bill’s hospital adventure:
every feeling matters
Bill’s Hospital Adventure is a warm, reassuring picture book that helps children explore feelings that can arise with health and hospital journeys.
Rather than focusing on diagnosis or medical procedures, the story centres on everyday experiences such as arriving at hospital, meeting healthcare workers, resting at night and attending hospital school.
Along the way, Bill is supported by his friends from The BB Crew, who help children name, understand and normalise feelings that may arise through these experiences.
This gentle, story-based approach helps children and the adults around them keep the health conversation alive through connection, understanding and shared language.
why was this book written?
The BB Crew exists to help keep the health conversation alive between children and the adults around them.
This story was inspired by lived experience, after hospitals quickly became part of everyday life for the author’s family following the birth of their child with a rare genetic condition.
In the early days, sitting in a neonatal intensive care unit parent room, the only children’s book on the shelf focused on premature babies. For a family adjusting to the diagnosis of a chronic, lifelong medical condition, this felt further isolating.
As the years went on, more medical children’s books appeared - but many were diagnosis-specific and often only found after days of searching. Again, this felt isolating.
For families navigating rare, chronic or complex health journeys, this often left a gap. Even beyond rare disease, there remained a need for more children’s picture books that gently explored hospitals, healthcare and feelings in ways that felt inclusive and supportive.
Bill’s Hospital Adventure: Every Feeling Matters was written to help fill that space.
This book was created to be:
Inclusive
Non-diagnostic
Emotionally supportive
Suitable for children accessing hospital care for many different reasons
By focusing on feelings rather than conditions, the story creates space for more children and families to see themselves within its pages.
This is a story-led and feelings-focused resource informed by trauma-aware and social and emotional learning principles, designed to support connection, understanding and conversation through health and hospital journeys.
who is the book for?
Children preparing for a hospital visit
Children who attend hospital reguarly
children supporting a sibling or family member
families wanting a gentle conversation starter
schools exploring health and emotional literacy
Frequently Asked Questions
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Bill’s Hospital Adventure was written for all children who may experience hospitals or healthcare environments, whether that’s for a one-off visit, ongoing care, supporting a sibling, or simply learning about healthcare environments.
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No.
Bill’s Hospital Adventure: Every Feeling Matters was intentionally written to be inclusive and non-diagnosis-specific, regardless of the reason they may be accessing healthcare or hospital services.
The story avoids detailed medical information and instead focuses on emotions, connection, communication, and the everyday experiences children may encounter in healthcare settings. This helps keep the book accessible, gentle and relatable for a wide range of readers.
The author shares more about her lived experience and inspiration behind the book in the Author’s Note at the back of the book.
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The book has been created primarily for primary school aged children, generally between 5 - 12 years, with flexibility depending on the child and setting.
It is often read with an adult, making it suitable for home, school, and healthcare environments.
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Yes.
The book aligns naturally with social and emotional learning (SEL), wellbeing and health education within school settings. It has been thoughtfully designed to support gentle, age appropriate conversations around feelings, healthcare experiences, connection and communication.
The story can help create opportunities for meaningful discussions in classrooms, particularly around empathy, emotional literacy, inclusion, and supporting children who may be navigating hospital visits, illness, or healthcare experiences themselves or within their family.
Additional teacher resources and classroom support materials will continue to be added to the website over time. Please check back regularly in the Teachers section of the website for updates.
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Yes.
The book has been throughfully designed to support gentle, age-appropriate conversations within hospitals, clinics, and community healthcare settings. It can help children, families, educators, and healthcare professionals navigate conversations around feelings, healthcare experiences, connection and communication.
Many healthcare and education professionals may also find the book helpful as a conversation starter to support emotional wellbeing, reassurance and understanding for children accessing healthcare environments.