By Jorge Inzunza
In my university psychology classes, we would often use the concept of the backpack as a tool for carrying our own narratives of our emotional struggles and pains. It is this metaphor that Ruth Goring uses in her book “Isaiah and the Worry Pack,” illustrated by Pamela C. Rice, published in late 2021 by IVPress.
Anxiety is the trademark of our times. Ruth welcomes this childhood suffering, the daily concerns of survival in uncertainty, and wraps it in a soft blanket of words to germinate. From our nightmares, worlds of possibilities can sprout, horizons of solidarity, and songs to cradle.
Goring believes in the word, in literary creation and in the healing power of oral stories. Our stories heal; they offer a home to unload those backpacks and remove the heavy rocks from our backs. The author offers us a story to tell over and over again, to imagine and create a place of tranquility together for our little ones.
Isaiah invites us as mothers and fathers to stop, breathe and reflect. I want to imagine this book as a space for conversation, as a refuge to plant words. These words are seeds that will become leafy trees to oxygenize our world. This is an exercise of liberation.
There are books that make our backpacks lighter. This is one of them.
The book is available HERE.
Jorge Inzunza 