Janan Cain's beautifully illustrated and engaging book for young children is a wonderful introduction to feelings and the words that describe them. The imaginative illustrations and superbly crafted verses are sensitive and free of both bias and slang.
This book offers children a very important skill, a way to express the way they are feeling in a healthy manner - through words. Each two-page spread introduces a new emotion word through rhyming couplets and occasional alliteration; "I'm bouncing like a rubber ball. I'm more excited that I can say! It's really hard for me to sit, when I'd rather jump and play!" The fonts change color, size, and direction to make the reading as fun as the pictures. The emotion being described is also repeated in an extra large, colorful font to reiterate it. The pictures show cartoon children with crazy hair that look almost computer animated and do a great job of demonstrating the emotion through expression and body language. The pages contain bold and contrasting colors that also reflect the feeling being described; happy and silly are yellow, while sad is blue-green, and red is angry. The backgrounds are abstract, but simple, keeping the focus on the children.
Your child will have a ball imitating the pictures, practicing showing the emotions and learning the appropriate word to go with it. The final page has notes for parents from the author with suggestions on how to interact with your child over this book. The author suggests asking your child when they experience the feeling described on each page to discuss how to deal with emotions in a healthy way, how to change circumstances to avoid emotions your child dislikes, and practice naming emotions to give your child a verbal outlet.
I loved reading this book with my niece Emily because I want her to know that she can express how she feels. I asked her which feeling was her favorite and she chose, "Happy" because yellow is her favorite color. When I asked which feeling she had experienced most recently, she said "Thankful that you read books to me." It was the best compliment I had all week!
--Audra