The Overthinkers' Club: Happy List

Birdie is an overthinker. What starts out as a small worry, grows and grows in her head, as she starts to imagine all the worst possible things that could happen. Luckily, her best friend Chloe is also very good at overthinking, so together they come up with the ‘Happy List’ to help them cancel out their anxious thoughts. At first, the fun things on their list, like dancing and doing things for others, seem to be helping, but when Chloe adds ‘making new friends’ to the list, Birdie starts to worry that she is going to be left alone, especially when Chloe appears to be choosing being with the cool girls’ gang over her and doesn’t seem to care about all the changes happening in Birdie’s life.

The first in a new series, this book is written in a popular chatty diary format, with Dormeau’s funny and expressive scribble style drawings bringing Birdie’s often chaotic thoughts to life, as she navigates that tricky tweenager stage. Her many relatable problems such as moving house into a blended family, pets dying and friendship dramas, are handled in a sensitive manner, with plenty of humour and just the right amount of pathos. It manages to strike the perfect balance between a fun read and a reassurance to readers that these are situations that everyone experiences, and that feeling anxious about them is both perfectly normal and absolutely fine. Birdie as a character is the sort of friend we would like to have and many young readers will also recognise her traits in themselves; the worries of secondary school and wanting to be liked, lacking in self-confidence, all whilst navigating the daily problems of growing up. Her slightly unconventional, but warm and supportive family helps Birdie through her worries and also reassures the reader that there is no ‘normal’ way to grow up.

In addition to being a funny and heart-warming story, the idea of having a ‘happy list’ is also a lovely concept and a wonderful way to focus on life’s positive pleasures when you are feeling overwhelmed or anxious.

I know that this series will be hugely popular in school libraries across the country and feel that I might have to get in line to find out what Birdie gets up to next.