Big Feelings – Picture Book Dragons

Mae’s First Day of School by Kate Berube

Posted on August 18, 2022 by Siobhan

Mae's First Day at School by Kate Berube book on a colourful rug, the book cover shows a nervous little girl stood outside the school gates, she's worried about her first day of school

It’s been a while since I’ve been in formal education, but the start of the academic year in September still feels like the “true” New Year to me, in a way that January 1^st never has. This year is an especially big one in our house, as the youngest human in the house will be starting reception class, so we’re sailing toward September on a heady mixture of excitement and fear, and naturally picture books about starting school have been a big part of addressing and managing those big feelings.

Mae’s First Day of School, written and illustrated by Kate Berube, is a great way in to conversations about starting school. It’s Mae’s first day of school, but Mae isn’t going. Her parents focus on the fun things that will be at school like class pets, big libraries and exciting play times, but Mae isn’t convinced. She’s worried about making friends, not being able to write, and missing her parents and decides that she won’t go. While her mother is distracted talking to the other parents of new starters, Mae squirrels up a tree and refuses to come down.

Before long, Mae hears a rustling and another little girl appears. Her name is Rosie, and she’s not going to school either. They share the biscuits from their lunchboxes and talk about their fears about starting school for the first time, and as they do, they hear another rustling. A tall lady climbs the tree, and she’s pleased to hear that Mae and Rosie aren’t going to school, because she’s not planning to go either. She’s Ms Pearl the class teacher, and she’s worried about the children not liking her, spelling words wrong on the blackboard and missing her cat…. More biscuit eating and chats about the big feelings ensue, but happily all three decide to come down from the tree and go in together by the time the bell rings.

Two little girls sit on a tree branch, they are frightened about starting school, one offers the other a cookie — Rosie and Mae making friends on their first day of school – they are both worried about starting school

My kids love this book. I think it speaks to something in human nature that it’s easier to reflect on the fears and weaknesses of a character or another person than your own, and the beauty of Mae’s First Day of School is that Mae’s character is believable and her fears are so relatable. When the children see Mae’s fears being echoed by Rosie, and even the class teacher, they get a sense that these are things that we all worry about, and that we’re all in the same boat. It’s cathartic without being heavy handed, and like Mae, they feel a little bit better about starting school at the end of it.

Two little girls and their teacher go happily into school to start their first day — Having overcome their fears about the first day of school together, the friends go happily into class

Big Feelings

The Grumpy Fairies by Beth Stevens

Posted on January 30, 2022January 27, 2022 by Siobhan

I often think the best picture books for kids are the ones in which they recognise themselves, so I think The Grumpy Fairies by Beth Stevens has something for all children and their carers, because the little fairies in this book are proper grumpy. Or as Beth Stevens puts it “I mean foot-stompy, frowny, bottom-lip-sticking-outy kind of grumpy. I mean ‘it’s just one of those days’ grumpy.”

Yes, these little fairies are so grumpy that they don’t want to help with their fairy jobs. They stomp noisily through the woods, and are far too busy being grumpy to help the mouse gather acorns for its burrow, take the snails for a walk or help clean up the hedgehog poo! But living in the woods is a goblin, and his favourite food is fairies – not the syrupy sweet sickly good and helpful fairies, but the sweet and sour grumpy fairies – and it’s not long before our grumpy little friends are forced to confront their own behaviour!

It’s the classic face plant of grumpy despair that gets me with this

It came as no surprise to me that Beth Stevens won the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize for Best Illustrated Book 2021 with The Grumpy Fairies. The pictures of the fairies are guaranteed to make anyone with a slightly grumpy on occasions small child giggle, from the stamping feet to the face plant on floor tantrum, the poses are highly recognisable, and the lack of co-operation is gently poked fun at with a huge amount of warmth and good humour.

I like to pick out The Grumpy Fairies as a bedtime read on days when the terrors have been particularly uncooperative – I mean come on guys, I was only asking you to put the pen lids back on, it’s not like I was making you clean up hedgehog poo!

Big Feelings

The Bad Mood and The Stick by Lemony Snickett

Posted on January 27, 2022January 27, 2022 by Siobhan

The best facial expressions in picture books? That’s a bad mood!

When Curly’s mother won’t let her have an ice cream, she gets in a bad mood. Until she pokes her brother Napoleon with a stick, and the bad mood passes to her mother, who cheers up when she sees a man called Lou fall in a muddy puddle, at which point the bad mood passes along to him.

The Bad Mood and the Stick written by Lemony Snickett and illustrated by Matt Forsythe follows a bad mood cloud as it passes from person to person as a humble stick sparks a series of chance encounters that cause the characters moods to change, though not always in the way you would expect! It’s a great visual model of how events can affect people’s emotions, with the bad mood cloud being more of a marker than a character, though it does take on something of a persona of it’s own towards the end of the story as it lurks around the corner waiting to catch someone unaware. I love this book as a fun way to spark conversations about feelings, and the cause-and-effect relationship between actions, events and feelings.

The bad mood travels around the world but comes full circle and back to the cat

Lemony Snickett’s writing is well-paced and good humoured, but the nostalgia tinged illustrations by Matt Forsythe are the cherry on the top of The Bad Mood and the Stick for me, and complement the text perfectly. My favourite page spread is when the bad mood travels around the world and you get to piece together a vague chain of events that might have happened from who has the bad mood cloud throughout the sequence, which as well as being great fun to discuss with children is great for developing early years visual literacy.

I think this book is a great addition to the home library if you’re starting a collection of fun picture books, as you can see from the battered cover, ours has been very well loved!

Lemony Snickett and Matt Forsythe’s bad mood lying in wait

Big Feelings

My Big Shouting Day by Rebecca Patterson

Posted on January 24, 2022 by Siobhan

Even the toy rabbit is getting a headache

Have you ever had a Big Shouting Day? Let’s face it, we all have at one time or another. Our youngest terror is going through a particularly shouty phase at the moment, so we’ve been reading My Big Shouting Day by Rebecca Patterson a lot in solidarity.

One morning, Bella wakes up to find her little brother Bob licking her jewellery collection, and that is the start of her Big Shouting Day. When she gets going she just can’t stop! Ballet is too itchy, her foot is sore and bed is for babies. Little upsets make for big tantrums, which are very relatable for anyone who lives with their own little terror. Fortunately, it all ends happily with a cuddle with Mummy, a nice bedtime story, and after reflecting on her feelings, Bella feels much better after a good night’s sleep.

The drop and refuse to move is a very popular technique here during big shouting days

This book is a fantastic prompt for talking about shouty tantrums and how we manage our feelings. The first time we read the book, it was a little hilarious to watch the horror and admiration on the face of our own Big Shouter when we read the book the first time. Our own terrors now talk about having had their own Big Shouting Days, and it’s always nice to remember that things will often feel better after a good night’s sleep, even if parents and carers still feel frazzled from the Big Shouting Day the next day!