Why Zola exists
Most picture books about big feelings ask a child to calm down. These ones hand them something to do.
Zola is a little girl whose senses run loud. She hears what other people filter out, she smells the rain before it arrives, and she sees the small bright things everybody hurries past. That's her gift — and the same wiring means a street fair, a wool sweater or a school cafeteria can become genuinely too much.
There are six books, one for each way the world gets to be a lot. Every one follows the same shape: the noticing is wonderful, then it's overwhelming, then a grown-up meets her at her level and gives her a real tool — and finally Zola uses the very sense that overwhelmed her to help somebody else. Nobody ever tells her she's too sensitive. Nobody fixes her.
The tools in the books are real ones, the kind occupational therapists actually recommend: noise-reducing headphones and paced breathing, layering soft fabric under scratchy fabric, a safe-foods plate, dimming and counting, parallel play, naming the sound. Each book ends with a card you can photograph and stick on the fridge — and all six are free to download.
Written and illustrated by Jonah Steeves, published by Drifting Minds Studio, which makes tools for neurodivergent brains and the people who love them.