When Sadness Comes to Call

A child has opened the door to sadness and is unsure how to deal with this emotion. After trying to hide sadness when it becomes overbearing, the child explores different ways to deal with its feelings. Different copying mechanisms are then explored with the understanding that feeling sadness is fine and that, even if sadness leaves you, it is okay if it comes back as you will have the tools to deal with the emotion again. When Sadness Comes to Call is a very important book to have in any household or school. It is an excellent gateway to discussions about the fact that it is healthy to feel different emotions, including sadness, as well as being able to talk about different ways to deal with emotions including and beyond the strategies illustrated in the book. The way the author uses colour to demonstrate the fact that sadness can seem dominant until you deal with that emotion, which is when the colour comes back into the picture, seems simple but is such an important talking point. As a teacher, I found lots of opportunities to share and discuss the themes and ideas in the book with my EYFS class. The text would be a perfect accompaniment to any discussions about emotions as well as a supporting text if the class PHSE topic is based on dealing with emotions. As I expressed earlier, the illustrations are very powerful but also are perfect for retrieval and inference skills. Perfect for a class reader or guided reading sessions. Picture book / Ages 4+ / Reviewed by Nia Talbot, teacher

Suggested Reading Age 3+