An Emotional Menagerie

The verses of An Emotional Menagerie, as well as the general idea and themes, are highly reminiscent of the gently moralizing childen's poem of the Victorian age, like A Children's Garden of Verses, and brought me back to my own childhood (no, not in the Victorian era, I'm not actually that old). Part of this feeling comes from the fact that the vocabulary level seems pretty high for the overall age group, but it might be the kind of book a child can grow into. The concept is fun and clever - emotions (twenty-six of them, one for each letter of the alphabet) rendered as animals, with sing-song verses that explore and explain each. The emotion-to-animal choices are spot-on, such as boredom as a jellyfish that flops around limply on a beach and can sting you but needs to get washed away back into the sea; embarrassment as a pufferfish, swollen and prickly and sticking out like a sore thumb; uncertainty as a chameleon torn between different color choices.

I appreciate the fact that 'negative' emotions aren't, as it were, penalized; the reader isn't told not to feel certain feelings, but given the emotional literacy to understand where these emotions come from, and why, and how to handle them (for example, noting that guilt, a hangdog-faced dog, can in small doses help us to do better next time; or that jealousy, a green serpent, is natural but rather than coveting the things others have, one can use it "as a guide to plan the life you'd like to lead, the path you hope to find").

Last but not least, the art is sharp and bright and evocative, the animals clearly expressing their respective emotions - a melancholy hippo wallowing in the mud, a panicking chicken running around in a frenzy of feathers, or a tranquil cow lounging in a flower-dotted field.

Overall, An Emotional Menagerie is a thoughtful and engaging collection of images and poems to help young readers understand and handle their own emotions, through a clever concept, gentle verse, and imaginative illustrations.

Thank you to NetGalley and Duckworth Books/The School of Life for the advance review copy.

Let's start off with this title. It deserves a round of applause! Full of 26 emotions, one for each letter of the alphabet, this book is written to expand vocabularies and grow emotional literacy. Each emotion has a accompanying poem and animal illustration that children will be able to tie together to make a full picture of how to temper or embrace each emotion.

This book is so cute! I love that it starts with an overview of what emotions are. I also loved that it gives a different emotion for every letter of the alphabet! The picture were nice too...though my 2 year old thought the lion on the letter A was a bit scary.
These are poems about the different emotions. From a parent/teacher standpoint, I liked that they tell the emotion, give a small physical description of what the emotion might feel like, and then give you an idea of how to pass through the emotion. That being said, the poems are long. My 2 year old could sit through the reading of a poem, but didn’t have the stamina to read the entire book all at once. I could see a teacher focusing on 2-3 poems a day and using them to make text to self connections with students. This would be an excellent book for that!
Overall, I liked this book. I would use this with my classroom of young children, and even with my child when she was a little older!

This was such a delightful book. I want to keep it as a classroom book for my fifth graders to read through and then also read it to my 4 year old over and over. The rhymes are simple but introduce some big words in each one. It’s perfect for kids of all ages as they grow and grapple with their own emotions.

Thank you to NetGalley and Duckworth Books for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a sweet children's tale about emotion, with some really lovely illustrations. I think this book would be incredibly helpful for children to learn more about sharing their emotions and being more open and I truly hope this book becomes accessible to all children.

This was cute and informative. O great books for my almost 5 year old who has BIG BIG feelings. He and I both loved the animals used to describe each emotion, as well as the illustrations. I would definitely recommend this to teachers and parents. I think this book is great for children 3-10.

This is a fantastic book that teaches about emotions in healthy way. The illustrations are beautiful and make the book engaging. The book is beautifully written. I love how the author gives detailed explanations of each emotion as well as different words to describe that particular emotion. I highly recommend this to families and people that with children to assist in teaching about emotions. This book gives examples of each emotion that a child can understand. It is also a good conversation starter to help kids talk about their emotions. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book! (I have also posted a review on GoodReads.)

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

An Emotional Menagerie of feelings from A - Z is a beautiful book of poetry using letters of the alphabet to describe different emotions such as E - Embarrassment, J - Jealousy etc.
Each poem is no longer than one page and has an illustration to accompany it which gives a visual insight as to what the emotion being described looks like in physical form.
The use of words for each poem to describe an emotion is very well ranged and I loved how they were compared to animals too.
This is a great resource to have on any home, library or school book shelf especially for any child who struggles with emotions and understanding them or why they feel certain ways.

A beautifully crafted book that goes through emotions and letters of the alphabet. This read was a bit old for my 4 year old due to the detailed writing on each emotion but is great to introduce and expand upon. We’ll be reaching for the book over and over again in our rotation for emotional development and dialogue!

Thank you to NetGalley and Duckworth Books for kindly providing me with a digital copy of this book for review.
This is a great book to use as a tool to help young children recognise and understand their emotions. The book runs through the alphabet and gives one emotion per letter, so maybe some emotions are not counted for as for example the emotion for the letter ‘n’ is naughty. So we don’t get to discover any other emotions beginning with ‘n’ such as feeling nostalgic or nosy! However, I do feel a good range of emotions are covered and top marks to whoever came up with ‘zeal’ for letter ‘z’!
All the emotions are related back to an animal to help illustrate the point to a child, so to use the naughty example again, the book connects being naughty with a monkey. We often say cheeky monkey or naughty monkey so children will be able to make that connection easily.
The artwork is vibrant and fun and will definitely keep a small person’s attention.
I also think that this is a good tool to learn the alphabet as well as understanding emotions. And let’s be honest, it’s always good to help children understand their thoughts and feelings more, but this takes on particular importance in 2020 when I imagine there have been many children that have struggled with their emotions at this time. I know that my children certainly have.

An Emotional Menagerie: Feelings from A to Z by The School of Life is an illustrated children’s book on understanding emotions. It reminded me of old Victorian glossaries in the best way!

An Emotional Menagerie is brilliant for both learning and understanding emotions, and generally expanding your vocabulary. It’s the kind of book which children can grow into.

Each poem takes up one page, and the illustration occupies the opposing leaf which reflects the emotion discussed so that the child can have a visual reference. I think that this will be a great tool for emotional literacy especially as negative emotions are validated and there is a pathway to a brighter feeling.

Every few pages I found a new favourite illustration as they’re all incredibly imaginative and evocative, but overall, I think that the cow which goes alongside tranquillity is my favourite. I did also wonder which emotion X would be, and it’s a fun little cheat!

It took me a while to realise that synonyms were underlined with dots. As they’re often misaligned, I thought that they were to symbolise that this was an arc copy, so my only criticism is that these should have been better defined.

English is full of idioms which express actions and feelings like animals.
As stubborn as a Mule; as slow as a Tortoise.
Indeed search Animal idioms and you’d wonder how anyone could master the language without first visiting a farm and a zoo. However, you might still need to learn from an animal behaviourist or study zoology for a while.
But truth be told they may have little to do with the animal itself. “Pig-headed “
Happily this clever and inventive book for children has left that all behind and started from the emotions themselves.
In A - Z format - Who doesn’t remember A is for Apple, B is for Ball. From Anger to Zeal each feeling is likened to an animal.
“If Boredom was an animal,
It would have jellied skin,
Limp tentacles, a boneless head,
And a deadening sting.’
I like that the verses go on and each entry is of similar length. Each pen portrait poem is beautifully illustrated in simple shaded colour and tones.
Perhaps new words introduced are highlighted to study and learn about thus expanding vocabulary.
However the thing that impressed me most was that each poem ends with a positive outlook.
My favourites first time reading were Melancholy and Q is for Quarrelsomeness.
“ It’s sometimes called belligerent
Or argumentative:
We’re in the mood to shout, not speak;
To squabble, not forgive.
A fight is a failed debate,
A talk that’s run off course.
We can’t explain ourselves in words
And so resort to force. “
Still with 26 poems and a changing mood I may prefer another one next time.
I know kids will love this book and it might just bring harmony to a troubled parent sharing it with them.

I got this on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!
This is a REALLY great ABC-book about emotions! I love how perfectly fitting the poem for each emotion is, and how it really explains the emotion! I was also a bit surprised how fitting the animal examples chosen for them all were so perfect, and how the author manages to include features we recognize from the behaviour of an animal into the poems in such a nice way! I will 100% have to buy this when it comes out, and will use this in the Primary School Classroom A LOT!
My only critique is that in a couple of the poems there are parts that I wish were more rhythmical, and some have parts that you can tell are MEANT to rhyme but it doesn't really work no matter what accent you do it in. There are not a lot of these, though, so I wouldn't say this takes away from the overall experience! I'm also not sure if this is only the case in the ARC, but I wish there was a dictionary at the back!
All of this pulls it from a solid 5 star to a good 4.5-star rating for me!

This book was SO cute! Where were these kinds of books when I was a kid? I loved the messages behind all the poems. Showing emotion is not a weakness and should not be treated as such. Both boys and girls would benefit from developing emotional intelligence early on. Just knowing how to put names to what their feeling and talking about it with a trusted guardian helps immensely.

I loved the rhyming scheme the poems had. This is the type of poem I always imagine when I think about any type of poetry book (which I know does not represent all poetry it's just what my brain automatically connected). The art was cute and very colorful!

* I received a free eCopy of this book via Netgalley. All opinions in this review are my own.

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

Can we please get this book into every single classroom? It is a phenomenal exploration into 26 different emotions and how they might make you feel. I love the illustrations, the vocabulary, and they rhythmic nature of the text. I cannot wait to add a copy to my classroom library and gift this to other teachers that I know.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-arc of this book. My opinions are my own.

An Emotional Menagerie is a children's book that presents emotions which can often be overwhelming to our kiddos in a way that is accessible, fun, and rewarding for anyone who is reading!

I expected this book to be a simple introduction to basic feelings (IE happy/sad etc.), and I got that and SO much more. Not only are these emotions presented alphabetically and in a relatable way, using fun animal imagery, every emotion is discussed in a manner to ensure understanding . Probably most surprising, a technique for how to handle each emotion constructively is given.

The pages are richly colored and fun to look at (who doesn't love a vibrant whale representation of loneliness or cute playful monkeys representing the line between being naughty or nice?!) Even as a 31 year old woman I found great enjoyment at each page turn, and am planning on purchasing this book for a few of my close friends.

Highly recommended, An Emotional Menagerie is a lively and quick witted presentation of emotional concepts in a prose that is upbeat. The ability of the author to teach on multiple levels (alphabet, emotional recognition, vocabulary etc.) in such a fun and accessible way makes this an easy buy, and will ensure that this book becomes a quick favorite for all in the family.

This book is simply delightful. It takes many of our emotions - 26 from A to Z - and puts them to animals and poetry. I loved it. The poems are all short (24 lines) and easily accessible. I’d read a poem when teaching PSHE to my class. Personal favourite is the chameleon of uncertainty. I loved it.

Can’t leave a comment without talking about the illustrations, though. They are simply stunning and a joy to look at. My 5 year old son also loved looking at the different, colourful animals. Beautiful.

The educator in me LOVED this adorable book; already thinking of so many different ways to facilitate conversation with kids/young readers!
A lovely little alphabet book with gorgeous, vibrant illustrations and simple rhyming poems describing different emotions. I think this book would be very resourceful for the social-emotional learning of children whether at home, at school, or anywhere else. (would be great as a reference book for students to identify their own emotions)

A great book for older children to help unravel emotions and feelings. It’s great to give them a label for what they might be feeling. Books like these are so important as a first step in safeguarding mental health. Along with relevant vocabulary and descriptions of emotional states, the colors and illustrations are perfect.