Emotional Monster: I Am An Emotional Monster by Lisa Rusczyk (An H4HK Review)
About the Book
Emotional Monster is fun little book for introducing the youngest of kids to the idea of emotions. It also introduces the concept of breathing as a means for dealing with growing emotions.
Who Is This Book For?
This book is aimed primarily at toddler and pre-school aged children. It is bright and colorful and meant to be read to children.
Our Synopsis of the Book
The description included in the book reads:
Every child can become emotional at times! They’ll have monsterous fun learning about different emotions, from happy to sad to angry to more.
That exactly what is covered in the book. Each page includes a “Monster” (a colored box with an emotion face in it) covering the following concepts:
- Happy
- Sad
- Feeling like an emotional monster.
- Angry
- Tired
- Content
- It’s ok to be emotional.
- Emotions grow.
- Take a deep breath.
Amazon’s Synopsis
Here’s how Amazon describes the book:
This is a read aloud kids book that is written in an easy to read style with 10 colorful illustrations and is ideal for children from preschool to little kids.
Sometimes I am happy.
Other times I am sad.
I feel like an emotional monster.
Every child can become emotional at times! They’ll have monstrous fun learning about the different emotions, from happy to sad to angry and more. Kids will also learn the value of taking a deep breath when feeling overwhelmed by their emotions. Bright and vibrant illustrations bring each emotion to life, sparking your child’s imagination. Make reading time a fun occasion with this great book from the You Are Loved book series!
Read along as Emotional Monster is a beginner reader book that any child will enjoy, especially at bedtime.
What We Liked
This book is simple book for young kids. The illustrations are vibrant and colorful, and we appreciate the author’s desire to introduce a vocabulary of emotions for even young kids. The book is also successful in showing kids what emotions look like. The book is helpful in accomplishing both the See It! and Say It! components of the Super Simple Feelings Management Technique. We also appreciate that the book introduces the idea of coping in a very basic way for kids.
What We Didn’t Like
As with most books meant for really young children, there isn’t a whole lot to this book. While it is well done for what is intended, we would have like to have seen more emotions (including some basic emotions like fear and disgust among other) included.
Recommendation
Although it isn’t our favorite book on emotions for young kids, we gladly recommend Emotional Monster for preschoolers and younger children. Although there isn’t much to the book itself, it does serve as an opportunity for parents and other caregivers to begin the conversation about emotions with young children.
