Party Panic!: The Stressed Guest
About this ebook
Too sugary! Too smelly! Too people-y! Too yell-y!
When overwhelm weighs down on me,
I pause, relax, set myself free.
Who hasn’t felt some anxiety before attending a party? This highly relatable story about a child’s experience at a skating rink birthday bash will feel familiar to many kids and their caregivers.
From the smells to the food to the VERY loud DJ, it’s all totally overwhelming to the main character, who also starred in Too Much!: An Overwhelming Day, now in its ninth printing, with seven foreign editions.
Writing from her own experience with sensory processing disorder (SPD), Jolene Gutiérrez’s compassionate text explores the struggles of a sensorily sensitive child at a birthday party. Angel Chang’s charming illustrations show young readers that it’s OK to take a moment for themselves in a quiet spot.
An extensive author’s note to caregivers and educators explores party panic, how best to prepare for a social event (like creating a script to follow!), and other ways to self-soothe.
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About the author
Jolene Gutiérrez is an award-winning neurodivergent teacher-librarian who has been working with neurodivergent learners since 1995. Gutiérrez has always been nervous about social gatherings. That anxiety, coupled with the overwhelm of loud noises, new foods, and unfamiliar spaces, feels like too much sometimes. Gutiérrez hopes Party Panic! will help readers learn to navigate stressful celebrations. Gutiérrez is also the author of Too Much!: An Overwhelming Day, coauthor (with Dakota Gutiérrez) of Mamiachi & Me, and coauthor (with Minoru Tonai) of Unbreakable: A Japanese American Family in an American Incarceration Camp, which has earned five starred reviews. Gutiérrez lives in Denver with her family. Angel Chang is a Taiwanese artist who creates artwork for books and animation. Her illustrated titles include Most of the Better Natural Things in the World, Lunar New Year Around the World, A Space for Celeste, and Lots and Lots of Ocelots. She is proud to give a visual voice for perspectives and minds that are less discussed. Chang lives with her cat in Taiwan.
