Review: The Remember Balloons by Jessie Oliveros & Dana Wulfekotte

Everyone carries around memories. In this book, memories are carried around as balloons. Grandpa has more than Mom, Dad, and both young boys combined! Recently Grandpa has been losing his balloons and telling the same stories over and over. Slowly, Grandpa starts to lose all of his balloons. The young boy must learn how to cope with the difference in his grandfather as he starts to lose his memory. This book beautifully uses balloons to explain Alzheimer’s. It makes it relatable for anyone who has had to watch someone close to them suffer through this awful disease. The illustrations and their use of balloons being the only thing with color is executed wonderfully.  Great for the reader, specifically younger readers,who have a loved one (especially grandparent) suffering from this disease and are learning how to maintain a relationship with a loved one who slowly becomes less and less responsive.

If you like this book you may like:

The Invisible String by Patrice Karst

Grandpa‘s Stories by Joseph Coelho

Always and Forever by Alan Durant

Review: Happy Right Now by Julie Berry & Holly Hatam

What would you need to be happy? A unicorn? For everyone to tell you how much they love you? When you’re no longer sick? What if you were happy right now! 

The young girl in this story says she will only be happy if that is the case. But then she remembers she could be happy right now. The end of the book talks about how sometimes being happy isn’t an option and that’s alright. This book serves as a good reminder to whoever is reading  that being happy with where you’re at is always a good thing, but it also can be good to just feel as you are. This book has beautiful drawings and depicts a young black girl as the main character. Though the childs black race is not specifically mentioned and it is important for normalizing diversity in children’s books. Great for the reader who may be struggling with feelings and feeling down or not quite themselves.

If you like this book you may like:

Feelings Ninja by Mary Nhin

I Choose to Try Again by Elizabeth Estrada

Review: The Color Monster by Anna Llenas

One day, the Color Monster wakes up very confused and doesn’t know how he feels. The young girl decides to help him separate his emotions, demonstrated with colors, and put them into jars to determine what he feels. Through this strategy they sort through each emotion and what it feels like. For each emotion, the book talks about things that one may enjoy doing or not enjoy doing while feeling this emotion. Doing this is a very easy to understand, relatable way for children to grasp the idea of emotions/feelings. The use of a monster is also a fun way to explain emotions. The artwork is well done and expertly matches the tone of the story with child-like illustrations and color choices. Each emotion also is given its own color which can potentially assist children with emotional literacy. Great for the reader who is learning how to separate and understand emotions and feelings.  

If you like this book you may like:

Happy Right Now by Julie Berry

The Unbudgeable Curmudgeon by Matthew Burgess

Review: The Pigeon Has Feelings, Too! By Mo Willems

This pigeon does NOT want to be happy when the bus driver tells him to. He is angry, he is sad, and he has feelings too. This book depicts how sometimes you don’t want to be happy, you just want to be upset. Even though people may tell you that your feelings are incorrect, you have feelings too and they are valid! The everyday nature and familiarity of pigeons help to make this abstract idea to be more approachable. This book helps to show that it’s okay to be upset or frustrated that we all have our own feelings. Whatever we are feeling in that moment is exactly what we are meant to be feeling, since feelings are deeply personal. The artwork and incorporation of the words with the illustrations allows for an easy to read feel. Great for the younger reader who is learning about feelings and emotions.  

If you like this book you may like…

Happy Right Now by Julie Berry

The Unbudgeable Curmudgeon by Matthew Burgess

Review: The Way I Feel by Janan Cain

The Way I Feel talks about different ways the character feels and the reasons behind these emotions. Characters are illustrated with extremely expressive facial expressions along with a color scheme that matches the feeling and emotion. The author uses real life examples of why someone may feel that way. For example, they talk about how someone is disappointed because their friend can’t come and play anymore. This book also shows different emotions that adults might struggle to explain to their child. The Way I Feel  goes beyond the typical happy and sad amounting to something that many young children can relate to feeling. This book does a great job normalizing a wide range of emotions and helping teach children how to label their feelings. It is okay to not be happy all the time, and this book does a great job of showing that. Great for the reader who is learning about emotional literacy and normalizing an array of feelings.

If you like this book you may like:

The Feelings Book by Todd Parr

How Do You Feel? by Lizzy Rockwell