Fearless

By Kelly Canby

Reviewed by Lara Cain Gray

Kelly Canby’s latest release, Fearless, continues to showcase her triple-threat picture book talent for words, illustrations, and epic spread design that becomes an integral component of the storytelling. At the heart of this story is a message we’ve heard many times in children’s books: encouraging children to overcome irrational but overwhelming fears, such as balloons popping and noises in the night. This example, however, is stylish and vocabulary-enriching in a whole new way.

Bea Ware was afraid of many things. Her friend Annie Venture, on the other hand, feared less. Bea frets about ladders, shadows, candles, toasters, even candy that’s too hard. Annie ‘scaled new heights with ladders’ and ‘carried candles without melting down’. Bea feels tangled up in fear; like a frayed not. Bea observes Annie from a distance, wondering how she can be so fearless. Annie explains that she is not fearless, but rather works hard to fear less each day. Bea decides to confront her fears in small ways, gradually fearing a little less each time.

The two characters are illustrated with delightful parallels and differences; two halves of a whole, if you choose to read it that way, with similar hair, glasses and environments, but opposing colour palettes. Bea hides in shadows of black and blue, while Annie dances in pink, orange and yellow. The symbolic frayed not (which becomes a ‘frayed not-quite-as-often’) is a golden thread of hope for Bea. Whether they are friends or two parts of a single psyche, the visual contrasts will delight young readers, encouraging them to think about colour connotations or what they prefer to wear when they’re in certain moods.

The other great pleasure is the language, and the incorporation of words into the spread design. The narrative is packed with word play and literary devices, like similes and alliteration, plus typography that emphasises the separation and blending of ‘fearless’ and ‘fear less’. But hundreds of additional words are used graphically to form backgrounds to the action, leaving Bea literally surrounded by the things she fears, from objects (books, cones, shoelaces, bagpipes, couches) to sounds (sizzles, sighs, puffs, flutters) and beyond. The words form waves around, above and below Bea’s activities, but gently change colour and vibrancy as Bea considers Annie’s approach.

Aimed at readers 3 to 5 years old, this will be an enjoyable shared read with the opportunity to linger on spreads and endpapers, exploring the book as an object as well as a story. Early independent readers will get a lot from the page by page word search. And everyone will love the colours!

Teaching activity

Teaching notes

 Fremantle Press,  2026

Kelly Canby

Lara Cain Gray is the author of The Grown-Ups Guide to Picture Books.