Oh Susanna: It's in the bag by Carole P Roman

What may seem like a trivial problem to an adult, may be an insurmountable burden to a grade school child.  In her newest book, Oh, Susanna: It's in the bag, Carole P. Roman shares the challenge faced by a young girl when the every day stresses pile up and become bigger stresses.  In this allegory, the ballooning back pack symbolizes the ever mounting stresses faced by Susanna, a young school aged girl.  Smaller problems add up: unfinished homework, a poor grade, social anxiety over a sleepover invitation- until they become way too much for the girl to handle. Rather than addressing the seemingly trivial problems, Susanna figuratively and literally hides them away ignoring, burying her shameful secrets under her bed,  until the anxiety mounts and she has an emotional

breakdown. Ironically, the backpack breaks under the pressure  as the zipper bursts under the ballooning weight of everything she stashed away.  In addition to children, no doubt, I'd imagine many parents can relate to this story as well.   Once again Roman shows her versatility as a children's writer,  With skill, she writes an entertaining as well as a comforting tale about what happens when you keep secrets and burdens hidden inside.   This is the perfect story for elementary school readers to read as well as the perfect bed time story for parents to read to children.  The illustrations by Mateya Arkova are the perfect graphic touch to start each chapter. As a blogger I received a

complimentary copy of this book.  It is available for purchase on Amazon as well as Barnes and Noble.