The colorful illustrations that help kids visualize and understand emotions seem very useful. I like that there is an example of four different types of emotions, and that they’re not only presented as negative. I feel that the explanations of worry and anger are a bit overly simplistic (I would add that worry can keep you safe, but sometimes you worry about things that won’t happen; anger isn’t always justified either but can be used to stand up for others who are treated unfairly, but it’s probably appropriate for young children. The tips on the back for parents and caregivers seem helpful. I would have liked the book even better if there had been more strategies explicitly suggested than the squishy, though many good strategies are implied through Dawson’s choices and actions, and the squishy is a good start.

Thank you to NetGalley and Boys Town for the free eARC! I post this review with my honest opinions.

This review will be posted on Amazon and Instagram within one week of the book’s publication.

My children have enjoyed reading about awesome Dawson, as he learns the important job of his emotions and some strategies that can help to regulate those emotions from becoming too big to handle. The bright and fun illustrations work well for the storyline, and the trip to the zoo.

I appreciate that no emotions are negative in this story and there is mention of the thoughts and bodily sensations that can accompany varying emotional states. The tips at the back of the book, are a wonderful reminder for us adults to be the calm in the storm of our child’s dysregulation; and to focus on safety, connection and regulation

Thanks to Boys Town Press, Julia Cook and NetGalley for this e-ARC to read and review.

This book is a wonderful resource for early social-emotional development. The addition of a physical squishy item is a clever strategy.

This is a lesson book in how not all "bad" emotions are "all bad." I enjoyed this book and its illustrations.

3.5 rounded up to a 4 Super cute children’s book teaching kids how to handle emotions in a constructive way and how each emotion has a role to play. The only thing I didn’t like was they tried to sell a squishy at the end of the book. Young children wouldn’t necessarily understand but it made me feel a bit weird. Instead it could be like any stuffed animal can be your squishy!

My 5 year old and 8 year old loved this. They like the inside out movies and this was like a book version. It is helpful colour coding the emotions so they followed the story v well.

This is a great story to help kids understand the role of their emotions and how to work on keeping them in check. Very well done, and I think parents and kids will both appreciate this one.

Fans of the movie Inside Out will love this. Helpful for anxious kiddos to understand their emotions!

When my son saw this cover in my NetGalley shelf he immediately recognized Dawson from the previous book and asked to read it. I was surprised because my son is highly sensitive and doesn't always like to talk about emotions but he loves these books. I think they're a great way to teach about emotions without kids having to talk about them, which works really well with my son. The author does a great job taking us through Dawson's process and showing how to use emotional regulation and coping skills. I would definitely recommend this as an addition to any public, classroom, or elementary library or as an addition to any SEL-based curriculum or program. It's also just a good read-aloud and a way to talk about how everyone gets frustrated sometimes and how our emotions aren't bad but instead are there to help us. Highly recommend! (Appropriate for Pre-K - 2).

This is a great book that teaches kids that emotions aren't necessarily "bad" and they all serve a purpose. However, I think that that message got a little bit lost towards the end of the book. What I mean by this: at the amusement park, it's not quite clear what Dawson's emotions are trying to do for him. A good example of this is anger. It doesn't seem like it serves a specific purpose with the carrot sticks, and that kind of causes the lesson to lose its strength. That being said, I think (for the most part) the other emotions made sense at the carnival, and everything came through pretty clearly. Lastly, I love how the author rewrote each "scene" with Dawson being effective with his emotions and making use of his squishy. I also give major kudos to the creators of this book for advertising the little squishy, so that young readers can manage their big emotions and follow Dawson's lead. Bravo!

This is another book I read with my 5 year old about emotions. I like how this gave a scenario where he reacted to all the big emotions in a bad way and then when the thing actually happened, he knew how to react better. I also liked the tips page.

Thank you Boys Town Press, NetGalley and Julia Cook for the ARC. All opinions stated are my own.

What a wonderful way to help young children understand the complexities of their emotions. This has lots of 'Inside Out' vibes without becoming so surreal that children won't understand.

Dawson and his emotions are usually all in balance but sometimes one takes over. This book teaches children a valuable lesson about how to take back the control when your emotions overwhelm you.

The pictures are bright and cute and led to lots of giggles from my daughter. We had a recent bereavement and this book opened some beautiful discussions about emotions and particularly why it is ok to be sad sometimes.

A really good book to help with a really difficult concept

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an electronic copy to read in exchange for an honest review.

I'm a huge fan of Julia Cook's book. She has a gift for taking tough concepts and making them easy to understand for younger kids. As a kindergarten teacher I will definitely use this one to help explain some basic emotions to my students. I have one other Awesome Dawson book and can't wait to add this one to my collection as well.

It was fun to read this book to my nieces tonight before bed. A fun conversation. Dawson understands his emotions without them being too complex. He’s young, so as he gets older is emotions will become more complicated. Very cute book.

I really loved so many things about this books! The simplicity of the language and the descriptions of the feelings are very well written and easy to understand.

The examples used throughout the book are relevant and relatable for children. I would definitely read this to my 2 year old and use the descriptions to explain different feelings to the autistic children I work with.

The only thing that slightly bothers me from the perspective of an occupational therapist, is that I wish the colours used for each emotion would align with those used in the Zones of Regulation for continuity with teaching these concepts to children, as the Zones of Regulation program is commonly used across schools.

As a mental health professional, I appreciated this book a lot! I think most of the information presented was developmentally appropriate, accurate mental health information, and was both informative and relatable to young children who are just learning about their emotions. I like that there was a compare and contrast between what happens when emotions aren’t regulated (the first set of scenes) vs. when they are regulated (the scenes with the squishy). I thought it was brilliant that the parent supported the child in expressing his emotions while also reminding him to use his squishy to regulate every feeling, not just some of them. I think the fact the author emphasized how ALL emotions are helpful was also amazing in destigmatizing the “undesirable” emotions like anger and sadness. All emotions are telling us something, and the explicit conversation about that throughout the book was great. There was also one page that talked about the emotions happening at once which was also realistic and normalized ambivalence - very nuanced! I liked the psychoeducation at the end of the book for both children and adults who are caregiving.

In terms of the illustrations, I found the partial highlight of the emotions on the child’s body to symbolize that emotions are only PART of a person, and they never fully take over to a point of being uncontrolled (half of the body became red, blue, green, and yellow - it’s not ALL of them, but part of them). I think this also symbolized the temporary nature of emotions - they always fade away at some point. I loved this touch!

The one part of the book that I think could use some changing was the scene about the carrots and cotton candy. I think the prioritization of certain foods over other foods encourages an unbalanced and potentially unhealthy relationship with food. When certain foods are made to be ‘bad’ and require that you eat something ‘good’ first or instead of, then we’re almost making those ‘bad’ foods even MORE desirable. When we have a neutral take on all food and talk about how all foods have their time and place, then the relationship with food isn’t as polarized.

Overall, great book! I’d love to see what my 2 y/o niece would think of this.

this book was so cute and i think it’s perfect for children. children have a hard time expressing themselves and this book is a great tool for navigating their emotions and help them understand what they are feeling. the illustrations are beautiful and colorful. i would read this to my children.

Awesome Dawson Has Big Emotions was really cute book and does a fantastic job explaining emotions and depicting a physical representation of them.
I really appreciated they showed Dawson using a fidget to help regulate his emotions which is great representation and helps normalize needing an outlet and assistance for managing emotions

The artwork was cute and the illustrator did a fantastic job representing the story, using bright colors to help get and maintain the attention of young kids.

I received this book as an Arc from NetGalley. All opinions are my own. I want to say thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me this opportunity.

This book is a very good way to explain how emotions help us function. I enjoyed how they included angry and how it is a natural reaction. Anger is viewed negative. This book didn't make sadness or anger into bad emotions, they are just emotions that we feel when someone or something upsets us. It was very colorful and can keep the attention of a child.

I loved that this book didn't demonise what could be considered negative emotions and showed that they have a part to play and that any emotion when too big or in complete control can make things harder.

While it was nice going back and seeing how things could have gone better with more well managed emotions it made it feel a bit repetitive and my child lost interest at that point

I enjoyed this book, an easy to read book with some beautiful illustrations. I like the idea of the squishy as a way of dealing with emotions.
I also liked reading the tips at the end which I think will be very useful. Overall an amazing book for kids to learn about emotions.

Thank you Netgalley & the publisher for allowing me a copy of this book to review.