Silly Billy

Silly Billy is written by Anthony Browne. This story is about a little boy named Billy. Billy worried about EVERYTHING. Nothing his mom and dad would say could calm his fears. One night when Billy was sleeping over at his grandma's he couldn't sleep. He finally went and told his grandma he was too worried to sleep. His grandma told Billy it was okay, because when she was his age she worried too. Billy's grandma had just the thing to to rid Billy of his worries. She gave Billy worry dolls. If you put the dolls under your pillow, they will worry for you. The worry dolls worked for a couple days, but Billy began to worry about the worry dolls. He didn't think it was fair to give them all his worries. Billy made worry dolls for the worry dolls. From then on, Billy and all the dolls were able to sleep well.

I thought this was a cute story. I remember as a child my sister and I had worry dolls, but I never knew what they were until I read this story. This is an informative book that can be used to teach children about the custom of using worry dolls. This would be an good book to use if you were teaching a lesson on Guatemala. On the very last page of the book, I like there is a brief history and explanation of the custom. The last page discusses how the custom of worry or "trouble" dolls originated in Guatemala and how children in Guatemala to this day depend on their dolls to rid them of their worries while they sleep.