Everyone

PreS-Gr 2—In his authorial debut, Neal explores the universality of emotions with a reassuring tone. The narrative opens with an alliterative list of bad feelings supported by vignettes in which a young boy interacts with a balloon to demonstrate each emotion—"frustrated," "frazzled," and "fed up," as well as "bonkers," "batty," and "bananas". The text is purposely simple so that every child could be immersed in the story. The author delivers his message by labeling some of the difficult to describe negative emotions that arise, then moves into exploring happier feelings before concluding the tale with the idea that emotions connect humans rather than isolate them. More important, the reassuring tone of the text helps readers understand it is OK to feel happy, sad, or anything else, even all at once. Mixed-media illustrations are rendered in a retro, childlike style with a limited color palette that makes heavy use of blue. Animals, plants, and even the clouds and the moon in the sky are depicted as having faces and displaying emotions, which further supports the message of universality that the author is trying to communicate.