The ColorFeeling picture book series written by Esther Adler and illustrated by Shrutkirti Kaushal
Book Review by Carla M. Paton
I have a background in Education and Child Development and a Masters in Psychology, and I found these books quite remarkable. In a world that rewards and prioritizes thinking skills over emotions and feelings, every time we can encourage children to recognize and process their emotions, we are giving them and ourselves a great gift.
Written for ages three to eight, this series helps kids focus on one emotion at a time. One of the ways that books do this is by associating a color with a sentiment per book. For example, in the Angry book, the color focus is red. Red for the redness of the face, temper, and other fierce reactions that we see reflected in Lion’s mane and flaming features. Sad is associated with blue, happy with yellow, and jealous with green. Another way that books help children process their feelings is by showing how emotions are expressed physically. For example, in the Sad book, the blue dinosaur’s body “feels tired and heavy.”
It is one thing to acknowledge feelings and another to deal with them. All the books demonstrate coping skills. In the second half of each book, the book asks the reader questions to consider what happens when he feels jealous, sad, happy, or angry. Then, the reading child is given a series of things that he can do effectively to work the emotions in a constructive way. For example, in the book Jealous, the green jealous snake is shown asking Leon, “Can I play with your toy airplane?” and the caption that accompanies this image is: “When I feel jealous I can ask to share.”
Another method that books use to help children work with their emotions is to make them work through interactive activities and with the help of free worksheets. The quiet introspection and thought provided by the worksheet activities will provide children with deep reinforcement beyond the time they spend with the colorful and charming characters.
In all of the books, children will be happy to see all four characters return and interact in similar engaging scenes. When the lion, the chick, the dinosaur and the snake look at themselves in their reflections and, in turn, ask the child reader: “What makes you angry, happy, sad or jealous?” We can be sure that the question is taken seriously and that the answers will help and heal long after these lovely books are put away for the night. In conclusion, I give this series of books my highest recommendations.