Positivity is My Superpower: A Kid’s Book about Managing Negative Feelings and Feelings(My Superpowers Books 10)
Written by Alicia Ortego
This book is part of a series that focuses on dealing with children’s emotions and turning them into superpowers.
In this book, Lucas is the protagonist. He is facing a move to a different city. That releases a flood of emotions, most of them negative. Lucas is dealing with anxiety, uncertainty, and fear of the unknown. He does not want to leave the house he grew up or the friends he cherishes.
Lucas’s mom comes to the rescue She reassures him with gentle words and simple actions like blowing bubbles that turn his negative feelings into positive ones like hopefulness, confidence, and a sense of adventure.
This rhyming picture book serves as a good teaching tool for elementary age students to enhance social-emotional skills.
SUBSCRIBE TO THIS BLOG TO GET NEW BOOK REVIEWS EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY.
Publisher’s Book Summary: Marion is a kind, creative, and easy kid… but he’s faced with BIG emotions. Help Marion identify those BIG feelings in this interactive children’s picture book.
Guess How Marion Feels is a transformative experience that lays the foundation for emotional intelligence and meaningful connections. A gentle Social Emotional Learning (SEL) tool to guide parents, caregivers, and teachers to teach kids who struggle to pick up social cues and have challenges in social situations.
This book is made to celebrate and honor the feelings of our little ones, foster open communication, and create inclusive learning with our neurodivergent kids. Written by a neurodivergent author, Miss Kaye aims to support kids and everyone struggling with social interactions.
Miss Kaye was born in the Philippines. She had challenges as an adult neurodivergent. This serves as her inspiration for writing fun, engaging, and educational stories to teach life skills and mindfulness to kids.
ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR
Miss Waitthk is from Hongkong. She enjoys making people feel happy and joyful through her drawings. As a kid, she remembered drawing anime characters and coloring them with colored pencils. Since then, she kept on drawing.
MY REVIEW OF THIS BOOK
IT’S OKAY TO FEEL THIS WAY…
Guess how Marion Feels
Written by Miss Kaye
Illustrated by Miss Waitthk
A beautiful, interactive picture book that allows young children to explore and communicate their emotions with others.
Marion wakes up happy to start the day. When his mother reminds him that today is the first day at school, his feelings switch to being scared and apprehensive. As the day progresses, readers watch Marion, and his feelings change. A new situation creates mixed feelings of excitement, worry, hope, anger, confusion, and relief.
Young readers are asked to guess what Marion is feeling in each situation by studying the pictures and text. At the end of the book, they get a summary of the book when Marion discusses the whole range of emotions with his parents.
The book is targeted for readers ages one through seven, but I feel the message in the tale is just as valuable for older children.
GIVEAWAY
Enter the giveaway for the chance to win a 1-hour FREE coaching session to launch your own picture book, along with signed copies of Guess How Marion Feels (one to keep and one to share with a neurodivergent charity of your choice under your name).
Sometimes we don’t know what to do with them or how to change our thoughts that cause these feelings. The first day of school can be scary, but “Furrapist” Jackson Johnson and cute pup Ralphy of Ralphy’s Rules for the Good Life are committed to helping a busload of kids understand and manage their big feelings. During the ride to school, Furrapist Jackson Johnson teaches the children that they can choose their emotions and decide how to respond to them. Ralphy and Jackson make the complicated subject of emotional intelligence accessible for kids to understand and, more importantly, implement in their everyday lives.
So hop on the bus with us, and let’s learn about how taking charge of our feelings can change our day!
Talar Herculian Coursey is a lawyer by day and a children’s book author, Life Coach, and philanthropist by night (more like mornings). She has been a General Counsel since 2011 and recently joined ComplyAuto, a privacy/cybersecurity SAAS company. Before going in-house, she was a file clerk, associate, and partner at the national labor and employment law firm Fisher Phillips LLP. Talar is a co-author of both #Networked: How 20 Women Lawyers Overcame the Confines of COVID-19 Social Distancing to Create Connections, CultivateCommunity, & Build Businesses in the Midst of a Global Pandemic and Women In Law: Discovering the True Meaning of Success. Her first children’s book,Ralphy’s Rules for Living the Good Life, was published in 2021.
Talar has served as the President of the Salt Lake City Chapter of the Society for Orphaned Armenian Relief (“SOAR”) since 2015. SOAR, founded in 2005, supports orphanages in Syria, Lebanon and Armenia. She runs the Salt Lake City Half Marathon every year to raise money for SOAR in memory of her father. Net proceeds from her children’s books also go to SOAR. In addition to being a mother, wife, lawyer, life coach, and philanthropist, she is also a runner, yogi, and Jesus, Eckhart Tolle, Peloton, and Brandon Flowers groupie.
SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL SKILLS EXPLAINED FOR YOUNG CHILDREN
Ralphy’s Rules for Feelings
Written by Talar and Riley Herculian Coursey
Illustrated by Meri Andreasyan
This is the second picture book in a series that defines and explains how to deal with emotions for elementary school age children.
Ralphy, a dog, drives the school bus and his friend Jackson Johnson, the Furrapist, sits next to him on the first day of school. As each child passenger enters the bus, Jackson asks how they are feeling. The children express feelings like excitement, sadness, nervousness, and tiredness. Jackson encourages each child to put this feeling on the front seat and decide later whether to leave it or take it with them when getting off the bus at school, teaching children that a feeling can be changed by thinking differently about it. The book portrays a wide range of feelings exhibited by multicultural children, which allows any reader to identify with the characters. At the end of the story, readers are encouraged to discuss their own feelings.
While the book is targeted for readers ages four through ten, it is relevant for a reader of any age. I would recommend it to parents and teachers for a read aloud and discussion.
GIVEAWAY
Enter the giveaway for the chance to win a classroom set that includes 25 copies of Ralphy’s Rules for Feelings!
Barnabee loves to spell. He is thrilled when he learns his teacher has selected him to be in the spelling bee. He practices with Buster, another classmate.
Barnabee does not understand why every time he gets a word at practice, he freezes and cannot spell. Buster makes fun of him. Can Barnabee find the courage to be brave and perform when the big day arrives?
I enjoyed the clever puns, alliteration and on-spot analogies that add humor and make reading the story aloud fun. Not to mention children learn how to handle anxiety and cope with competition by turning it into friendship.
Recommended for elementary age readers.
SUBSCRIBE TO THIS BLOG FOR NEW BOOK REVIEWS EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY.
The Legend of Creepy Hollow: Tales of the Lost and Found
Written by Shana Gorian
Noah and his sister Oakley are visiting the Murphy farm and orchard in upstate New York with their friend, Andre. They are enjoying learning about farm life but one thing troubles Noah. He has failed his history exam and his parents will ground him if he fails to pick up his grades. To make matters worse, his parents are history teachers! Noah’s teacher has given him an opportunity to make things right. She offered him coordinates to participate in a geocache. A geocache is a global treasure hunt game whose goal is to find a hidden treasure. Noah is not enthusiastic until Murphy’s granddaughter, Annalise, shows interest. Noah has developed a bad crush on her. The four teens decide they will embark the next day to explore the coordinates.
Once engaged on the hunt things get complicated. A nineteenth century ghost scouts the area. Strange sounds and events pop up. Will the foursome find the treasure? Can they survive their paranormal adventure?
The autumn setting and eerie feel contrast the peaceful nature of the farm with the threats that loom over them. The author skillfully weaves history within the plot teaching about the Harvest and Hunter’s Moon while revealing plot elements. Mystery, coming of age, detectives, and fear combine to entice middle grade readers to turn each page.
I received an advance copy of the book from the author and voluntarily chose to read and review with my honest opinions for no monetary compensation.
SUBSCRIBE TO THIS BLOG FOR NEW BOOK REVIEWS EVERY SUNDAY AND WEDNESDAY.
A Dreidel of Wonders: A whimsical Hanukkah story with a twist for kids
Written and Illustrated by Edith Naaman
This book combines a whimsical tale of the dreidel with an informative guide for teachers and parents. The first part of the story written in rhyme teaches children about Hanukkah and the role of the dreidel.
Each year when the holiday season passes, Nana packs the dreidel away. One year the dreidel objects and asks why it cannot remain on the shelf with the other toys. Nana accedes to his request.
The second part of the book reflects on the theory of NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Program) which is a collection of research, practices, and ideas that assist children to connect with their abilities and other people. This section of the book shows how the dreidel prepares children to conquer pain, fear, and find the courage to try within themselves.
Children as young as three can enjoy the first part of the story, while the second part is a useful resource for caretakers and parents.
If you enjoyed reading this post, please subscribe by clicking on the word Follow or by hitting the orange RSS FEED button in the upper right-hand corner of this page.
A Little SPOT of Anxiety: A Book about Calming Your Worries
Written and Illustrated by Diane Alber
This short book is a good introduction to the topic of anxiety for children. Readers learn that feelings of anxiety stem from being anxious, worried or scared. Alber presents a few common situations that may cause anxiety in children like separation from parents or meeting new people for the first time. She illustrates a simple technique of imagining grey spots on the fingers and a calming green spot in the center of the palm. By taking a deep breath and blowing the spots away, children can release their fears.
After reading a few of the reviews, I noticed some readers complained of layout issues, but I did not find issues when reading on my Kindle. I believe this book might be a useful tool for parents and social workers, but it needs to be read with the careful guidance of an adult.
If you enjoyed reading this post, please subscribe by clicking on the word Follow or by hitting the orange RSS FEED button in the upper right-hand corner of this page.
The Sunny Adventure: a story about true friendship (Animal World Alice Ira Book 1)
Written by Alice Ira
Illustrated by Elena Teplova
Translated by Nina Kutia
This book is a tender tale about a little fox named Redkin and her first hunting quest. Redkin is rather lazy. She reacts with shock where her mother tells her to go out and find her own food. A bit reluctantly, Redkin sets off on her quest. She looks up at the Sun and decides that it looks like a delicious pancake. She decides to bring it home to her mother.
Redkin meets a frog named Loudcroak along her route. They decide to become partners. Redkin remains fearful but Loudcroak provides the courage and inspiration to continue their search. Other animals offer advice, but the sun continues to elude them.
How will Redkin handle her defeat? What does the fox learn about friendship, compassion, and bravery?
This book is targeted for ages six through twelve. While the length of the book is appropriate for a beginning chapter book, some of the vocabulary is a bit advanced for the lower end of this audience. I would recommend the book particularly for reluctant readers; the illustrations are beautiful and suited to the mood of the tale. Recommended especially for readers ages eight through twelve.
If you enjoyed reading this post, please subscribe by clicking on the word Follow or by hitting the orange RSS FEED button in the upper right-hand corner of this page.
I really enjoyed this narrative told from the point of view of a thirteen-year-old girl whose life changed forever on the morning of the Pearl Harbor attack. Rose is part of a military family recently transferred to Oahu from San Diego, California. She is missing her friends and still adjusting to life in Hawaii. Her father is assigned to the USS Oklahoma. Rose has an older brother, Lee, who constantly harasses her. She is spending the morning sketching the boats in the harbor. After a morning spent with her new neighbor, Leinana, a meeting up with a Japanese classmate, and an evening of music competitions, the stillness of the following Sunday morning, is broken by an aerial attack.
Suddenly, life on the island is shattered. Rose, her family, and neighbors are placed in terror mode. Families wait to hear about their loved ones, the Japanese are rounded up. No one knows whom to trust and communication lines are broken. The author does a wonderful job of portraying the fear, uncertainty, and human suffering, as well as developing the humanity of the individuals that are affected by the tragedy.
I would certainly recommend the book to young adult and adult audiences. The author targets the book for audiences age nine and older. This book would be an excellent choice for homeschooling parents or teachers of World War II history.
If you enjoyed reading this book, please subscribe by clicking on the word Follow or by hitting the orange RSS FEED button in the upper right-hand corner of this page.
June 9, 2024
bamauthor
Comments Off on ACCENTUATE THE POSITIVE
Barbara Ann Mojica's BLOG 
You must be logged in to post a comment.