“Fear has always looked after me and kept me safe. Together we have experienced new things and stuck by each other. But since we came to this new country, Fear isn’t so little anymore. She keeps growing and growing.”
Genre: Fiction
In this incredibly moving story of a girl trying to find her place in her new home, fear is represented in both a positive and negative light with its personification. In this story, fear is uniquely seen as an actual character who is holding the girl back from reaching out to people in her school or exploring the foreign neighborhood.
Throughout the story, Fear grows bigger and so does her hold over the girl’s actions, but the increasing size makes the girl feel more isolated and lonely. The girl later meets a boy classmate and learns that she isn’t the only one with a Fear. Everyone has it. Rather than keep it secret and hidden, allowing it to hold her back, she learns to express her fear and play with other people’s fears, as well. By the end, her Fear is much smaller and happier, just like her.
The most engaging part of this story is how the girl’s fear is physically represented. It is right there alongside her as a constant companion who offers her security and keeps her safe. In this way, it shows that fear has a valuable place in our lives because it can keep us safe from harm, but if we let it have too much control, we will limit ourselves to only sticking with what is comfortable and familiar. The girl eventually takes a chance to reach out to someone despite Fear’s warnings and the results lead to her happy ending.
The Grand Adventure 