris watches the giant jets out the window. Zuzu, the stuffed squirrel, stays at home for reasons unexplained. Rose thinks of calling her to turn off the lamp. “Then the worry thought spoke again. ‘What if Zuzu accidentally knocks the lamp over when she tries to turn it off?! It could break,’ it warned Rose.”
Rose picks at a loose thread under her arm, probably repeating what happened in the first book (based on its name). “The thought kept saying over and over,” Something bad could happen . . . Something bad could happen!”
Iris helps Rose understand that she also has worry thoughts and that she can usually control them with her DETERMINED.
Rose gets on the plane with Iris and the boy and ends up having a good time in London. “There were moments when worry thoughts pushed their way in, but Rose practiced her DETERMINED and told them to be quiet.”
The soft pastel with black outlined art fits the mood of the book. It’s a low-key kind of story with soothing illustrations. The endpapers show airplanes, trains, London snow globes, and taxis in pinks and black on pale gray paper. The cover is a pastel yellow background with Rose and those three modes of transportation shown on the endpapers. The back cover shows the traveling trio waiting at a gate in the airport, Iris at the window, Rose wound up with worry in her seat.
Any child or parent with OCD will see themselves in Rose’s character. The book might help them to learn to be more like Iris and to take more chances at having more carefree memories. At least they will learn that they are not alone in their worry thoughts.