“Who’s Jerry?” written by T. M. Jackson handles the subject of mental illness with tact, frankness and empathy. It’s the first time I’ve read a children’s book tackle such a very difficult subject and I’m happy to say that it has handled it well.

The illustrations of the book can help the reader visualize the struggles of a child who learns that there is something wrong with her mother. It vividly captures the child’s confusion when her mother reacted as though she were an enemy to be afraid of. It also shows the efforts a little child who loves her mother would naturally make to address the situation.

Parents, guardians, family members and teachers who are related to someone suffering from a mental illness can benefit much from this book. They would have a tool that could assist them in informing children about the sensitive topic of mental illness.

Having said that, I strongly recommend adult supervision in reading this book. Children need to be guided while processing thoughts about mental illness, especially when it involves someone in their family. They can be encouraged to ask questions in order to better clarify the many ideas they have in mind in relation to the topic involved.

This book shows how elder family members and teachers play an important role in explaining what mental sickness is. They are also the ones who can assume the responsibility that cannot be fulfilled in the meantime by a sick parent. They help provide children a stable hand to lean on to when they are afraid. They can alleviate the child’s loneliness from missing the person who still needs time to recover from mental illness.

I’m very happy to see a book that can help remove or lessen the stigma that comes along with mental illness. I definitely recommend it to anyone with a loved one suffering from the said health condition.

This book review first appeared in Reedsy Discovery.