Do you remember your first day of school? The first time you did something on your own, away from your parents? Those days can be frightening. This book offers up ways to help children (and probably some adults, as well) deal with the feelings such events can conjure up.
Don't let the book's surface simplicity fool you. It's subtle message may be delivered by cute pups and children, but they are clear and right to the point. All of us, no matter our age, have feelings. That's okay. In fact, it's normal. It's how one deals with them that make the difference. The book makes no promises to simply wave a magic wand and bad feelings disappear forever, oh, wouldn't that be nice, but it shows simple ways even children can take control of their bad feelings and direct their thoughts to more positive ones. Simplistic though some of the suggestions may appear to us more cynical adults, giving the child a measure of control is important.
The illustrations are simple with no distracting backgrounds. That allows the child to focus on the words, the advice being offered by the Furrapist. I love the word play and so will children. Ralphy brought along a friend, Furrapist Jackson Johnson, who also happens to be an adorable dog, to assist him in assisting the children this go-round. Hard not to at least conjure up a tentative smile when looking at the adorable drawings. I liked that each emotion was "carried" by the child in question. Each emotion was represented by an emoji surely familiar to today's media savvy child. This also allowed the child to either embrace their emotion or set it aside easily depending upon their learning to guide their mind to less negative thoughts. Remember, not all emotions are negative, so they may opt to hang onto positive feelings, ie happiness or comfort.
Through it all, Furrapist Jackson reminds them that having even negative feelings is okay. We all have feelings, good or bad. It's how we handle them that makes all the difference. That's an important concept for children who may fear being different or not knowing how to do something, something even as simple as choosing a seat on the bus. The book gives them ways to work through these feelings. Thanks #NetGalley and #PurpleButterflyPress - #IBPA for giving me this sneak peek. I loved Ralphy's first book and was delighted to receive this update on his efforts to provide help. Looking forward to his next adventure/effort.
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