Big Feelings: And what they tell us

Big Feelings: And what they tell us is a fairly substantial picture book with rhyming text that explores different emotions and how to deal with them. Lively illustrations show the emotions and the children's actions. At the back of the book there are lots of discussion points and activities for parents and teachers to use with children and for me this is the strength of the book. Most parents do not feel confident or empowered to manage the extremes of emotions in their young children and so to have some useful tools is invaluable. It made me want to try it out on my child straight away because it is all easy and accessible.

The book says it is for 4+ and it is here that there is a flaw. The book is very long and quite involved, covering a huge range of emotions. It is far too long to be read in one go for most very young children. The content, however, would be suitable for older children and yet the look of the book would be too young for many seven year olds.

If using this book in school, I would recommend just taking one or two of the feelings for younger children and not trying to do the whole lot in one go. The author has a background in counselling and coaching and this element comes through very strongly in the book in a helpful way. I can see some parents particularly finding it a useful tool to add to their parenting resources.

80 pages / Reviewed by Jacqueline, teacher

Suggested Reading Age 5+