Exploring anxiety in A Totally Big Umbrella, by Sarah Crossan & Rebecca Cobb
About Author
Sarah Crossan and Rebecca Cobb introduce their new picture book about young children's anxieties, A Totally Big Umbrella (Walker Books).
Sarah grew up in Dublin and London. Her books for children and teenagers have won many prizes including the prestigious CILIP Carnegie Medal and the CLiPPA Poetry Award. She lives and works in East Sussex.
Rebecca Cobb grew up surrounded by coloured pencils, felt pens and paints. She studied illustration at Falmouth College of Arts and has been living in Falmouth and working as an author and illustrator ever since.
Interview
August 2025
Exploring anxiety in A Totally Big Umbrella, by Sarah Crossan & Rebecca Cobb (Walker Books)
In A Totally Big Umbrella, author Sarah Crossan explores a young child's overwhelming anxiety about rain. As she finds bigger and better umbrellas to help protect her from the rain, her family helps her realise that what is helping her cope is also stopping her from enjoying her life; a new solution must be found.
A Totally Big Umbrella is illustrated by Rebecca Cobb, and ReadingZone spoke with Sarah and Rebecca to find out how they drew on their own anxieties in creating this picture book, and the conversations about anxiety they hope the story will inspire.
Q&A with Sarah Crossan & Rebecca Cobb, introducing A Totally Big Umbrella
"I wanted to write about anxiety as I have watched it at work in my own family
and seen how all-encompassing it can be for a small person." Sarah Crossan
1. Sarah, You're well known for your verse novels for older readers - what brought you into writing picture books, and what was the creative journey like for your first book, A Totally Big Umbrella?
Sarah: Writing A Totally Big Umbrella was a pure joy from beginning to end, though the process took many years. It began when I befriended two incredible editors at Walker, Deirdre and Maria, and through that friendship, the seeds for book ideas began to grow. We didn't hit on anything that sang for us for a long time, but when we did, the process was collaborative and joyful. It's incredibly satisfying as an artist, to be treated like an adult whilst writing for very small children.
2. Rebecca, can you tell us about the kinds of picture books you enjoy creating, and why you wanted to illustrate A Totally Big Umbrella?
Rebecca: I am a huge fan of Sarah's work and am personally very grateful for her books because they re-ignited a love of reading for me after becoming a parent and having a few years of struggling to make any time to read for myself or instantly falling asleep every time I tried!
I was really keen to illustrate A Totally Big Umbrella because of my love of Sarah's work but also because I identified with the main character, Tallulah, as I am a big worrier, so I really liked the idea of working on a book that would be helpful for anyone who worries.
I enjoy illustrating a variety of picture books, sometimes I work on books about serious issues and sometimes I work on books that are just pure fun - I think this story was a brilliant mixture of both. The theme of anxiety is a very serious one but Sarah's text in A Totally Big Umbrella often makes me laugh out loud and l think laughing is so important and can be a very effective way to deal with worries.
3. What happens in A Totally Big Umbrella?
Sarah: Talullah doesn't like the rain. In fact, the rain ruins everything. So she does what has to do to protect herself from getting wet, finding bigger and bigger umbrellas as shields. The thing is, a shield can also be prison, so Talullah finds that though she is safe, she is also lonely. It takes a special person to help her find a way out.
Rebecca: It is a story about a girl who is upset when the rain spoils her fun with her friends (and her biscuits!) and she begins to worry that it might rain again. Her worry gets bigger and bigger until she is so anxious that her fear of the rain spoils all of her fun anyway. Luckily she has a kind, vivacious Grandma who helps her to not be so afraid but to enjoy the rain instead.
4. Did a true story help inspire A Totally Big Umbrella? What was your starting point for this story?
Sarah: Ultimately, I wanted to write about anxiety as I have watched it at work in my own family and seen how all-encompassing it can be for a small person. Adults often find a child's approach to coping with worry slightly funny or silly, but the truth is, we all have coping mechanisms to insulate us from perceived danger, and the trick is to find a balance between safety and isolation.
5. Talullah tries to find bigger and better umbrellas through the story to be safe from the rain. Why does the umbrella work well as a metaphor here? Can the story be used to discuss other kinds of fears?
Sarah: I love umbrellas so I was keen to use them and am so utterly delighted by Rebecca's illustrations! I liked the ludicrous notion of an umbrella getting larger and larger and a child being able to see that on the page as I think it captures the reality of living with anxiety, which is that a small fear becomes unwieldy when we do everything to change our environment rather than finding a way to calm our own minds.
Of course anxiety in children can often be a signpost to issues such as sensory processing disorder, ASD or other neurodivergences, and so rather than Tallulah being dismissed in this book, I wanted her to be taken seriously and guided gently towards an alternative by Grandma. Actually, both of these characters are learning; Grandma begins by listening and accommodating Tallulah's needs before realising that perhaps her granddaughter needs something else. By the end, Tallulah realises that what kept her safe was also hurting. But she still gets to keep an umbrella, just in case, because why not?
Rebecca: I think the umbrella is perfect as a metaphor for how worries can get in the way of really enjoying life and getting the most out it. Tallulah's worry about the rain gets increasingly more extreme and the umbrella helps us to see this visually because it gets more and more difficult for her to carry around and it also acts as a shield or a barrier from everything and everyone around her, not just the rain. It isolates her until she feels bored and lonely. I used mainly greys for the umbrellas to add to the idea of Tallulah's separation from all the colour and joy around her. I hope this story will be really helpful for discussing all kinds of fears.
6. Do you remember your own biggest fears as a child, and how you overcame them?
Sarah: My worries were more grave than Tallulah's, I think. Would I get to heaven? Where would we be living in the coming months? What sort of mood would my father be in when he got home? I was a thoughtful, brooding sort of child, but books, when I discovered them, gave me an escape from real life, which was often quite fraught.
Dr Becky Kennedy who speaks and writes about sensitive children says that a parent's words becomes a child's self-talk. I'm pretty sure my own self-talk was rather critical: don't be silly, stop whinging etc. I don't blame my parents for their inability to guide me more gently, but I am learning to talk to my own child (and myself) in a more compassionate way… most of the time!
Rebecca: I was completely terrified of level crossings! The warning lights look like a scary robot face to me, with two red eyes and an orange mouth which lets out that deafening, eerie siren. And I was so scared of being too slow and getting trapped on the railway line between the barriers and then the train getting me. I still have flashbacks to the fear I felt as a child every time I see a level crossing now, but I think I gradually managed to overcome the fear by realising that I'm not in danger as I've managed to cross them safely every time so far and so I don't need to worry.
7. Rebecca, can you tell us about your approach to illustrating A Totally Big Umbrella, and how you bring Talullah's fears to life through your illustrations, for example your use of perspective and colour?
Rebecca: I really enjoyed working out how to visually represent Tallulah's anxiety and decided to use the same pale turquoise, watery colour every time I was showing this. I thought it would help us to see from her point of view and see her fears for ourselves if I used the patterns and shapes around her, such as the wallpaper, tablecloth, dressing gown, blanket and hedge plants and showed them turning into raindrops or waves of water. I also drew her looking as if she is inside a large raindrop when she is in her umbrella tent looking out at Grandma's party, to show that, rather than avoiding the thing she fears, she has made its impact on her life even bigger and almost trapped herself inside it.
8. Sarah, what do Rebecca's illustrations capture in the text for you? Do you have a favourite spread or moment in the story?
Sarah: I love the richness of Rebecca's colour choices, especially the greens and corals. My favourite spread shows Tallulah pushing against her huge umbrella in the gorgeous, verdant green garden. I also love how Rebecca depicts children in all their messiness as they learn how to exist plus Tallulah's imagination - the ocean sweeping her away. When I got the images in the early stages, my heart burst. Rebecca has completed Tallulah's tale like no one else could. I am so grateful she agreed to work with me. It's an absolute dream come true.
9. We also love the family relationships you explore through the story, can you tell us a little about the family you wanted to create in this picture book?
Sarah: I wanted to create an imperfect family. The parents don't necessarily know how to help Tallulah and Tallulah is aware that her family have their own crutches (for example Dad with his phone). Her grandma seems a little bit more curious about the problem and willing to engage with Tallulah.
Rebecca: I love the main character of Tallulah because I think she is a really interesting mixture of being a worrier but at the same time being strong and determined and I tried to show both these sides of her personality in the pictures. I think that her parents are clearly concerned for her and potentially people who worry about things too, but her Grandma feels like a very steady, strong, wise character who can really help her and she has a great, dry sense of humour. I wanted to illustrate her as being full of colour and patterns and flowers so she's usually in red as it is such a bold, bright colour.
10. Are you working on other picture books currently? And how do you enjoy relaxing when you're away from writing / illustrating your next book?
Sarah: I have written another picture book which I've very excited about. To relax, I've been running more often the last few years, which is not just good for my heart and lungs, but my brain too! I've stopped berating myself for finding the wind or the heat or hills hard. Instead, my mantra is, 'Well done, Sarah. You got off the sofa!' I have learned that giving myself pep-talks is a much more useful strategy in general.
Rebecca: I have just finished the artwork for a picture book story called The Ice Cream Crocodile, written by Mariesa Dulak, and I am about to start work on my next picture book that I'm writing and illustrating.
To relax I like spending time with my family, reading, sewing, gardening and because I am lucky enough to live in Cornwall I also love swimming in the sea.
School Visits: Do you offer school events, and if so, what is involved in your events for A Totally Big Umbrella? How can schools get in touch to organise an event with you?
Sarah: I offer school visits in and around Sussex. To arrange, you can use a dedicated email address: [email protected]
Rebecca: I do sometimes do local school events where I read stories, do some drawing and then get the children to draw too. The best way to get in touch is to send me an email because I don't always find my social media messages.
A Totally Big Umbrella: A reassuring story about conquering anxiety
