This is an interesting book. It tells the story of four apartments in one building, with a little girl who lives below a university student. The tenants of the apartment share a tradition where they wake each other up in turns in the morning. When Frieda, the girl, tries to wake Ben one day with a broomstick against his floor, she doesn't hear him get up. The other families all work together to help Ben once they realize he is depressed and struggling to get up. I love the concept, and the idea that even if someone is depressed and struggling to get out of bed, they are a part of something. The waking each other up and the focus on creating all of these secondary characters in a picture book was a little unusual and might lose some readers, but in general I think that the story was well written. I think I would recommend this book to families of children in the age 6-10 range who might benefit from some stories about mental health and depression. I am not sure I could see it in my grade 3 classroom library, but perhaps resource teachers or guidance counsellors could find a good fit for it when working with younger students. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to read and review this book!

I wasn't really sure, but it seemed like this main character had depression. It was not fully clear what is wrong with been. There was a good sense of community throughout the story. I liked the character vignettes, that described each person who lives there. I think this book would be good if there was a discussion with the reader.

I accessed a digital review copy of this book from the publisher.
This book is told from Frida's point of view. Frida lives in a house with three other families. In the morning she wakes her upstairs neighbor Ben, then he wakes the neighbor next to him, who then wake the neighbors below. This routine ties the families together, until one day Ben does not participate. Frida works to help Ben feel better.
This book discusses mental health without overtly mentioning it. It shows how sometimes people are depressed for no obvious reason and need nontraditional help.
This is a good book for younger readers.

It was a good book about community, working together and caring for one another. When Ben didn’t want to get up, the neighbors tried to cheer him up. They wanted him to feel better and each used their talents to try to do this.

A brief and lighthearted approach to mental health. Sometimes we’re just not feeling it and I value the approach (and reminder) to lend an alternative solution rather than try to change someone. We all play a part, but sometimes we just need to be creative to contribute to making the world go around.

Mental health is a deep subject, but Smith keeps it brief, to the point and relatable for all. In a world full of self-help books, we could really use more books that focus on how to allow space for others.

Mental health is something that can be hard to understand, and even harder when you're not sure how to help the people in your life who are dealing with issues. This book is a wonderful way of explaining that, without casting judgment and knowing that sometimes there won't be a perfect solution.

First off I want to say I love the simple approach to mental illness even in the most simple form here. The story is cute, quirky and relatable. Th cat is my personal favorite character I believe! Who doesn’t want a dead mouse as a present? The story is simple and to the point but you get to know each character deeper than I expected and see how much live hey have for each other and that’s what is important. When one person is hurting everyone who is close to them wants to help and that’s a simple truth that gets lost sometimes in our day to day lives and it really shouldn’t! Great book and lovely art style! The cover could be a tad more grabbing, maybe a cross section of the house which everyone doin something instead? All in all I’d love to have my three year old read this and I know he would if nothing else enjoy the pictures and later would understand the meaning too.