'OLLIE’S TREASURE' BOOK

Ollie’s Treasure is a sweet and simple story about the power of using our senses to notice the environment around us. Ollie’s Gran is a wise lady and wants Ollie to realise that he himself has this power. So, she sends him on a treasure hunt – not one that Ollie expects, but one
that turns out to lead to the greatest treasure of all. Gran’s treasure hunt gently guides Ollie to use his senses to notice his environment, and then to think about how doing this makes him feel. Ollie is quite surprised by what he notices! A wonderful story to open a discussion about how everyone can use the resource of their senses to notice everything around them, and to introduce the idea that we should pay attention to our feelings as well – a HUGE mental health management skill for children to learn, practice and master.

Ollie’s Treasure is written and illustrated by the creators of the Lessons of a LAC series. Author/Psychologist Lynn Jenkins and Illustrator/Art Therapist Kirrili Lonergan are both passionate about creating picture books that promote emotional wellbeing.

• Ollie’s Treasure is a great resource for opening up conversations related to mindfulness, the importance of finding happiness from within, and guiding children to appreciate the simple things that surround them.

• Through text and illustrations, children are led on a journey to find treasure. Such an adventure helps children to be in tune with, and experience, the emotions that ‘happiness from within’ brings.

WRITING STYLE: Simple, rhythmical, gentle, educational in the realm of mental well-being.

Lynn Jenkins

Lynn is an author as well as a practising clinical psychologist and mum, Lynn is very passionate about assisting children with social and emotional issues via the platform of picture books and their coinciding school visits.

She wrote Lessons of a LAC, Brave and Perfect Petunias — which are the first, second and third books in a five-book series — to give children a way to think about and manage worry and anxiety.

Kirrili Lonergan

Kirrili Lonergan is a picture book illustrator, art therapist and a former paediatric nurse who relates warmly to the needs of children. She is the illustrator for the Lessons of a LAC picture book series and the co-creator of the Lessons of a LAC anxiety management package. She has numerous other titles including the Healthy Harold preschool books for Life Ed Early Years Learning Program, supporting health, safety and emotional well-being in children. She was shortlisted for the Speech Pathology of Australia Awards in 2018 for 'Ollie's Treasure' and 2022 for 'But I'm NOT Hungry for my Dinner.'

Together, Lynn and Kirrili visit schools to present the Lessons of a LAC Workshops. These workshops extend the lessons in the picture books and leave children with a clear understanding of what anxiety is and a tool-belt of skills to manage it. They believe that EARLY INTERVENTION is the key.