My dad built me the best and wackiest cubby ever
“As a parent, I wish I had this book many years ago…”
The statement came and went so fast, I questioned whether I’d heard right. It wasn’t until the next day when watching the recording of the My dad built me the best and wackiest cubby ever book launch that yes, I’d heard an amazing man, renowned internationally for his work in mental health, say that he wished he’d had the book many years ago for one of his sons experiencing serious mental illness. Professor Pat McGorry AO from Orygen said that about my little book. It still blows me away, probably always will.
It was a spectacular book launch at St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School in Werribee, an intimate gathering with the school choir opening the launch with, I see you, and closing with, This little light of mine, both apt for us humans wanting, dare I say desiring, to be seen and for our lights to shine.
Guests enjoyed a display of the work of children who had explored the book in class with their teachers, and a delicious afternoon tea prepared by the Werribee South CWA. It should be noted too that school teacher Nick from Westgrove Primary School also trialled the book with his grade 6 students to such success that he’s now working through the book with grade 5 students.
There were certainly a few smiling faces, and probably a few hooping loops of skipping hearts, especially after listening to Pat speak.
Pat spoke about adults having trouble understanding mental health, let alone children. How will they understand what mental ill health is like, what it means, and what and how to react and respond to it? Pat believes My dad built me the best and wackiest cubby ever is at the right level of understanding for younger children to learn about mental health in an enjoyable and very optimistic and positive way. He feels that’s important, the hope and optimism associated with mental illness, because the media portrays it in such a negative way, and still with a stigma. But things are improving because 20 years ago, we wouldn't be launching a book like My dad built me the best and wackiest cubby ever.
And that’s the truth. Even 10 years ago when I was floating the story around commercial publishers, many were afraid to take the chance on it, felt it was too confronting, not quite right. And not commercial enough. Except for my dear mentor, editor and friend, Leonie Tyle, who believed in it and worked with me to build it into the story it is today. Leonie saw its value and believed in my writing. As did Kymba Burrows, the illustrator, creating sensitive illustrations to help soften and translate the story.
Pat mentioned a piece he recently wrote in The Medical Journal of Australia about the youth mental health crisis around the world. He believes it’s the way society has gone and young people are much more insecure in many ways, having to worry about climate change, less secure futures, weaker economic conditions and the inability to buy a home, the university fees they're left with and the casualisation of work. He believes that we've got to ‘rebuild the scaffolding around young people’ and support families better.
Even though the community is waking up and beginning to be more supportive of people suffering poor mental health, over the past 15 years, the number of young people experiencing mental ill health has grown by 50 percent. Seventy percent of patients presenting to Australian paediatricians are for mental health concerns, yet more than half of children experiencing mental health challenges are not receiving professional help (Smiling Minds, accessed August 2023). The deeper you look, the more grim the situation.
It’s with huge hope that my new book can go some way in helping to give children new understanding about mental health, belief that even in grey and darkness, there is always hope, magic that’s only covered over.
Grey and darkness, a slithering haze slinking in on the horizon, standing up to breathe in. And breathe out.
For anyone that’s read the new book, you’ll understand these as some of the phrases that reflect the changing emotions and weather in the story, and the father’s mental ill health.
I started writing the story more than 12 years ago. It’s based on what I’ve lived and experienced with my family around mental health, and what we’ve faced. It's come from 28 plus years of us banding together to get through some tough mental health battles, and from when l was ultimately faced with having to try to explain to my young children, the strange and scary behaviour they were seeing as a result of poor mental health.
There were many moments when homes grew grey.
And yet every way we turned, it was honesty, patience and understanding, even when no understanding could be found, that got us through. And forgiveness. No matter how dire situations got, or how very tatty-twirl curly they were! We had some very steep learning curves in trying to understand what was going on emotionally, the behaviours, and how they related to the brain.
Some of that experience is in the book.
Even the shiny-eyed pigeon that shakes its wing behind Dad came from watching a pigeon toddling behind a homeless man outside the State Library in town one afternoon while I was sketching. I was in art school at RMIT at the time and we often sketched outside.
There have been times when our experiences were beyond any reality imaginable, where clouding storms clanged inside of us and floods would burst and swirl in murky, muddy rains.
My dad built me the best and wackiest cubby ever is a gentle interpretation of some of what I’ve observed. It’s one very tiny story in the massive murk of mental ill health, where we can sometimes all find ourselves to some degree.
And where if we get the chance, tucking into a soft jumper of jasmine makes the world of difference.
I found myself gripped in self-doubt about this book just before we went to print. I felt that this tiny little cubby story was so insignificant in the grand depths of mental health. I was sitting in the lounge room with my youngest son and he must’ve seen the grey in my face and so he asked me what was wrong. When I told him of this feeling of insignificance for the story, his response was, which he delivered with the utmost kindness and patience: “You realise how ironic that is when you’ve just written a story about mental health.”
His words drew me into the warmth of his gushing sunbeams.
At its core, this story is about seeking to understand where no understanding exists. It’s about kindness, compassion and most importantly, it’s about patience.
With that, loving gratitude and thanks to so many that supported the book and me, who were so patient with me sometimes disappearing to finish this story: Michael, Leonie, Chrissy, Susi, Kymba, Shelley, St Joseph’s and the school choir, my family, Nick and other teachers trialling the book, Werribee South CWA, reviewers, guests and supporters that took the time to attend the launch and people offering congratulations… thank you dearly for your belief in My dad built me the best and wackiest cubby ever, and me.
My dad built me the best and wackiest cubby ever is a timely and compassionate story about a child and father setting out to build a cubbyhouse under streaming sunshine. Until clouds snake in on a hazing horizon… skies swell, a clouding storm brews and finally breaks and swirls into pouring rains and eventually subsides. All the while, the cubby grows wackier, with the rustiest of riches that rattle and rule!
Mental ill health can be a challenge to understand because we can’t ‘see’ anything wrong or broken with the brain. This warm-hearted story helps give some understanding through the eyes of a child building a cubby with its father.
The chapter book is ideal for 5-12 year-olds and is accompanied by resources for teachers, carers and families to draw upon. The book is available in full colour or black and white paperback, as well as an E-book.
Teachers resources are available.
Head over to https://www.monikaschott.com/published-works for more information, the resource and to purchase.
What readers are saying about the book:
“Your book is beautiful. So gentle and considerate, honest and touching. Very heartfelt...” Joanne
“What a wonderful read!!!! I absolutely loved the connection you made to the volcano experiment.” Andi
“An emotional narrative of childhood and parenting shuttles readers through trepidatious waters in Schott’s own literary lifeboat...” Meg
“It’s so gorgeous, I love the patience and understanding of Mum and how slowly Dad lifts the blinds to let the sun in. And I love the activities and references at the end of the book...” Susi
In celebration of the release of My dad built me the best and wackiest cubby ever, we are giving away 15 audio books of The faraway land of the house and two cows! Click on one of the links below for your free copy.