Thank you SOURCEBOOKS Kids and NetGalley for the advance digital reading copy of this book.

This was a cute story about anxieties and fears and how a good friend can help you deal with your feelings. I loved the illustrations; the outfits that Zebra and Giraffe were wearing were awesome!

It Will Be OK is a great little story about the importance of friendship and empathy. Giraffe has a fear of spiders. Zebra, does not. Instead of teasing Giraffe, ignoring his fear or acting like it doesn't exist, he validates Giraffe's fear and stands by, encouraging Giraffe and helping him feel calm until he is ready to face his fear. I read this title aloud with my 4 year old son and we had a great discussion about the kindness and compassion that Zebra showed through his actions and how admirable empathy is as something to aspire to nurture in ourselves. Lisa Katzenberger does a fantastic job of incorporating a deep, beautiful lesson into a simple, understandable parable for young children. The illustrations are sharp, bold colors that grab the attention and the characters are absolutely darling. My son wanted to reread the book 3 times before we could move on. He really liked it, and I think this title will find itself on our shelf to be read over and over.

It Will Be Ok by Lisa Katzenberger was provided to me by NetGalley in an electronic format in exchange for an unbiased review. I appreciate the opportunity to read and review this title.

This is an extraordinarily sweet story. When Giraffe sees a spider, he climbs a tree out of fright. His friend Zebra stays alongside him until he feels comfortable enough to climb down. With the prevalence of anxiety and stress in our world today, it is important to let kids know that it's okay to be scared and stressed and that there will be people who will be by their side until they aren't anymore.

This is a sweet story of how one friend helps another through an experience of feeling worried and scared. Zebra also displayed how important it is for us to be there for our friends during tough times. It could be an important conversation starter to open the doors for children so that they realize that all of our feelings, even those that we don't enjoy, are okay.

Fear and anxiety are feelings that we don’t like to think children have to deal with, but they do.
Sometimes it’s a small thing, like giraffe in the story, being afraid of a spider. Or it could be bigger, like being anxious about starting a new school.
This book is a lovely story where we see a character who is afraid, and the friend trying to help them. Giraffe knows that he probably shouldn’t be scared of a spider, but he is, and he can’t help that he feels like that. That’s important, to acknowledge a fear, even if it seems silly.
Zebra is a good friend. He tries to convince giraffe he has nothing to worry about, but when that doesn’t work, he just stays with him…showing giraffe that he’s his friend and he’s not going anywhere. For children the idea that someone is there, is sometimes all that they need, someone to talk to or someone just to ‘be’ with until they calm down on their own.
At the end of the story there’s some extra information about worry, anxiety, empathy and how we can help a worried friend.
A good book to start a conversation about what we can do if we, or someone else feels anxious.

Lisa Katzenberger constructs a lovely story with engaging text and images, centered around the topic of empathy and human connections. Recommended for classroom use and beyond.

This is my least favorite type of picture book. I don't know who all needs to hear this, but you can write a picture book with a good lesson without it being preachy/didactic/cheesy. Instead this was all of those things. It had potential to be cute, but instead it was cringy and cloying.

This a great book for kiddos. Especially in these uncertain times. The illustrations were sweet and the friendship between zebra and giraffe was nice to see. It is a book that could be selected as a read aloud and then have a conversation about being scared or nervous. The book also accentuates the power of being empathetic and patient with your friends when they are scared. I recommend this book and will purchase it for my library’s collection.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the DRC.

This was acute little book on helping someone through their fears. I loved the illustration and the constant encouragement that came from the characters. My daughter deals with fears and this book was a cute way to show her how to wrestle with those fears.

"It Will Be OK" from Lisa Katzenberger is a children's story about the importance of empathy told through an adorable story with lovable animal characters. The book follows Giraffe who is struggling with his fear of spiders and his friend Zebra who helps him to stay calm and overcome his fears.

The book is a great teaching tool for young minds. It will help kids to be mindful of others and open a discussion about the skills that everyone is capable of utilizing within the realms of kindness and compassion. Make no mistake, this book is an enjoyable read for kids and also is a good reminder for adults as well. Highly recommend!

Blogger's Note: Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a nice book. The illustrations are so sweet. I love that the zebra and the giraffe are both dressed like a toddler would dress, lol.
I also love that at the end of the book, there are some pages about feeling worried and anxious and what to do if you’re feeling that way.
The story itself is cute! I love that the zebra stays with giraffe and talks him through feeling scared. It shows what a good friend would do! I also thought it was so cute that spider was scared of giraffe at the end of the book, and giraffe decided to stay near spider and wait for him to come down and not be scared- just like his friend Zebra did for him!

What a truly beautiful representation of the experiences of anxiety which small children face all the time. When Giraffe is afraid of a spider, he hides his fears from his friend Zebra because he feels that his fear is amall and silly, but he soon realises that when he opens up to Zebra, his friend understands, and helps him to rationalise and overcome his fear in order to face it and move on from it. I love the analogy, because it's a familiar scenario that many children will relate to - my own daughter included! The story almost models both how to open to up to a friend if you're feeling anxious, and how to comfort an anxious friend by listening and talking through their problem. I also love the really lovely section at the back which talk directly to the reader about doing both of these things. I think it's a much-needed and beautiful story in a world full of increasing anxiety. Teaching children to manage their fears and use strategies to overcome them is so needed.

A sweet story of friendship and facing your fears no matter how small. I really loved the illustrations with a bit of whimsy and the gentleness that the book provides.

Cute and touching story that introduces ideas not only of how to handle fear, but also how to be a good friend to someone who is afraid.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for allowing me to read an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It is rare to find such an effective message of empathy in children's literature. This book has it in abundance! A giraffe is up a tree - literally - because of his fear of a single spider. His friend, a zebra, encourages and attempts to persuade the giraffe to overcome his irrational concerns, but ultimately decides it's just as valuable to be there for his terrified friend. My granddaughters easily picked up the message of true friendship and the concept of encouraging one another through your presence as much as your words. The illustrations were outstanding and adorably captured the giraffe's gangly attempt to hold on to the tree and portrayed the emotions well. They made you want to linger on the page and look at the situation more closely. The author included some tips on empathy after the story concluded that could spur discussion with the young reader and a wise adult.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by Sourcebooks Kids via Netgalley

It Will Be Okay is a story about Giraffe and Zebra. Every day the two go to the watering hole together but today is different. . . Giraffe won't come down from a tree because he saw a spider and he's afraid of it. Zebra gives him several reasons why he shouldn't be afraid of spiders but Giraffe still won't come down. Giraffe thinks Zebra is going to leave him but Zebra understands and patiently waits until Giraffe is ready to come down on his own. When the two of them start to walk to the watering hole they see the spider but this time the spider is scared and goes up the tree. Zebra and Giraffe wait for him to come down because they understand how he's feeling.

I really liked this story and think it can be a great conversation starter about empathy, fear, and anxiety. At the end of the book, there are two pages that talk about these subjects. You could read this to children or you could ask them their thoughts on it. I think a great idea would to introduce empathy as a vocab word (if you're a teacher). Many children are afraid of spiders so I think having Giraffes fear be a spider is an excellent way to get children to relate to the story.

If you were reading this aloud to students or a child you could interact with them in several ways. When Giraffe says he's scared of spiders you could ask children if any of them are afraid of spiders. When you get to the part where Giraffe suddenly stops you can ask students why they think he stopped (in the picture they can see a tiny spider). At the end, you can ask why Giraffe and Zebra waited. As I stated before there were two pages at the end that talked about empathy, fear, and anxiety. You could ask children if they have ever been worried or anxious, what are ways we can help relieve stress, how can we help a worried friend?

I think the illustrations throughout the entire book were very pretty. I thought the brushwork on both animals worked really well for the style. I also found it cute that they made Zebra blue and white.

I think this is an excellent story about empathy that would be great for children ages 3-6. A great addition to a classroom library!

***Review on blog is scheduled to post one week before book release***

Giraffe and Zebra are best friends. Each afternoon they walk to the watering hole together. Today Giraffe has disappeared and Zebra is missing his friend. Off he goes to discover where his friend may be.

He calls out for giraffe and twists this way and that but can't find him anywhere. He then hears a small strained little voice...

"Up here," Giraffe sighed.

Giraffe is way up high sitting in a tree. How in the world did he get up there and why is he up there?

Something has frightened poor Giraffe badly and he scrambles up a tree to save himself from some apparent danger.

This is a sweet story of friendship that exposes the power of friends, kindness, and empathy. It is a thoughtful story about how friends help you face your fears - no matter how silly they may seem. I love the exposure of how a true friendship displays a strong bond of caring and love no matter what.

The illustrations are colourful, expressive and enrich the story greatly. I love the book and I highly recommend it.

First off I would like the tell the publisher that the Kindle ARC was very choppy, the pictures and words didn't fit together as they should. However I was still able to read and enjoy this wonderful little book.


As the introduction for the book states this is “a story of empathy, kindness and friendship”. Empathy is a difficult thing to explain to a young child and I think this book does a very good job with it.

Zebra and Giraffe meet every day to walk to the watering hole together. But today Zebra couldn’t find Giraffe. Finally he looked up and spotted Giraffe sitting high up in a tree. Naturally he asked him why he was up there and what he was doing.

Feeling embarrassed but still worried Giraffe tells Zebra that he is afraid of a spider that is nearby. Zebra tries to explain to Giraffe that he is bigger, faster and stronger than the little spider but Giraffe is still afraid, “Your eyelashes are longer than its legs”. Finally, Zebra gives up talking and just stays close by. Giraffe expected Zebra to leave but he waited, and waited and waited.

Finally as the sun is dipping down in the sky Giraffe could no longer see the spider. He decided to finally get down. Giraffe tells Zebra “Thank you for staying by my side even if it seemed silly” and Zebra replies It’s not silly if it bothered you. I’m always here for you” Zebra smiled.

At the end of the book the author discusses what empathy is. “If you know someone is feeling scared or anxious, you can help them by showing empathy, like Zebra did. That means trying to understand what another person is feeling. Stay with them until they feel better. If your friend is still struggling it’s o.k. to get a trusted adult to help you.”

This is a short little book with a big message. I liked the simple drawings that conveyed the feelings without distracting from the message of feeling empathy for a friend.

I would recommend this book for ages 4 and up.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

This book is set to be published on February 2, 2021

Another burgeoning couple destined for their own treehouse next to Frog and Toad where they can get together for tea and discuss what creature they met today that scared them into an agoraphobic snit. Giraffe has an anxiety attic from spotting a vicious spider. His buddy zebra wants to go hang at the local watering hole. How is going to lure his buddy out? This is a great read-aloud particularly for empathy week ( I am kidding in elementary school every week is empathy week.... apart of course from that one night where we have the purge!)
Guidance counselors and librarians who never married will rejoice at a new title for the cannon. I know I am going to be sharing it with my unempathetic charges.