I Feel!: A Book of Emotions

PreS-Gr 3–Everyone struggles with managing the emotions that roil them, but for young children, emotions can be even harder without a way to articulate them. Medina’s new book—and the third in her “I Will” series—seeks to help children point to and name 14 different emotions. On each spread, one page contains a single word while the facing page has a colorful, full-page illustration of a child experiencing an emotion. Additionally, in the upper corner of the page with the word, there is a simple drawing capturing just the child’s facial expression. Some illustrations show children in a school setting (a “lonely” child eats by herself in a cafeteria), while others take place in the broader world (a “frightened” child shies away from a pool). There are emotions that most everyone is reluctant to experience (e.g., embarrassed, confused) as well as those people revel in experiencing (such as excited or proud). The illustrations depict a diverse group of children and a variety of skin tones; the pairings will elicit conversations, showing the excited child with an artificial leg, and an embarrassed child wearing a hijab. There are only two sentences in the book, placed at the end where they resonate: “All feelings are valid. It is what we do with them that matters.”