Book Review: The Happy Book - Understanding and Regulating Feelings

Author/Illustrator: Andy Rash

From the Book Jacket: When you live in The Happy Book, the world is full of daisies and sunshine and friendship cakes...until your best friend eats the whole cake and doesn't save you one bite. Moving from happiness to sadness and everything in between, Camper and Clam have a hard time finding their way back to happy. But maybe happy isn't the goal - being a good friend is about supporting each other and feeling all the feels together. 

At once funny and thoughtful, The Happy Book supports social emotional learning. It's a book to keep young readers company no matter how they're feeling!

Why It's On My Bookshelf: As a school counselor I have used a lot of different books to teach students how to regulate their feelings. The Happy Book is a great addition to my social emotional teaching curriculum. I specifically used this book to help kids learn more about the Zones of Regulation and how we can have many feelings throughout the day. Everything is going great between Camper and Clam until one of them gets their feelings hurt. From there they experience all sorts of different emotions. This was helpful to my students as they could connect to the conflict between the two characters - which was a misunderstanding. But more importantly how you can bounce right out of being happy into sadness or anger. At one point Camper feels scared that Clam no longer wants to be his friend. This is a social situation many kids can relate to. This book was a great fit for teaching the zones and also such a validating read for children to know it's okay to open up about your emotions -- eventually closure will come. 

A Link to This Book:

Book Review: What Should Danny Do? (The Power to Choose Series)

Author: Ganit and Adir Levy
Illustrator: Mat Sadler

From the Book Jacket: Danny is a real-life superhero in training, learning about his most important super power of all "THE POWER TO CHOOSE." In this book, YOU decide how the story will end by making choices for Danny. You'll have a blast trying to reach all nine endings!

Why It's On My Bookshelf: What Should Danny Do has been so popular this past year it has gone out of stock on Amazon a few times. I finally have a copy of my own! I have wanted to explore decision making with my students and this is just the book to help us. A line that is emphasized in the book is "THE POWER TO CHOOSE.' I love this so much. Although kids are going to make mistakes in their thought processes I like reinforcing the idea of helping children remember to take the time to think about the outcome of their choices. This is also a great story for teaching kids about responsibility. I think that goes hand in hand with decision making.

There are nine different stories in the book. When you reach an ending, you can start over and make different choices to see how his day changes. This is not a book you just read through. Children will learn best from it by reading multiple versions of the story picking both positive and negative choices for Danny. 

Get this one!

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Book Reviews: Mommy's Khimar and Under My Hijab

Author: Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow
Illustrator: Ebony Glenn

From the Book Jacket: In Mommy's Khimar a young girl plays dress-up with her mother's head scarves, feeling her mother's love with each one she tries on. Charming and vibrant illustrations showcase the beauty of a diverse and welcoming community in this portrait of a young Muslim American girl's life.

Author: Hena Khan
Illustrator: Aaliya Jaleel

From the Book Jacket: Grandma's hijab under her chin. Auntie pins hers up with a whimsical brooch. Jenna puts a sun hat over hers when she hikes. Iman wears a sports hijab for tae kwon do. As a young girl observes the women in her life and how each covers her hair a different way, she dreams of the possibilities in her own future and how she might express her personality through her hijab. Under My Hijab provides a friendly introduction to hijabs for all readers, and celebrate the Muslim women and girls who choose to wear them. 

Why They Are On My Bookshelf: Both of these books have provided an avenue for my daughter and I to talk about the diversity within her school. My daughter understands hijabs are not just about the way they are worn but the reasons for wearing them. I'm so grateful that picture books like this exist for children to access and to shine a light on why some Muslim women choose to wear them. I highly recommend these books as they are so IMPORTANT right now. I'm hoping to incorporate them in my school counseling lessons. 

A Link to These Books: