Rolling with Life’s Surprises: Read Our Review of Penny Draws a School Play by Sara Shepard

The second book in the humorous, heartfelt, highly illustrated series about a girl who doodles to cope with her anxiety, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Sara Shepard.

Halfway through the fifth grade, Penny Lowry is discovering that things are actually going… okay! With her friends Maria, Kristian and Rocco on her side, and her lovable dog Cosmo, she can make it through anything. And when her anxiety comes back, there’s always her doodling, or talking to Mrs. Hines, the Feelings Teacher.

But big change is around the corner – Penny’s family is moving to a new house, her mom is about to give birth to twins, and most stressful of all, she’s been tapped for a role in her class play!

Rolling with life’s surprises isn’t Penny’s strength. But she’s learning… one doodle at a time!

You probably know Sara Shepard as the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Pretty Little Liars series – at this stage, she’s well and truly a household name. Earlier this year, she switched things up to engage a younger audience. She absolutely nailed the tone in her middle-grade debut, Penny Draws a Best Friend, and now returns with book #2 in the series.

This is a sweet, tender and funny continuation of a tale about a lovable kid figuring out how to manage her anxiety. Penny Draws a School Play gets to the heart of navigating friendships, both old and new, and navigating change.

Shepard has given kids – and particularly less confident readers – several ways into this story. Each page is richly illustrated with the most adorably offbeat doodles and speech bubbles, drawn by Shepard herself, giving it a comic-book-like feel that’ll get readers fully immersed in Penny’s POV.

As with book #1, each chapter is written as a letter to Cosmo, Penny’s beloved pet dog. At the beginning, Penny mentions she hasn’t felt the need to write to Cosmo, but with her mum pregnant with twins, moving house, a new teacher and a school play… she’s beyond worried and has returned to writing.

Very cleverly, Shepard has managed to sneak in a range of healthy coping strategies that kids experiencing anxiety will be able to pick up and try themselves without even realising it! Things like drawing how you’re feeling, writing a letter to yourself (or your dog) about your worries, and talking to a trusted adult – like ‘the Feelings Teacher’ – are all modelled by Penny as she navigates her own challenges. Life is unexpected, and this novel shows that it’s okay; look for ways to stay grounded, but change is also a good way to grow.

With a third installment on its way (and a sneak peek at the end of the book), we predict the Penny Draws series is going to be a huge hit with this generation of kids – think Diary of a Wimpy Kid-level success. This is a must-read for ages 10+.

Buy a copy of Penny Draws a School Play here.