I believe the author had good intentions to help kid's feel big emotions and push through the hard times. She used a lot of great phrases but unfortunately also used phrases that felt invalidating and didn't explain how to actually shake off difficult emotions.

Here are some of the phrases that bothered me.
- "It's NOT ok to..." Kids and adults are going to feel hopeless, scared and jealous. When someone is told it's NOT ok to feel a certain way, it only adds guilt to the situation. She just said it was ok to feel all sorts of feelings on the first page and then changes her mind later on.
- "You shouldn't... and you have to..." I statements would have worked better in this case.
- "Learn how to smile at your anger..." "You have to be happy for your friend..." On the first page it said you don't always have to be upbeat. Confusing.
- "Don't worry and just shake it off." is invalidating and not helpful. People who say these phrases in real life tend to not have experienced anxiety, depression, grief, etc.

I received a free copy from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions in the review are my own.

A cute book for children that address and acknowledges big emotions. I think books like these are super important for children as they normalize bog emotions that arent always fun to feel.

This book explores the importance of children's social-emotional development and the role that adult support can play in helping children recognize and express their emotions constructively. The author emphasizes that emotions are neither positive nor negative but simply exist and that words are essential for children to understand their experiences and environment.
Whether you're a parent, teacher, or caregiver, this book is a must-read for anyone who wants to help children navigate their emotions and build healthy relationships.

A fantastic resource for parents and educators who want to help children develop their social-emotional skills. The author provides clear and insightful guidance on how adults can support children in recognizing and expressing their emotions in a constructive way. The book emphasizes that emotions are neither positive nor negative but simply exist, and that providing children with the language to describe their feelings can be incredibly empowering. This is an essential read for anyone who cares about children's emotional well-being and wants to help them build resilience and empathy.

If you've read any of my other recent book reviews, you'll already know that I start each of 'em by saying that the book starts off with the full boatload of stars and that I'm always hopeful that none of the stars have gone overboard by the time I close the back cover. You'll also know that I'm not shy about removing stars and that I'm always hopeful that the stars will all be stuck firmly in place by the time I close the back cover. I've also replaced a star once and only once so far when the author said that they had used the brand names fictitiously and with permission.

Let's get going wih the review.

This is a great book that explains emotions in an easily accessible way... WTG and thank you to the author!

What a great, positive, worthy book and deserves every one of those 5 stars!

I thought this was cute and enjoyed the concept of it’s ok to feel different emotions and to be unique and true to yourself. But both my child and i thought the shake it off was too much and i didn’t like that it didn’t say how to deal with those big emotions. Some of the ones it would say just shake it off kind of makes it seem like you just need to get over it and it’s not always that easy or simple.

I requested to read this book based on the subject and content but was overall not thrilled with the content. I love the message that there is a wide range of emotions but felt the continued messaging to "shake it off" was not an education on how to handle those stressful situations. I was hoping this would be a good classroom books, but I wouldn't choose to read this aloud it a classroom. the main message of, "Just shake it off and be happy" rubbed me the wrong way as an educator focused on social-emotional well being.