Andrea Lauritzen

Mortimer the Masked Andrea Lauritzen

Mortimer the Masked is the story of a boy dealing with the challenges of a changing world. Though specific to COVID-19, this tale can be applied to life in general. Due to a couple of potentially scary situations (panic attack, nightmare) this book may not be appropriate for children under eight years old. However, assess the developmental preparedness of your individual child or classroom to determine their ability to understand the challenges Mortimer faces. We get to see life from the point of view of a 10 year old boy and how he sees the changes in his life as Mortimer deals with parental job loss, changes at school and with friends, kids not keeping the rules, and the consequences of his own choices. He also faces stress, mental health issues, nightmares, and more. Though most of us won't be faced with all these challenges at once, we see how Mortimer and his family deal with these changes and all the many emotions involved when life presents new and different experiences. See how Mortimer and his family address issues and get through these hard times. At the back of the story there are several pages of questions that adults can choose from, as applicable to their specific challenges or the environmental setting (i.e. home, school, therapy) that may encourage conversations about hard things or feelings youth might be dealing with. Mortimer the Masked is a great book to read in classrooms to help teach kids a better way to face life. Included in the story are a couple of techniques for calming down or dealing with stressful life situations. We're all in these challenging and changing times together. Many of us are dealing with job loss, changing and inconsistent school situations, and new social expectations which impact our circumstances, feelings, and future. Mortimer the Masked can teach us how to look at life's challenging situations in positive ways, how working together helps us through any hard time, and how important it is to talk to someone we trust about how we're feeling before our emotions get out of control. As a Social Worker, and having worked in school settings, Andrea understands how impactful life can be on the emotions and perspectives of children who may or may not have all the correct information about a situation, and who don't developmentally have all that may be required to deal with the circumstances in which they find themselves. Having conversations with our children about their emotions, their thoughts, and understandings can be insightful to adults who may believe that because children are resilient that they aren't also negatively impacted, especially due to limited ability or resources to cope with challenges.