Emotions, we all have them, some more than others. However, for younger children, it can be especially difficult to process emotions and what they mean. Increasingly so if these children are still in the early stages of their literacy development. It's hard enough for adults to put words to their emotions. Now, imagine hardly being able to read, having a limited vocabulary, and your parent is getting upset because you're upset. It's a difficult field to navigate. They have no way to relay to you what it is they're feeling or what they're feeling that way. This limited vocabulary often leads to frustration and anger in children. Those feelings of anger and frustration come from a place of feeling misunderstood.
Have no fear! Beginning a child's literacy journey early will not only begin to give them the tools to express themselves, but it will also allow them the better capability to process these emotions within themselves.
Below are 7 books (and one workbook) on various emotions. These emotions range from fear, anger, joy, and curiosity to everything else in between. These books will help strengthen your child's toolbelt when faced with difficult, emotion-raising situations.
The Books
1. The Great Big Book of Feelings by Mary Hoffman
"The book opens with the question: "How are you feeling today?" And this leads on to a spread by spread presentation of a wide range of feelings, including:
*Happy * Sad * Excited * Bored * Interested * Angry * Upset * Calm * Silly * Lonely * Scared * Safe *Embarrassed * Shy * Confident * Worried * Jealous * Satisfied
The final spread is about Feeling Better because sharing and talking about feelings helps us to feel better.
The approach and design follows The Great Big Book of Families, with lots of different children in lots of different situations, brief text captions and questions and plenty of humour to make sure the book is fun."
2. Anger Management Workbook by Samantha Snowden
Not a "sit down-and-read" book, but definitely still worth a purchase! Perfect for more hands-on learners.
"Anger is a normal emotion just like joy, sadness, and fear, but it can be difficult to know how to express those feelings in a good way. The Anger Management Workbook for Kids is filled with 50 playful exercises to help you handle powerful emotions. You can stay calm and make better choices when you feel angry. Other workbooks about anger management for kids ages 6-12 wish they could be this fun!
Discover ways to recognize angry feelings and react to them safely, so you can be nice to yourself and others. Draw a picture of what your anger looks like, write about your feelings and needs in different situations, and more. These awesome activities will give you the tools to manage your feelings through gratitude, friendliness, and self-kindness.
This workbook about anger management for kids includes:
Assorted exercises―Doodle, write, meditate, and make crafts like the Glitter Jar as you work through angry feelings with this delightful workbook about anger management for kids.
All about anger―Learn about what anger is, how it feels, how to look out for it, and more.
Feel-good habits―In this workbook about anger management for kids, you can explore lots of healthy habits that help you react better in situations that make you mad."
3. The Way I Feel by Janan Cain
"Inspired when Janan Cain couldn't find a picture book to explain emotions to her young daughters, The Way I Feel uses illustrations, text, colour and type font -- to describe "happy", "disappointed", "angry", "jealous" and other feelings that kids experience. "
4. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Voirst
"Alexander is not having a great day. He has to endure gum in his hair, sitting in the middle of the backseat, third-best-friend status, no dessert at lunch, lima beans, railroad pajamas, and kissing on TV—all in one day! Maybe he’ll just move to Australia.
This funny and endearing story has delighted readers for more than forty years, and now it’s available as Classic Board Book with artwork that showcases Alexander—and only Alexander—in full color, underscoring the misery (and comedy) of his awful day."
5. The Snurtch by Sean Ferrell
"Some days are Snurtch days. Ruthie is having one of those.
Ruthie has a problem at school.
It is not the students. It is not the classroom. It is not the reading or the writing or the math. It is something scribbly, scrunchy, grabby, burpy, and rude. It is the Snurtch.
From the team behind I Don’t Like Koala, this clever picture book takes a discerning look at the challenges of behaving and controlling your emotions—especially when your own personal monster keeps getting in the way."
6. Anh's Anger by Gail Silver
"In Anh’s Anger, five-year-old Anh becomes enraged when his grandfather asks him to stop playing and come to the dinner table. The grandfather helps Anh fully experience all stages of anger by suggesting that he go to his room and, "sit with his anger." The story unfolds when Anh discovers what it means to sit with his anger. He comes to know his anger in the first person as his anger comes to life in full color and personality. Anh and his anger work through feelings together with humor and honesty to find a way to constructively release their thoughts and emotions and to reach resolve with Anh’s grandfather.
The author’s intention is to help parents understand that there is an alternative to "time out’s" as a means of helping children to express themselves when feeling angry, while providing children with a mechanism for internal dialogue during a "time out" or when "sitting" with their anger.
Through reading the story, children will learn to acknowledge anger when it arises, understand the cause of their anger, and ultimately feel safe expressing themselves and accepting accountability for their actions when appropriate."
7. Ruby Finds a Worry by Tom Percival
"Meet Ruby--a happy, curious, imaginative girl. But one day, she finds something unexpected: a Worry.
It's not such a big Worry, at first. But every day, it grows a little bigger . . . And a little bigger . . . Until eventually, the Worry is ENORMOUS and is all she can think about.
But when Ruby befriends a young boy, she discovers that everyone has worries, and not only that, there's a great way to get rid of them too . . .
This perceptive and poignant story is the perfect springboard for talking to children about emotional intelligence and sharing hidden anxieties.
The Big Bright Feelings picture books provide kid-friendly entry points into emotional intelligence topics--from being true to yourself, to worrying, to anger management, to making friends. These topics can be difficult to talk about. But these books act as sensitive and reassuring springboards for conversations about mental and emotional health, positive self-image, building self-confidence, and managing feelings."
The Take-Away
If we can learn about other people's experiences through books, and learn about worldly processes, historical events, and science; why not learn about emotions too? Having the vocabulary to express yourself is remarkable too. Start early. Make sure your child knows how to identify the emotion they are feeling. If they can identify it, they can begin to self-regulate this emotion or reach out to you for help.
There are so many good books outside of this list! If you know your child is struggling with a particular emotion, don't be afraid to find the resources that will suit your needs.
NOTE: All the links lead to the book sourced on Amazon. Of course, you can take the name and author of each book and search through other retailers if you wish. In the future, I will make a blog post about some great discount stores to buy books from.
Disclaimer: All images in this post are credited to the owners/ authors. Cherished Chapters owns and claims nothing.
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