When the fog rolls in by Pam Fong

One little puffin is left behind as the others fly off. He is soon enveloped by fog, fog that becomes thicker and more overwhelming. The bird becomes lost, and stumbles, unsure of what lies ahead. Sometimes he comes up against obstacles, sometimes he is confused. The fog is thick and frightening.

But as he looks more closely at what is around him, he takes notice of what may appear in the fog and he eventually sees something ahead of him, out of the fog. The more he looks, the clearer it becomes. And then he sees his mob, and he joins them again.

This lovely story is suffused with the most illustrative of drawings across each page. The fog becomes thicker and the illustrations become more overwhelming as the fog becomes denser and all  encompassing. The little puffin is most endearing, and readers will love seeing what happens to the little bird as he strives to find his way. 

The images are disarming, the fog encouraging different responses from the readers as they realise that the story of the bird is a story of sadness, of depression of mental illness. The fog that surrounds and sometimes envelopes people, can be dispiriting, it separates people from their friends, it becomes thicker and so harder to be released from it.

The story takes the reader into a sad mind, but one that can be helped when the person looks falsely at what is happening and understands that there is a way ahead. Younger readers will be able to see this as the aim of the story, and be able to talk about keeping themselves well and mentally fit.

I loved the line at the start of the book  'On a clear day, it’s easy to see your way'. And the last line, 'so much is waiting for you when the fog lifts.' Both lines distill the theme of the book into a few words which could be writ large in every classroom.

We all have times when we feel lost or confused, and a book like this will support children in these times, reading of the little puffin finding his way out of his fog.

Themes: Wellbeing, Depression, Fog, Mental health, Allegory.

Fran Knight