We had the absolute pleasure to receive this children's book from a lovely author named Mariella Sanders! She has a small collection of books on amazon here is a link to find this book and others by this author!

LINK TO THE BOOK: HOW I FEEL - LUKES DAY AT THE ZOO & OTHER BOOKS 

The first thing I would like to point out is the illustration in this book was better than I was expecting. I know that is not usually the first thing people notice but it was for my daughter and I!  The art work throughout the book was very  bold and animated which I really liked and it helped my daughter who was reading the book understand the emotions of the child in the story.

It is REALLY important for a child to be able to connect to a story they are reading especially since they are still very much developing so making the connection between an image and text is super important and she did a great job here.

The book was cute and very detailed with images and text. Most books that you find for children who are already reading or learning to read are very short sentences which makes the book go by faster and not as much time to enjoy. How I feel Luke's day at the zoo was very detailed with every emotion a child goes through in one experience. I think we tend to forget that kids cannot handle emotions well AT ALL, I mean I am an adult and I can barely handle my own emotions most of the time. So it was really good to see happiness, frustration, sadness, jealousy etc. in one story, it was good for my child to understand that other kids feel that way too during all sorts of outings. 

 One thing I'd say I really liked was the fact that the author included parenting in the story which is something you don't usually see. Our children go through all types of emotions and sometimes we don't realize we are telling them "you'll be fine, get over it, stop crying" when really we need to help them find ways to deal with those emotions. That is something I liked that the author did she included the people and parents in the story to help the child get through whatever emotion he was dealing with at the time. "if you are feeling scared take five breaths" I really liked that. It helps the child and the parent reading the story understand the different emotions along with ways to handle them in the moment. 

It is so good to remind our children and ourselves that it is okay to have big feelings and sometimes we may not know what to do and that is okay.  I loved the opportunities for Luke in the story to make friends and get in certain situations as well as the diversity within the children and imagery really stood out to me. I genuinely believe that is important in any book especially a children's book. We need to remind our children that we are ALL different we come in different shapes, sizes, colors as well as we all have different feelings, ways to process emotions and attitudes.

My daughter says " I liked this book because it rhymed and the pictures were big and colorful letting me see and feel how he was feeling in the story"

I recommend this book and her other feelings books for anyone looking to get a detailed and fun book on feelings and mood management and ways to process those big feelings.  Lovely book, thank you for sending it!

If you are looking to check out "How I Feel - Luke's day at the zoo" here is a link please support this lovely new author on her journey to share big feelings within our littles!

Happy reading!

Sam