Details
Synopsis
A child's emotions range from silliness to anger to excitement, coloring and changing each day.
| Size | | Length: | 32 pages | | Height: | 11.0 in | | Width: | 9.0 in | | Thickness: | 0.5 in | | Weight: | 16.0 oz |
Industry Reviews
Fans of Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born and When I Was Little may be disappointed in this third offering from the talented duo, which looks at the wide range of human emotions. A dynamic girl describes a different "feeling" per day 13 in all and the ways in which each manifests itself ("Today I feel silly./ Mom says it's the heat./ I put rouge on the cat/ and gloves on my feet"). Curtis relays her upbeat message ("Moods are just something that happen each day./ Whatever I'm feeling inside is okay!") in verse that is largely sprightly, but doesn't always reflect the changes in mood that occur during the course of the day the girl describes. For example, "Today I am quiet, my mom understands./ She gave me two ice creams and then we held hands./ We went to the movies and then had a bite./ I cried just a little and then felt all right," suggests a variety of feelings other than simply "quiet." Occasionally rhyming couplets take the facile route ("Today I'm discouraged and frustrated see?/ I tried Rollerblading and fell on my knee"), and the repetitive, driving rhythm doesn't allow the words to soar the way the illustrations do. The puckish artwork, still vintage Cornell, stars a curly red-headed girl whose near-neon surroundings (hot pink, lime green, fiery orange) change in intensity according to the emotion she expresses. A "mood wheel" (for readers to hone in their feelings) rounds out this amiable enough outing that, despite its missteps, may get readers talking about their own emotional swings. Ages 4-8. (Oct.)
Divakaruni
PreS-Gr 2-Each turn of the page brings a new day and a new mood. Be it excited or joyful, discouraged or confused, the little girl featured here has a litany of reasons to back up her ever-changing attitude. "Today I am cranky so nothing seems right. I have diarrhea and broke my new kite. Mom dyed her hair orange. My dad shaved his beard. My tooth came in crooked. This family is weird." The text is connected by its rhyme rather than its reason. There is so much unrelated jabber that the ideas become almost nonsensical and come across principally as a whine fest. The book does, however, show that "whatever I'm feeling inside is okay!" All of the moods are taken in stride with no judgments made. The emotions are childlike and their visual presentation is exuberant. The watercolor illustrations are splashy and expressive, but at times overpowering. Their loosely focused patchwork of color with little white space to rest the eye brings a busy confusion to the page, adding to the jumbled emotional roller coaster of the text.-Martha Topol, Traverse Area District Library, Traverse City, MI
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