To read alone
Ages 9 to 12
Twelve chapters across 120 pages, with eleven illustrations inside. Mika tells it himself, including the parts where he gets stuck.
A children’s novel for ages 9 and up
What you think, grows.
In the attic Mika finds his grandmother’s notebook and a few packets of flower seeds. What grows out of them changes the way he thinks about himself.
Mind Garden, a children’s novel by Dr. Wahed Hemati
- Sow from age
- 9
- Length
- 120 pages
- Chapters
- 12
- Illustrations
- 11
What it is about
Mika is stuck. Fractions give him a stomach ache, and the remarks in the playground chip away at his nerve. The outdoor camp he had been looking forward to is slipping out of reach. In the attic he finds his grandmother’s notebook and packets of flower seeds, the beginning of a mind garden. With Leni, Junis and his mentor Ada he finds out what happens when you stop fighting a bad thought and dig it over instead.
Who it is for
To pick up on
For parents
The book gives you images for something that is hard to raise over dinner: why a sentence from the playground is still there at bedtime. Without sounding like a talk about behaviour.
For the classroom
For teachers
The twelve chapters can be spread over several weeks or read in one go. The appendix is written for adults, and the four worksheets work alone or in pairs.
From the blog
When children cannot switch off at night
Why children keep going in their heads at night, what helps during the day and in the moment, and when it is more than a phase.
Mistakes as fertiliser: what children take from failure
Why 'that's not so bad' closes the conversation, and which questions parents can ask at the dinner table instead.
Reading aloud when your child has long read alone
Why reading aloud between nine and twelve should not stop, what changes about it, and what helps when a child refuses.
Buy the book
The current price is on Amazon. It changes, which is why it is not repeated here.
The eBook is included with Kindle Unlimited. The German edition is called Gedankengarten: So wie du denkst, so wächst du and every edition is listed on the book page.