I Will Not Be Scared

A potent story about the power of talking through our fears to set ourselves free of them, from award-winning creators Jean-François Sénéchal and Simone Rea.

Our fears can consume the entirety of our lives -- unless we find ways to free ourselves of them. As a young rabbit tries to fall asleep one night, kept awake by the trauma of his family’s past life in a war-torn region, he replays scenes in his head of an entirely new battle: being attacked by bullies the previous day at school. While his mother tries to encourage him to open up about the incident itself, he hesitates, instead questioning whether he possesses enough courage at all. It’s only through addressing the root of his fears, a process that is never easy, that he understands how to free himself and move forward.

As the son of two teachers, Jean-François Sénéchal grew up around books. After studying anthropology for a time, he ultimately gravitated back to his first love, devoting himself entirely to literature. His stories--exploring societal issues such as exclusion and inequality for audiences of children and adolescents--have garnered him various honors, including the 2017 Joseph S. Stauffer Prize from the Canada Council for the Arts, and a Governor General’s Award for children’s literature. Simone Rea is an accomplished artist and illustrator who creates works for children’s books, magazines, and other publications. A graduate of the Fine Arts Academy in Rome, he has twice been selected for the Bologna Illustrators Exhibition and was awarded a BIB Plaque at the Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava. He lives and works in his home municipality of Albano-Laziale, Italy.