Customer Reviews

Feelings (Reading Rainbow Book)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

My husband bought this for our son, who is three. It has been his favorite book for several weeks now. The book is separated into smaller stories and we read one or two at night before going to bed. It's been a wonderful tool to use to help teach our son about his feelings, about others' feelings.

I received Feelings when I was about five years old. That was twelve years ago and I still read it when I am feeling down and need a boost.

Small children (my 5 year old son included) sometimes have trouble sorting out how they are feeling, or why something they did provokes such a reaction in someone else. This book gives vivid and thoughtful examples -- act the parts while reading it. He really listened -- always a good sign.

I bought this for my son who is about to turn three, I wanted to get a book that would help him understand his emotions and others emotions. I thought this book was the most ridiculous thing I'd ever seen, the only things I liked about it was the first and last page ("I have feelings and How do you feel?") and the paper airplane story on page 12. It did more illustrating of overblown emotions and doesn't even state what emotion is being illustrated. it has phrases like: "I'd like to CHOKE Alicia, Elizabeth likes her more than me!" and on a page about sharing after the boys share and one compliments the other for sharing he says "You're unselfish, not like some people." and it shows a little boy playing with several cars by himself. I realize not all kids share well but do we really need to place emphasis on talking behinds other back about how they don't share?

It has it's decent points but all-in-all I was very dissatisfied with the whole book, I want my son to learn to understand and properly express his emotions, not to learn how to be over-the-top and whiny.

I used this book to teach feelings and empathy in my second grade class and it was a smash hit!! The short episodes, some only one frame or page, were perfect for the children to analyze and describe. The illustrations are very clear and the children were able to relate to them perfectly and recognize/empathize with the emotions portrayed. When we were done, all the students were able to not only recognize and explain with words how they were feeling, but relate to others and react appropriately to others in a wider variety of situations. It was a wonderful tool to reinforce cooperation and respect for others, and prevented many an argument and misunderstanding.

Clearly, books that provide the opportunity to discuss and explore feelings with children are important and appreciated. This book adds considerable value to that cohort but is limiting in two, unrelated areas: first, it propogates unhealthy stereotypes--for example, a girl at a birthday party who persists for more cake and ice cream (depicting her as selfish and gluttonous) is overweight. Children's book authors most especially need to be sensitive to this type of issue. Equating heaviness (one of the only "heavy" children in the book) with gluttony or selfishness is unfair and hurtful and there should be no place for these types of statements in children's literature.

Second, the book is a bit scattered. The vignettes are nice in some respects, but bits like the "Scary Story" are unnecessarily anti-climatic and simplistic, especially given the fairly complex (and generally underrepresented in children's literature) exploration of multiple perspectives on feelings illustrated elsewhere in the book.

The book is okay over all. Save it needs larger words and some areas don't go into full explanation of feelings like the fear one, that story might scare a little child.

My daughter loved Hello! Goodbye! by the same author, and from the description I thought this would be similar. Unfortunately, this book did not have the wonderful illustrations that Hello! Goodbye! did and my daughter was not at all interested in this new book. The illustrations are small and penciled with only a bit of color. The variety of circumstances described in the book are also more limited. We definitely prefer Hello! Goodbye!

My 4 year old wasn't interested in this book at all. It didn't hold his attention and he couldn't relate to the scenarios presented.

I'm a 24 yr old male and had this book when I was very young. I can honestly say that of the few children's books still resonating with me today, "Feelings" certainly stands out the most. It was far and away the most fascinating book I came across as a child. The non-linear approach, the comic strips, the full-page illustrations; it has a mysterious quality that just consumes the mind. It is NOT rainbows and butterflies, and may not be appropriate for the youngest ones. But it's so, so good. It presents highly emotional situations that are often unsettling, then it goes on to pleasantly resolve them so that the child can regain comfort and then reflect on his or her own feelings.

Parents and adults going through it for the first time simply cannot see it for what it really means to its target audience. If your child is not overly insecure and shows some emotional maturity and then I guarantee they will LOVE this book. I saw one mother write, "My son was frightened by the section on Fear." ?? Seriously? Kids need to be briefly removed from their comfort zones if they are to stimulate their emotional growth. This book has all of the necessary substance as well as a strange, unpredictable quality to it that really keeps young minds interested.

Being sensitive to the feelings of those around you is an invaluable quality, whether it be in a professional, political, or romantic setting. If there are ANY good books to help expose children to the spectrum of human emotion, this is definitely one of the best.