Bomji and Spotty's Frightening Adventure: A Story About How to Recover from a Scary Experience

Gr 2–5—This series is designed to elucidate the author's trademarked treatment of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, a process to "help ourselves and others heal from severe stress, trauma, and attachment disruption." The books focus on how parents, teachers, and other childcare professionals can recognize a child's distress from traumatizing events through their "body clues of gesture, posture, tone of voice, facial expression, eye gaze, and movement". Little Coyote is bullied and abused by his caregivers; Bomji and Spotty are attacked by a coyote; and Sprinkle is removed from his parents and placed in a foster home. Each character employs specific survival defenses to process their experiences. Although the characters are experiencing traumas all too common among children, their description and illustration are quite graphic: "Little Coyote had learned how to let his muscles go soft and his mind go far away when others wanted to box." The accompanying illustration shows Little Coyote being punched. The text is overly complex for children to read independently, and the story lines lack appeal. The illustrations are of average quality, and although they strive to clearly depict the emotional state of the characters, they do not always succeed due to their simplistic style. The books include resources for adults: play time activities and a story guide explaining the hidden coping mechanisms shown in the stories.