Oswald Messweather

This well-illustrated picture book depicts a young boy's experiences with OCD. The text and the pictures work well together, showing the distress that he feels over mess and disorder and the temporary comfort that he derives from a ritual concerning his crayons. The story's simplistic conclusion cannot accurately reflect what it takes to overcome OCD, but I like the message about the importance of a creative outlet, and this story does as much as a picture book can.

However, it is important for parents and educators to know that this book never specifically names Oswald's affliction. It is clear to the well-informed reader that he is suffering from OCD, but because this disorder is often misunderstood, I think it would have been helpful if the author had included an additional note with more information or resource ideas for children and parents who are dealing with something similar.

Oswald Messweather cannot tolerate mess and chaos in his life. When around it he gets anxious, itchy and his legs begin to jiggle. He runs to his crayons for peace and comfort. He counts them, he twists them and then he wipes them clean over and over and over again. This action brings his mind and heart solace for a time as he tunes out his surroundings and focuses on his bright joyful colours.

The talented illustrator visually documents his responses to the bedlam with black, tangled, unruly lines. In contast she portrays that Oswald's crayons provide a bright, cheerful pathway that calms and comforts him. Through loving supportive adults all around him he learns to cope with his obsessive disorder (OCD) by using his crayons to draw fun inspiring pictures.

On one hand it is very sad to see Oswald's torment as he encounters scenarios of messiness and disorder in his world but inspiring to hear that he can recover and achieve healing. This book would be a wonderful read aloud in a classroom. I would recommend it hoping that it would be a guide and a help to conquer OCD thus setting kids free from the troubling disorder.

This was the cutest book. It woukd be wonderful for a read aloud in the classroom. I would recommend it to any of my teacher friends. Oswald gets nervous several times a day. While at home with his brotherz when he steps into one of the rooms of the house and other times. He uses his tristy crayons to calm and in some way settle down a little..he twists and puts the crayons in a certain order. By the end of the book, he realizes that he can just color with the crayons and not have to put them in an order.

Oswald is so relatable to me. It is not clearly mentioned, but he suffers from OCD. It is a wonderful book for children to understand so different and sometimes difficult feelings and behaviors. Mental health is such an important topic to have conversations about at an early age. I think this is wonderful, and I think it will be close to many hearts.
Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest opinion.