Books about Feelings

This week we've been talking about feelings. I've noticed that Jonathan really only identifies two emotions right now: happy and sad. So, we've been reading books about different emotions and doing some activities along with our books. I'll share the activities in another post, but here are some books we've been reading together:

Feelings by Aliki

This book took a couple readings to get used to. It's, in essence, a catalog of feelings. The illustrations are almost like short comic strips showing different feelings that children may experience. There's a little boy who feels angry after a classmate knocks down a block tower. There's also a girl who tries to get attention by doing everything her little brother does. The vignettes don't form a cohesive story, so it makes it difficult to read aloud. What made the book work best for us was watching the Reading Rainbow episode which featured this book. By treating each "strip" as its own story, we were able to discuss each emotion and the circumstances which brought it about.

The Way I Feel by Janan Cain

This is a book I picked up from a recommendation by Hubbard's Cupboard. It's a book that tries to help children recognize the feelings they come across. Each double-page layout presents a short rhyme about a feeling along with a brightly colored illustration showing a child experiencing that particular emotion. The nice thing about this book is that it includes some more unusual emotions such as thankfulness and boredom. Jonathan seemed to enjoy the bright illustrations and the short text held his attention well.

On Monday When it Rained by Cherryl Kachenmeister

This was a very interesting way to teach emotions. In this book, a young boy describes the different emotions he felt each day of the week. Photographs accompany each page. On Monday the little boy was disappointed because it rained. On Saturday he was excited to go the park. I liked that the book featured actual photographs so Jonathan could see what someone looked like as they felt the emotion. It also reinforced the days of the week, which we've also been learning recently. It's a great concept book. The only limitation is that the book is limited to seven feelings. It's well worth checking out.  

I'm linking this post up to:

Read-Aloud Thursday  over at Hope is the Word and Feed Me Books Friday over at Little Sprout Books. Happy Reading!