Book Review: Angry Octopus - A Relaxation Story

Author: Lori Lite

Illustrator: Max Stasuyk

Interest Level: Ages 4 and Up

From the Book Jacket: Children love to unwind and relax with this fun exercise known as muscular relaxation. Children will be able to relate to the angry octopus in this story as the sea child shows him how to calm down and manage his anger. This effective stress and anger management technique focuses awareness on various muscle groups to create a complete resting of the mind and body. Muscular relaxation can lower stress and anxiety levels. It can be used to decrease pain and anger. This engaging story quiets the mind and relaxes the body so your child can let go of anger and fall asleep peacefully. 

Why It's On My Bookshelf: My favorite thing about this book is how it stresses you are the boss of your body and feelings. You can control your anger - even when things are falling apart and you feel like you might explode. Many kids feel out of control and need to hear this. Angry Octopus works on teaching the child how to be the boss by practice deep breathing. He becomes angry over something very small and after he gets himself back together through breathing he is able to solve the problem. Such an excellent resource! 

A Link to This Book and Others You Might Find Helpful:

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Book Review: I Think, I Am!: Teaching Kids the Power of Affirmations

Authors: Louise Hay and Kristina Tracy

Illustrator: Manuela Schwarz

Interest Level: Ages 4 and Up

From the Book Jacket: "Your thoughts create your life!" This is the message that Louise Hay has been teaching people throughout the world for more than 25 years. Now, children can learn and understand the powerful idea that they have control over their thoughts and words, and in turn, what happens in their life. 

Within the pages of I Think, I Am! kids will find out the difference between negative thoughts and positive affirmations. Fun illustrations and simple text demonstrate how to make the change from negative thoughts and words to those that are positive. The happiness and confidence that come from this ability is something children ail carry with them their entire lives!

Why It's On My Bookshelf: This book has been a total game changer for me as a strong counseling technique. It has really taken some of my lessons to a whole new level and the response I'm seeing from kids is unbelievable. Teaching kids they have control over their thoughts is huge - it can change a hard day to an incredible day. I Think, I Am! does such a wonderful job of teaching kids what a positive affirmation is and how to challenge negative ones. There are 13 examples in the book like, "I can't believe I forgot my sweater. I always forget everything!" "I don't like my hair. I wish it were hers!" "If I don't do what they want, they will be mad at me." The situations are easy to relate to. I cannot recommend this book enough. Get it on your shelf immediately!

A Link to This Book:

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Book Review: In My Heart - A Book of Feelings

Author: Jo Witek
Illustrator: Christine Roussey
Interest Level: Ages 3 and Up

From the Book Jacket: Sometimes my heart feels like a big yellow star, shiny and bright. I smile from ear to ear and twirl around so fast, I feel as if I could take off into the sky. This is when my heart is happy. This book is a vibrant celebration of feelings, in all their shapes and sizes. 

Feelings Covered: Happy, Brave, Mad, Calm, Broken, Sad, Hopeful, Afraid, Silly, Shy, Proud

Why It's On My Bookshelf: Next year my goal is to run more social skills groups around identifying feelings. So I've been on the hunt for great reads in this area. I want to help kids create their own books on emotions during our group. In My Heart is a super cool one. There is a heart cutout through the whole book. I also like the feelings covered because they are so appropriate for my kindergarten groups. 

A Link to This Book and Others You Might Find Helpful: 

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Book Review: The Great Big Book of Feelings

Author: Mary Hoffman
Illustrator: Ros Asquith
Interest Level: Ages 4 and Up

From the Book Jacket: Happy, sad, excited, bored, silly, shy, confident...Explore lots of different feelings with the children in this book, including how to share and talk about feelings, and how to help yourself feel better.

Why It's On My Bookshelf: This is a proactive book about feelings. It takes it a step further then just defining a feeling - it gives kids guidance on what to do with some of those emotions that might trip up their day. I'm happy to share this new one with students but was also reflecting as a parent how this will be going in my daughter's library. It's wonderful. 

Feelings covered: Happy, sad, excited, interested, angry, upset, calm, silly, lonely, scared, safe, embarassed, shy, confident, worried, jealous, satisfied, and bored.

A Link to This Book and Others You Might Find Helpful: 

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Book Review: The Way I Feel Series

The Way I Feel Series
Author: Cornelia Maude Spelman
Illustrator: Kathy Parkinson 
Interest Level: Ages 3 and Up

Why They Are On My Bookshelf: This is such a helpful series on emotions for our students. They are in a basket at my peace table.  I introduce them in the beginning of the year and show students how to use them as a tool to overcome a challenging feeling. Each story shows children how to recognize the feeling and what they can do to feel better.

When I Feel Sad
"Sometimes I feel sad. I feel sad when someone won't let me play, or when I really want to tell about something and nobody listens. When someone else is sad, I feel sad, too. ... Sad is a cloudy, tired feeling. Nothing seems fun when I feel sad."

Children will take comfort in this story. Readers will recognize similar experiences in their own lives as this little guinea pig describes feeling sad when someone is cross or when something bad happens. Eventually our heroine realizes that feeling sad doesn't last forever.

When I Feel Scared
Children often feel afraid. This book, with its comforting words and illustrations, will help children address those fears and learn some new ways to cope with being afraid. First, a little bear describes some of the things that frighten him, like bad dreams or big, tall slides, or when his mother goes away. Sometimes, he just feels scared and doesn’t know why! But he learns there are things he can do to make himself feel better. A "Note to Parents and Teachers" reinforces the positive messages in the book.

 When I Feel Good About Myself
"I feel good about myself. Somebody loves me just as I am. I don't have to look like anyone else, be the same size, or do the same things. It's fine to be me."

This book offers children positive and upbeat examples about being themselves. The author portrays a very young guinea pig and friends feeling good about themselves through common situations readers will relate to. Together, the text and art will foster self-esteem and independence.
 

 When I Care About Others
 In today’s society, perhaps more than ever, young children need to develop empathy. In this simple book, the author begins by helping children see that when they are sick, hurt, or unhappy, others care about them. Children can then begin to see that others need to be cared about as well. Common situations will further a child’s appreciation for and understanding of what others feel and need.

When I Feel Jealous
A bear cub describes situations that make her jealous: when someone has something she wants, when someone is good at something she wants to be good at, and when someone else gets all the attention. "Jealousy is a prickly, hot, horrible feeling. I don't like feeling jealous, but—everybody feels jealous sometimes." The little bear finds ways to make herself feel better—she talks to someone about how she feels and then does something pleasant—and soon the jealous feeling goes away. 

When I Feel Angry
Anger is a scary emotion for young children, their parents, and caregivers. As this little bunny experiences the things that make her angry, she also learns ways to deal with her anger—ways that won't hurt others.

When I Miss You
Young children often experience anxiety when they are separated from their mothers or fathers. This newest title in "The Way I Feel" series features a young guinea pig who expresses her distress when her mother and father go away. "Missing you is a heavy, achy feeling. I don't like missing you. I want you right now!" Eventually the little guinea pig realizes that sometimes she and her parents can't be together. When that happens, she knows that others can help. "They can snuggle with me or we can play. It helps me to be warm and close to someone. They remind me that you'll be back."

When I Feel Worried
Everybody worries. Children worry, too—in new or confusing situations, or when someone is angry with them. This new addition to the acclaimed The Way I Feel Series uses reassuring words and touching illustrations to address a child’s anxieties and shows him ways to help him feel better. Cornelia Maude Spelman and Kathy Parkinson team up once again to provide a comforting and empowering book that’s helpful to all families. 





A Link to These Books: 
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Book Review: Visiting Feelings

by Lauren Rubenstein
illustrated by Shelly Hehenberger
Publisher: Magination Press

From the Book Jacket: Visiting Feelings harnesses a young child's innate capacity to fully experience the present moment. Rather than label or define specific emotions and feelings, Visiting Feelings, invites children to sense, explore, and befriend all of their feelings with acceptance and equanimity. Children can explore their emotions with their senses and gain an understanding of how feelings can lodge in the body, as conveyed by common expressions like "a pit in the stomach" or "a lump in the throat."

Children can cultivate mindfulness and nurture their emotional intelligence. In essence, mindfulness is tuning into yourself and paying attention to the present moment without judging or analyzing what you are thinking or feeling. Practicing mindfulness can enhance many aspects of a person's well-being, help develop insight and empathy, and build resilience.

**A Note to Parents provides more information about emotional awareness and  mindfulness; plus practical advice and activities for introducing mindfulness into your home and daily family routine.

Why It's On My Bookshelf: Visiting Feelings is really helping me work with children who go into shutdown mode. Helping kids tune into their emotions can be really challenging and it's important I have lots of different types of feelings books on my shelf. This definitely sparks deeper thinking and gently encourages openness. It's been perfect for a small group setting with an art therapy. activity My goal for all the students in my school is that I am able to help their emotional intelligence grow. There are so many things we can do to help teach children how to tap into their feelings. This is a GREAT resource to do so.

A Link to This Book: 

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Book Review: Some Days Are Lonely

Author: Young-Ah Kim

Illustrator: Ji-Soo Shin

Interest Level: Ages 4 and Up

Book Description: Loneliness is a common emotion in both children and adults. As the bear progresses through the story, he experiences loneliness like stormy weather. By the end of the story, the storm has cleared and a rainbow comes out, signifying the transience of uncomfortable or unwelcome emotions. Creative activities for kids and a "Note to Parents" are included.

Why It's On My Bookshelf: I'd like to use this book in a couple of ways: 1)to teach kids about the feeling of loneliness and how to overcome it and 2)to help children recognize when others are feeling down and how to help them out of a cloudy feeling. Helping kids be in touch with their empathetic heart is very important to me.

A few pages show the bear curled up looking sad: 

I have a few stuffed bears I plan on putting in this same body position. I think it's really powerful for them to see this visual and even hold the bear when he is curled up.

But then I had another therapy idea. This guy:

I think using this Care Bear (Cheer Bear) to talk about coping skills and how to turn the gloom around will be super helpful/visual to kids. The rainbow visual is what really sold me. The book reminds kids that when clouds pass - a rainbow might appear. If I remember right there is also a Care Bear with a sun on it - you could use that one too. Some Days Are Lonely really helped me dig into my creative counselor side. Just reading the story is not enough. You gotta really go for it. Another very healing book. Yes! 

PS. The activities on the back pages are EXCELLENT:

-If your heart were like the weather, what kind of weather would it be today?

-The window is open. If a friend would come by, happy to see you, which friend would you like to see? Draw that friend's face in the window.

A Link To This Book and Others You Might Find Helpful:

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Books About Being Grumpy

When I think about the word grumpy what comes to mind is negativity. Because if you have ever been around someone in a bad mood you can feel it. Here are two very helpful books to help kids understand what those negative feelings are and can encourage a discussion on how to get rid of them. For those parents who deal with a moody kiddo once in awhile - I think you will REALLY like these new finds. 

Maya Was Grumpy
Written and Illustrated by Courtney Pippin-Mathur
Interest Level: Ages 5 and Up

From the Book Jacket: Poor Maya. She doesn't know why she's grumpy. She's just in a crispy, cranky, grumpy, grouchy mood. Luckily, Gramma isn't ruffled by Maya's glumping and growling. She simply reminds Maya of all the fun things she might miss out on because of her grumpiness - like hunting for hippos, bathing baby elephants, and tickling tarantulas. Will Gramma's silly suggestions coax Maya out of her miserable mood?

Grumpy Goat
Written and Illustrated by Brett Helquist
Interest Level: Ages 5 and Up

From the Book Jacket: Meet one grumpy goat. He's cranky, he's hungry, and he's never had a friend. He is making a terrible mess at Sunny Acres Farm, and the other animals just stay away. He knocks over the pigs' trough, kicks down the garden fence, and eats everything in his path. Until one special flower stops him in his tracks. And once Goat opens his eyes, his heart is soon to follow. See how stopping to smell the flowers really can change everything. 

A Link to These Books:

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Book Review: Stuck With the Blooz

Stuck With the Blooz

by Caron Levis
illustrated by Jon Davis
Book Website: Click here

A Note From the Publisher: What do you do when you're feeling blue--especially when your mood takes the form of a drippy, oozy monster called the Blooz? Do you ignore it? Do you ask it lots of questions? Do you give it an ice-pop and hope it goes away? Through trial and error, the child in this story discovers that while it may not be easy, it's not impossible to shake the Blooz. 

Why It's On My Bookshelf: There are students in my school who will really benefit from reading this book. They are dealing with life situations that are contributing to increased feelings of sadness. One way to help them cope is by giving them awareness of their emotions and finding ways through discussion on how to deal with it when it pops up in their life. Perfect book for this! You could also do some creative art therapy by drawing the Blooz monster from the book.

I don't know what the statistics are regarding depression and children but I personally feel this generation is at risk. With the recent shootings in Newtown we are all feeling really down. My niece who is a 5th grader said to me, "I just feel so sad." It is such a traumatic event and has filled so many kids with a deep sadness that they don't know what to do with it. I know the healing will take a long time but turning to books can sometimes bring comfort and provide help for those who are hurting.

A Link to This Book:

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Book Review: Steps and Stones: An Anh's Anger Story

Author: Gail Silver
Illustrated by Christiane Kromer
Interest Level: Ages 4-9

From the Book Jacket: Anh looked at his Anger. He hadn't seen him for awhile. "Why were you wearing all that stuff?" Anh asked. "I almost didn't recognize you." "I was trying to be inconspicuous," Anger whispered. "I'm not sure if I'm allowed at school."

When Anh's friends go off to play without him, he feels all alone. Then his anger shows up and suggests taking revenge. Instead, Anh discovers walking meditation and finds a path toward accepting his emotions and developing new friendships. 

Steps and Stones can help children learn to understand the causes of their own strong emotions. With humor and compassion, it teaches children and adults how walking meditation can be a tool to calm anger and resolve conflict. 

Why It's On My Bookshelf: My lessons on keeping your cool in school just got a whole lot better. This is the sequel to Anh's Anger and it is an ESSENTIAL resource. Kids are managing their emotions all day long. But for certain kids, they have to work extra hard at managing their feelings of anger. As a school counselor, I rely on books like this to help teach calming down techniques kids will actually use.

Steps and Stones focuses on teaching children to cool off through breathing, counting and walking. Ahn's anger walks slowly with him as they do this exercise together. Slowly Ahn is able to work through the feeling and regain his balance. At my school, we teach kids to take a break when they are about to lose their cool. But just exactly what should they be doing during this break? Breathing, counting, and taking a walk should be a part of this routine. In fact, kids can even read this story when they are trying to get rid of anger.

I am thrilled to share such a healing book with our students, especially those who are stuck in constant anger. Parents, teachers, and counselors will appreciate having this on their shelf when they need to teach or reteach this important skill.

A Link to This Book and Others You Might Find Helpful: 

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Book Review: How Do You Feel?

From the Book Jacket: Feelings. There are a lot of them in this book! You might feel confident or shy, bored, curious, worried - even silly! Or maybe you feel sad or lonely one day, and happy the next! There are many ways to answer the question, How do you feel?

Why It's On My Bookshelf: I got this book a couple of weeks ago and have been doing some thinking on how I want to turn it into a lesson plan. So last week I was teaching in a 3rd grade class when I saw (see picture below)......

This fabulous monkey!  It completely reminded me of How Do You Feel? because of the monkey theme in it. Hmmmm.....now how can I use this cute guy in my lesson with the book? Here is my genius idea for the lesson:

Don't MONKEY around with other people's feelings

In fact, wouldn't that be a great idea for a book!? Okay, well until I get around to taking on that kind of project I'm going to develop a fabulous lesson plan for now.  I'm going to read the story as an introduction to feelings then bring in my handsome monkey dude to talk about how important it is to not MONKEY around with somebody's emotions. I feel like it will really spark some discussion and get kids thinking. Really excited to do more feelings work with kids using this awesome book.

A Link to This Book: 

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Book Review: Happy

Happy
Author/Illustrator: Mies van Hout
Interest Level: Ages 5 and Up

A Note From the Publisher: Clear, strong lines and radiant colors that seem to smile at the reader characterize Mies van Hout's drawings. In Happy, Mies shows all the emotions a young child encounters. Each double page spread is devoted to one fish, showing a particular emotion with its name in lettering that expresses the same feeling. Swim into Happy where the dazzling fish sparkle against the dark background and let the images spark laughter and empathy.

Why It's On My Bookshelf: There is a hefty stack of feelings books on my shelf. I'm obsessed with them. Like obsessed. Let me tell you something - it's so much more fun to read a book about emotions when you have a sweet activity to go with it. But you need the right kind of book to make it happen. Get ready to love this new one as much as I do. Happy is such a cool addition to my collection. I read it to third graders today and they were so into the fish illustrations. Love it when I have 100% engagement from my student audience...all thanks to the cool looking fish on each page. 

I love this illustration below from Happy for SHOCKED.

Activity: Help connect students to the emotions through art. We used black construction paper with different colored chalk to draw our own feelings fish. You could also run a small group called 'Feelings Fish' using the book as the theme to help students explore emotions.

Click here for a sneak preview of the book. 

Feelings Covered: curious, nervous, brave, shy, surprised, sad, furious, proud, jealous, loving, angry, glad, confused, content, afraid, sure, shocked, astonished, bored, delighted

A Link to These Book: 

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Book Reviews: Know Your Emotions Series

Angry Is...
Author: Connie Colwell Miller
Interest Level: Ages 4-8

How does it feel to be angry? What does anger look like? Big, full color photos and simple, rhyming text explore the range of angry feelings. 

Sad Is...
Author: Cheyenne Nichols 
Interest Level: Ages 4-8

How does it feel to be sad? What does sadness look like? Big, full color photos and simple, rhyming text explore the range of feeling sad. 

Happy Is...
Author: Connie Colwell Miller
Interest Level: Ages 4-8

How does it feel to be happy? What does happiness look like? Big, full color photos and simple, rhyming text explore the ways that people feel happy. 

Scared Is...
Author: Cheyenne Nichols
Interest Level: Ages 4-8

How does it feel to be scared? What does fear look like? Big, full color photos and simple, rhyming text explore the range of feeling scared. 






Why They Are On My Bookshelf: Because they are a great resource on feelings! Each book does a superb job describing what the emotion feels like through concrete examples that are easily relatable. The students also appreciate the photos of real kids experiencing the feeling. The series also doesn't give a bunch of lame (yes I used that word) ways to cope with the emotion. It leaves it open ended for the kids and I to start a new dialogue and brainstorm on how to deal and react to emotions. This series is a Winner!

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Book Review: The Rainbow Book

Author: Kate Ohrt
Interest Level: Ages 4 and Up

A Note From the Publisher: Not only do rainbows reveal the path to an ever elusive pot of gold, but they also reveal colors of emotion. In The Rainbow Book, Kate Ohrt sheds light on the relationship between colors and the emotions they might inspire. 

Each page reveals an intricate paper-cut design in a single color, which is set off by an intense black background. Colors are paired with corresponding emotions, such as, "When I feel RED, I am fiery and bold." The Rainbow Book culminates with a bright, foldout rainbow that brings together all the colors and emotions in one beautiful display. 

The Rainbow Book is a great way for children to practice color identification, to discover the emotions associated with various colors of the rainbow, and is sure to bring a smile to the faces of all who come across its colorful cutouts and sincere moments. 
 
Why It's On My Bookshelf: Love love books on feelings! I used this book in a lunch group with 4-5th grade girls this year. They were having a lot of difficulties telling each other how they feel in a healthy manner. Lots of behind the back and under the table communication was happening. So at our second lunch group, I had this book sitting in the middle of the table. One of the girls picked up and said - "Oh wow, this is really cool." Each page has a snowflake like cut out so it's really eye catching and different.

The last page is a fold out of all the colors put together in a rainbow of feelings. It was the starter to our conversation. My goal was really to validate all of their emotions because I know as 4th and 5th grade girls they are also beginning to mature and trying to figure out how to manage all of these feelings. But sometimes those emotions can come out sideways and really hurt one another. We agreed the lunch group would be a safe place where we would resolve those hurts and communicate in a way that builds each other up.

This gave the girls an idea to make their own feelings cut outs. They got started immediately! I don't have a photo of the end result which was a rainbow bulletin board in my office. The girls even made a feelings chart next to the rainbow. THIS WAS ALL THEIR IDEA. Sorry I don't have a final photo, I'm going to blame it on the end of the school year being nuts. But here are some examples of their cut outs. They worked MANY lunches as a group to make the rainbow. I also noticed when we talked about all of the issues that can cause an emotional reaction - the girls were starting to have more empathy for each other.

                         Oops on the blurred image and my husband's slippers in the corner.
                                            This is what working from home looks like.

Don't be afraid to use feelings books. If you get creative with an art project it will make a big difference in teaching the skills kids need in the area of emotional intelligence. I have a feeling the girls will always remember this book.

A Link to This Book:

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Book Reviews: Two Favorites on Feelings

How Are You Peeling? Foods With Moods
Authors: Saxton Freymann and Joost Elffers
Interest Level: Ages 4-9

A Note From The Publisher: Who hasn't looked at a piece of food and seen a funny face? The inspired Elffers and Freymann take it to another level in these fanciful flights featuring fruits and vegetables! Embarrassed apples, loving lemons, moody melons, red pepper roadsters, and actual banana boats—these vivid and inspired creations will delight children of every age!

Why It's On My Bookshelf: I have taken a pledge to never read boring feelings books to children. How Are You Peeling? Foods With Moods is just so much fun! It's really important (in my little opinion) to have a lot of resources to draw from when teaching to the social/emotional aspect of a child. Last thing you need is for students to be thinking - Oh gosh, here she comes with that snorefest feelings book again. So lets go back to the word fun. Fruits and vegetables can teach your kids about feelings. So cool! "How did they do that??" This is what the kids kept saying as we turned the pages. I sometimes waited to read the page because there were so many "wows" coming from my audience. 

Why not take it a step further? Bring in your own basket of apples, bananas, etc and let the kids pick one at the end of the lesson to describe how they are feeling. I did and it was such a blast. I heard from students for days about how much they loved the book. Good stuff! I hope you will take the pledge also. No boring feelings books!


Seriously, could this be any cuter?

Why Do You Cry? Not a Sob Story
Book Website: www.kateandsarahklise.com
Author: Kate Klise
Illustrator: M. Sarah Klise
Interest Level: Ages 4-8

A Note From The Publisher: Little Rabbit is about to turn five, and he decides he’s all through with crying. He doesn’t want crybabies at his birthday party, so he tells his friends they can come only if they’re big, like him, and don’t cry anymore. When all of his friends admit to crying sometimes, Little Rabbit is shocked. Does everybody cry? Why?

Why It's On My Bookshelf: I've never really talked to the students about crying before. It's just another one of those things I assume we (including the kids) all know about and do. Why Do You Cry? made me realize if I'm going to teach kids about feelings then we need to talk about that beautiful thing people do....cry. The kids absolutely ADORED this story and fell in love with Little Rabbit. We all giggled at his idea that you should stop crying as you grow older. Little Rabbit's mother explains to him we cry because we all have feelings. Don't ya just love that? When I asked the kids a little later, "Well, so why do adults cry?" A sweet little girl said, "Because they have feelings!" Mother Rabbit also says she sometimes cries when she's happy. So be prepared to talk about tears of joy......heart it.

A Link to These Books:

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