The Blinks Books
‘The Blinks’ is a series of children’s books launched in 2015 that entwine strategies for emotional and behavioural development into magical stories for children aged 7 and above to enjoy alone or with their parents.
The books were created by Andrea Chatten, Founder and Lead Children’s Emotional and Behavioural psychologist at Unravel, who has worked with vulnerable and challenging children, young people and their families for over 30 years across the city of Sheffield and beyond.
Andrea has applied and created many psychological practices to emotional and behavioural problems throughout her career and wanted children and their parents to recognise ways of changing things for the better. The books have been created to help the process to prevent normal developmental psychology from possibly becoming a greater problem across a children’s lifespan into adulthood and beyond.
Andrea has always prided herself on the voice of children being at the heart of her practice and engaged a specialist panel to ensure that both the content, stories and illustrations within the books had the full seal of approval from children and adults alike.
Supporting each novel is a Reference Manual for parents, carers and teachers, which explains in more detail the ‘why’ behind the interventions that The Blinks use to support the children in the story. Andrea decided to create a supportive booklet after being prompted by parents who were desperate to have a deeper understanding of the psychology of issues their children were experiencing.
The Reference Manuals not only provide information on psychological approaches such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy but more so explain the impact that worry, anger, low self-esteem, etc., can have on emotional development. Each section provides some simple activities that can be used as a talking point between parents or carers and children.
Who are the Blinks?
The Blinks are created from morsels of goodness that all the good folk who have ever lived, leave to the Universe. These could have been left behind by people who you have loved in the past. Their whole purpose is to share their wisdom and kindness with children who need support and guidance to promote positive well-being.
For example: Amanda is 9 years old and has always been a worrier but recently her worrying has started to affect her well-being, friendships, sleep, general health and even her learning. She also becomes the target of Maggie and the Meanies who take great pleasure in creating situations for her to worry about.
Blink 210504 notices Amanda as he tiptoes around the northern city of Sheffoold in search of children who are not as happy as they could be. When Amanda is discussed at the midnight bakery meeting, the Blink panel agree that Amanda is in need of some positive help and is lucky to become part of some very special Blink intervention. As the story unravels, Amanda and some of her classmates begin to make changes that they never thought possible.
Books
The Blinks – Worry
The Blinks are created from morsels of goodness, that all the good folk who have ever lived leave to the Universe. Their whole purpose is to share their wisdom and kindness with children. When Amanda is discussed at the midnight bakery meeting she is lucky to become part of some very special Blink intervention. As a result Amanda begins to make changes she never thought possible.
This book is for children aged 10 -14 who want help with learning how to cope with worry and anxiety. It is written as a fiction book with lots of messages and guidance woven into the stories about Amanda and her friends.
The Blinks – Worry Manual
The Blinks books were created to help children, young people and their families understand emotional and behavioural issues. More so, it was to provide strategies and techniques to help manage and change the intensity and duration of problematic behaviours over time.
This supportive booklet provides a deeper understanding of the psychology of worrying and how it can impact on other developmental issues including self-esteem and emotions. It also provides lots of ‘top tips’ of what works best for children and young people whilst growing up and some activity questions that can be used as a starting point to initiate emotive dialogue or discussion with children.
The Blinks – Anger
Robbie’s life has never been great, but the events over the last few years have slowly made him more and more unhappy and angry. One day it all gets too much and his anger erupts!
A sequence of wrong choices leaves Robbie with a string of problems that need sorting out. Luckily Chika Change-Your-thoughts sees that he needs help at this difficult time. Together with Cale, ‘the community bad lad with a heart’, Robbie learns just who is responsible for his anger and how to deal with it.
The Blinks – Anger Manual
The Blinks novels have been created to help children, young people and their families understand emotional and behavioural issues. More so, they provide strategies and techniques to help manage and change the intensity and duration of problematic behaviours over time. This supportive booklet accompanies the book ‘The Blinks – Anger’ written specifically for older children and those in their early teens.
It provides a deeper understanding of the psychology of anger for parents, carers and teachers, and how anger can impact on other developmental issues and all other emotions. It also provides lots of ‘top tips’ on what works best for children and young people whilst growing up and some activity questions that can be used as a starting point to initiate emotive dialogue or discussion with children.
The Blinks – Self-Esteem
Bladen and Tim are twins who have spent many years being unkind to each other. This has not helped them develop very positive feelings about themselves. Their low self-esteem has affected their confidence, friendships, who they believe they are and their happiness.
Things have been difficult for many years, but then the unthinkable happens and Bladen and Tim think that it is their fault. This makes them like themselves even less. Larry Love-Who-You-Are recognises this difficult situation and works hard to help the twins and himself overcome some very personal challenges.
The Blinks – Self-Esteem Manual
The Blinks books were created to help children, young people, and their families understand emotional and behavioural issues. More so, they provide strategies and techniques to help manage and change the intensity and duration of problematic behaviours over time.
This supportive booklet accompanies the novel ‘The Blinks – Self-Esteem’ written specifically for children and those in their early teens. It provides a deeper understanding of the psychology of low self-esteem for parents, carers and teachers, and how this can impact on other developmental issues and all other emotions. It also provides lots of ‘top tips’ on what works best for children and young people whilst growing up and some activity questions that can be used as a starting point to initiate emotive dialogue or discussion with children.
The Blinks – Sad
Shan is a normal girl in many ways, who has a normal life, but one thing Shan has which many other children don’t is buckets and buckets of sadness. Over time Shan has managed to collect many sad memories which replay constantly in her mind and make her feel sad. Things start to get more difficult when one day at school, when given a very important job, Shan makes a serious wrong choice and is found out by one of her classmates.
Shan feels so sad and worried that she becomes ill and hides away in bed, unable to face going to school. Thankfully, Marlowe Mindful sees Shan as someone who is ready for Blinks’ support and begins the process of helping her understand her sadness and how to change her feelings for the better.
The Blinks – Sad Manual
The Blinks novels have been created to help children, young people and their families understand emotional and behavioural issues. More so, they provide strategies and techniques to help manage and change the intensity and duration of problematic behaviours over time. This supportive booklet accompanies the book ‘The Blinks – Sad’ written specifically for children and those in their early teens.
It provides a deeper understanding of the psychology of sadness for parents, carers and teachers, and how sadness can impact on other developmental issues and all other emotions. It also provides lots of ‘top tips’ on what works best for children and young people whilst growing up and some activity questions that can be used as a starting point to initiate emotive dialogue or discussion with children.
The Blinks – Shy
Nazim has always been shy but the older he gets, the more he begins to hate his shyness. It makes him lack in confidence and leaves it difficult for him to make eye contact, which means he feels awkward around others. His shyness dominates all his thoughts and behaviours which are overwhelming and the bigger the problem gets for him, the less he talks. Then he decides not to talk at all. Time for some Blink intervention!
Blink 24399 Colin Confidence sees a need to help Nazim and teaches him to see his shyness as a special quality that should be celebrated in this loud and fast world. On his journey, Nazim learns many things about himself. He is given tips to help him manage his own shyness at difficult times, and this helps to make his life better all round. Along the way, Colin Confidence is surprised to experience a few things he didn’t even plan for!
The Blinks – Shy Manual
The Blinks novels have been created to help children, young people and their families understand emotional and behavioural issues. More so, they provide strategies and techniques to help manage and change the intensity and duration of problematic behaviours over time. This supportive booklet accompanies the book ‘The Blinks – Shy’ written specifically for children and those in their early teens.
It provides a deeper understanding of the psychology of shyness for parents, carers and teachers, and how shyness can impact on other developmental issues and all other emotions. It also provides lots of ‘top tips’ on what works best for children and young people whilst growing up and some activity questions that can be used as a starting point to initiate emotive dialogue or discussion with children.
The Blinks – Love
Morna, on the surface, is just like you and me, but there is something that she has struggled with for a long time. Morna finds it difficult to feel love. She is surrounded by a big family, and many siblings who all love her dearly but sadly she just can’t feel it. This issue brings many problems and one day when she feels the most alone she has ever felt; she runs away.
Whilst trying to find a hiding place in the park she unknowingly disturbs Blink 16225 Lucy Love-Unlocker who becomes concerned. This isn’t the usual way that Blinks find children and young people to work with, but when Morna is discussed with Chief Blink, they agree they need to begin as soon as possible. However, things get a lot worse before they get better, resulting in the police becoming involved!
As the friendship between them develops, Morna learns a lot about the language of love and how those around her show it. More importantly, she learns lots of important skills that enable her to feel love and to keep the feeling locked in her for as long as possible.
The Blinks – Love Manual
The Blinks novels have been created to help children, young people and their families understand emotional and behavioural issues. More so, they provide strategies and techniques to help manage and change the intensity and duration of problematic behaviours over time. This supportive booklet accompanies the book ‘The Blinks – Love’ written specifically for children and those in their early teens.
It provides a deeper understanding of the psychology of how to find and feel love, for parents, carers, and teachers, and how shyness can impact on other developmental issues and all other emotions. It also provides lots of ‘top tips’ on what works best for children and young people whilst growing up and some activity questions that can be used as a starting point to initiate emotive dialogue or discussion with children.
Purchase one of our sets and save 10%!
Book Set One
- The Blinks – Love
- The Blinks – Shy
- The Blinks – Sad
- The Blinks – Self-Esteem
- The Blinks – Worry
- The Blinks – Anger
Book Set Two
- The Blinks – Love + Manual
- The Blinks – Shy + Manual
- The Blinks – Sad + Manual
- The Blinks – Self-Esteem + Manual
- The Blinks – Worry + Manual
- The Blinks – Anger + Manual
