Jenny Allen, a well-known author and speaker, highlights a rising concern she refers to as a new kind of pandemic: anxiety. It’s particularly impacting young people, she argues. Recently, she released her first children’s book, What to do with your swirl thoughts, which aims to make the complex topics of anxiety and mental health more relatable to kids. The book is designed for younger readers and illustrated by Nadia Gunawan.
Allen described this anxiety pandemic as something that has “taken over the world.” She shared that watching children—her own, along with her friends’ kids and her niece and nephew—struggles stirred her emotions deeply.
“It broke my heart,” Allen reflected during an interview.
Her previous work, Please come out of your head, published in 2020, tackled the subject of anxiety for adults, focusing on managing thoughts through faith, specifically referencing scripture from 2 Corinthians 10:5. The new book serves as a children’s adaptation of those ideas.
Read the complete story here!
Photo credit: ©Canva Pro/Jennie Allen
It was originally published on May 5, 2025.
