Press Reviews

• Bernie Siegel, MD

  I have been using dreams and drawings by my patients for decades. Consciousness speaks to us through images. I commend Joan Drescher for her work and book, and hope that it will make a difference and have patients' drawings become a part of medical training and education.

• Judy Rollins, PhD, RN

  Through the universal language of images, Joan Drescher offers us a tool to unlock and help children deal with the wide range of often difficult, but always honest feelings that children facing death - their own or that of a loved one - experience. This powerful book reflects Joan's deep commitment to and respect for children and the importance of honoring each child's unique voice and spirit.

• Shaun McNiff, University Professor, Lesley University, author of Art Heals, Integrating the Arts in Therapy, Art-Based Research and Imagination in Action: Secrets for Unleashing Creative Expression

  A Journey In The Moon Balloon: When Images Speak Louder Than Words offers an uplifting way of making art with children, families, and caregivers, all the more effective in its grounded embrace of the full spectrum of emotions experienced by those facing health challenges and crises. Joan Drescher, a skilled illustrator and pioneer Artist in Residence at the Massachusetts General Hospital, brings considerable credibility to the emerging use of the arts in comprehensive healthcare. In addition to suggestions for initiating artistic expression, the book offers insightful psychological guidance on the creative process and how to help others become engaged in their unique ways. Art therapists and students who are increasingly interested in the process of interactive art making will find this book inspirational. For me personally, Joan Drescher and others like her will hopefully spur on the arts therapy disciplines to create together with artists whose work serves public health and find ways to form a more inclusive community of all who aspire to advance art healing in the world.

• Rob Zucker, MA, LCSW, author of The Journey Through Grief and Loss: Helping Yourself and Your Child When Grief is Shared

  This is a beautiful book! A Journey in the Moon Balloon: When Images Speak Louder than Words really empowers the reader to playfully enter the creative realm with grieving children and young people facing life-threatening illnesses... At the heart of Drescher's stunning book is her unflagging respect for children and her belief in the power of love.

• Sandra Bertman, PhD, FT, author of Facing Death: Images, Insights & Interventions

  When words are not enough to ease the pain and sorrow inherent in the human condition, this compendium of insights, techniques and images is an amazing resource. A Journey in the Moon Balloon: When Images Speak Louder than Words belongs on the bedside table of all adults - to be turned to often when called upon to console a child - or the child in all of us.

• Rev. Suzanne Fageol, Spiritual Director and Somatic Trauma Educator

  This book represents the best practices for working with children's emotional issues. A must have for chaplains, professional caregivers, medical practitioners and art therapists, as well as parents. Well researched and easily approachable in its applications.

• Marcia R. Gardner

  Pediatric Nursing

  Pediatric nurses and other health care providers concerned about helping school-aged children cope with difficult situations, such as illness, pain, loss, grief, disappointment, or other challenge, will find this book valuable. It offers clinicians, as well as health professions students, a developmentally appropriate and evidence-grounded intervention to provide to children and to parents who yearn to help their children. It belongs on the bookshelf in every pediatric health care setting!