Emotions that become places
Giftedness becomes the village of Pepilandia, a father's absence becomes the Giant, addiction becomes the Glacier of the Alcolà, loneliness becomes the Lone Child. The child recognises themselves inside the story.
The genre of the book
Therapeutic fairy tale, a new mythology to tell children about emotions, absence, addiction and loneliness
A therapeutic fairy tale is a story that uses symbolic language to give form to children's emotions and offer them a space where those emotions can be welcomed and resized. Solomon J. in the village of the Pepileni is a therapeutic fairy tale because it builds a new mythology around what children feel long before they find words for it.
Anusha Bhama Gukhool creates an original imaginative world that concerns parents and the world of children with high cognitive potential, or giftedness. Emotions become places, questions become journeys, absences become figures with a name.
What it helps tell
The themes that become story
A mother who builds a mythology
Instead of answering her son's question, the mother builds him a mythology made to measure to walk through it, and gives him the tools to walk inside it on his own two feet.
A language children recognise as their own
Able to give shape to emotions and offer a space where they can be welcomed and resized.
A mother who becomes a village
«They say it takes a whole village to raise a child. If that is true, I am my son's village.» From here everything begins. A mother who, instead of answering her son's question, builds him a mythology made to measure to walk through it, and gives him the tools to walk inside it on his own two feet.
This is the narrative voice of the book. It does not explain, it tells. It does not solve, it accompanies. It builds a world the child can enter and find their own answers in, one step at a time.
Who this fairy tale is for
For gifted and highly sensitive children, who perceive the world with greater intensity: a noise becomes pain, a harsh word becomes a wound, an existential question arrives at six with the urgency of an adult. And for the parents who accompany them and look for a shared language to name what they live at home.
Frequently asked questions
About the therapeutic fairy tale
What is a therapeutic fairy tale?
It is a story that uses symbolic language to give shape to children's emotions and offer them a space where those emotions can be welcomed and resized. Solomon J. in the village of the Pepileni is a therapeutic fairy tale because it builds a new mythology around what children feel long before they find words for it.
How do you explain emotions to children with a fairy tale?
By letting places and figures carry them. In the book, giftedness becomes the village of Pepilandia, a father's absence becomes the Giant, addiction becomes the Glacier of the Alcolà, loneliness becomes the Lone Child. The child recognises themselves inside the story, and the story gives them back their words.
How do you talk to children about absence and addiction?
Through metaphor, which keeps the truth whole without overloading the child. Solomon J.'s mother, instead of answering her son's question directly, builds him a mythology made to measure to walk through it, and gives him the tools to walk inside it on his own two feet.
Which children is this fairy tale for?
For gifted and highly sensitive children, and for children who perceive the world with greater intensity. It is also for the parents who accompany them and look for a shared language to name what they live at home.