New children’s book to help kids with mental health

Paul Bromby’s new children’s book "The Backpack" tells the story of a young boy burdened with stresses and anxieties that fill a backpack.

Bromby based the book, in part, on his own love for basketball and growing up with his mother, who suffered, he says, from bipolar disorder.

“As a child, I felt like I was the only person on the earth whose mom was, and I’ll use quotations, ‘sick,’” says Bromby.

As a father, Bromby read a lot of stories to his son, but after some research, he realized there aren’t a lot of books centred around mental health.

Bromby and co-author Jason D’Rocha met through a sport ball event, and soon after decided to write the book.

“We just kind of started talking about this concept and idea of the backpack, which is a metaphor for a lot of the burdens and worries and troubles that we have not only as children but in life as adults,” says Bromby.

"The Backpack" is set to release on Feb. 28, 2024.

Tayson Martindale illustrated the book, and Jr. Storytellers will publish it on Feb. 28.

We wear our worries like a backpack, he says, and it only gets heavier the more stress we have. When Bromby was younger, he says, he worried about his mother’s health, and he carried that in his backpack.

‘Worth it’

He felt he was alone, growing up with someone who suffers from mental illness. He couldn’t talk about how to deal with stress and anxiety when he was younger, he said, because conversations like that “weren’t really available” to him.

With his new book, Bromby wants children to know they aren’t alone and that others can understand and talk about the stress children may have in their backpacks, he says.

“Hopefully, if one child can relate to it, then creating this book was worth it,” says Bromby.

Paul Bromby speaks with CTV News on Feb. 16, 2024.

Bromby grew up in the north end of Halifax, playing basketball in the city.

It gave him an escape from everyday stress.

“The court became my sanctuary. My teammates became my brothers and my coaches became my mentors,” he says.

“Halifax and basketball are my grass roots.

In March, Bromby says it will be the 25th anniversary since his Saint Mary’s University team won the Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Union national championship.

Stress on and off court

Basketball is also an important part of The Backpack. Bromby's son plays, and the book helps him and his son navigate stress and anxiety on and off the court, says Bromby.

“Through my experiences, I just kind of try and help him navigate those waters, and other kids that I coach,” says Bromby.

Basketball should be fun for a nine- or 10-year-old child, he says.

Lloyd Thomas (left) and Paul Bromby (right) hold up a banner after winning the national championship with the Saint Mary's University Huskies in 1999. (Source: maroonandwhite.ca)

In the book, the backpack gets really heavy for the protagonist, Bromby says, and he plays terrible in some games because of the stress in the backpack.

But as the story goes on, he realizes the backpack, or the burdens, aren’t his to carry.

“Children shouldn’t stress about making baskets,” he says. “Go out there and have fun.”

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