Customer Reviews

It's Hard to Be Five: Learning How to Work My Control Panel

5 star:		(44)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This is not just a fun book to read as it acknowledges the feelings about the "hard stuff" that happens to both boys and girls who are 5---It serves as an outstanding teaching tool that engages five-year-olds in the learning process of gaining "self control" over their actions. Jaime's concept of a control panel is extremely helpful as it gives the children a concrete visualization that will enable many of them to literally "switch on and off" to more apropriate behavior. The lively, colorful illustrations are a perfect match to the text and portray with empathy, clarity and humor a number of tough spots fives find themselves in daily. I love the "bigger than life backpacks" that for me symbolize the "load" these little kids sometimes carry around with them. As a preshcool teacher, I highly recommend this book to read with the children. I would also like to recommend "The Pocket Parent" to moms and dads with five year-olds for more ideas regarding hard stuff with fives. The author feels reading a picture book with a young child can often get a point across to the child in just the right. Pocket Parent has an annotated list of over 100 books relating to children's feelings and misbehaviors. It recommends one of Jamie's other books called "Today I Feel Silly" as extremely helpful in assiting a child to be able to name and identify his or her many feelings.

As a new kindergarten teacher who'd taught second and first for three years running, I was really having a hard time understanding the minds of my new students. This book, told from the kids' perspectives, was a godsend.

Jamie Lee Curtis does a great job in getting down how kids talk and think. The art work also adds to the story.

Early in the year, when my students were having a hard time sitting still and learning to focus, I read this to them. It really clicked with them and helped them see that other 5 year olds felt the same.

I was so excited when I found out that Jamie Lee was coming out with a new book, but I have to say that I'm a little disappointed. We have all the other books and I LOVE them! However, I felt this one was not as well written as the others. Not that the idea wasn't good. It's a great topic and I do like several phrases in the book, but it just doesn't flow very well. There are some sentences that just don't sound quite right and they don't read well. I think she could've done a better job and I'm not recommending this book. But...if you don't have the others, I highly recommend those! They are some of my favorite books to read to my three children.

There are few books that I can say my 5-year old daughter sits through without blinking an eye or wiggling around but all of Curtis and Cornell's books have completely captured her! Although my daughter LOVES to read, there is something about these books she is amazed by and so far, we have all of them. The books speak to kids but entertain parents, the fun little "stickers", "mood wheels" and other things just add more to what are already wonderful books to have. They not only entertain her, but they also take me back to my childhood and make me smile. You absolutely can't go wrong with any of them...we can't wait for the next one!

Yet, we have another exceptional book from Jamie Lee! She has such compassion for her craft of writing books for kids. I just bought several copies for family, as I cannot have children. But I do remember the problems with waiting in line, pushing, and the first day of school for my foster children. It can be a fearful transition for a child. Buying this book which explains everything decreases that fear. In nursing school, we are taught about the importance of teaching plans. What about the kids? They need it too!What I learned in nursing school and foster parent training about development and the many obstacles that tag along with it, is explained on a child's level in this book; therefore, I highly recommend it! Jamie- you get a A+++ for this one!

This book says exactly what many 5 year olds are feeling, and what they are going through. At first, when I read it to my 5 year old I found myself stumbling through the writing, and I had to stop and figure out what was really being said, but then I figured out the tone of the book and it all made sense. Each page may be very busy, but it's "right on the mark" with how 5 year olds are. They are very busy, and ready to explore and try new things on an average of every 15 to 20 minutes. Other reviewers may find that "not normal" but the descriptions of a 5 year old in this book are "right on the mark," and when I read it to my son he couldn't stop saying, "that's how I felt on my first day of kindergarten," "that's happened to me in line before,""sometimes I don't want to sit still mom." This book tells you some of the things going on with a 5 year old, and they are all natural feelings. Jamie Lee Curtis' book tells any five year old that they have all kinds of feelings about different situations going on in their lives and that it's OK to feel. The book gives the parent a chance to explore these feelings with their child and it's a great lead in to encouraging your child to talk about the different things they feel. This book has every kind of feeling; negative and positive, and that's what life is about, so for other reviewers who feel that a child is "not normal" if they get angry sometimes, or a child is "not normal" because they're developing self esteem about some of the tasks they have accomplished that were difficult for them, then I encourage them to write about all those perfect no feeling children that they encounter each day. Not having feelings is not normal, and calling other people's children who do have feelings(many different feelings about many different situations, that many different children have) "not normal" is mean. These reviews are about the book not about the children the books are read to.
Jamie Lee Curtis visited kindergarten classes and spent quite a bit of time with many 5 year olds asking them how they felt about all kinds of situations, so she didn't just make it up as she went.

I just have to say that there are no little boys flipping any "middle fingers" in this book, as was mentioned by a previous reviewer. The illustration shows the boy holding a hand out at a crosswalk, as if he is telling the car to stop - he's not making an obscene gesture. Yes this book is busy, but my 5 year old is busy and he loves to find new things every time he reads the book. I like it too - "the fifth Beatle," "Five Easy Pieces," etc.

Not all five year old's are the same -- some definitely have control issues (mine does!), some do not. If your little one does, this is a great book for them!

"It's hard being five!" is my daughter's favorite lament, so when I saw a review of this book I had to get it for her. She howled out loud with laughter at the pictures, and loved the rhymes (perhaps because some of them are a bit awkward, which makes them kind of fun). The illustrations are wonderful, with lots of little sight gags for parents as well as kids. Highly recommended.

I bought this book for my son who turned 5. This was a hard age for him. Not only turning 5 but also his dad being deployed has been hard as well. Reading this book to him has helped him in many ways. He laughs at the funny pictures and reads along with me. I really recommend this book to anyone of any age. This allowed my son to enjoy being 5 and all the great things that come with it. He is now getting ready to turn 6 and once again his dad is deployed, so I picked up "I'm Gonna Like Me" which I'm sure he is going to love as much as i did reading it in the store. Thanks to Jamie Lee Curtis for writing such great books!!

I think what's best about It's Hard to Be Five is that it gets right to the heart of what it is like to be five in a way that isn't condescending or patronizing...it's written in language that is engaging and that kids can relate to easily. The pictures are colorful and zany...very high energy, in all of her books, I think the art really goes a long way toward bringing the message to life for the readers (or listeners, as the case may be as they make excellent read aloud material). At an age where they want to be more "grown up" and independent, yet they still have trouble choosing big-boy (or girl) behavior over the instinctual "little kid" gut reactions, this book is a welcome way to let kids know that what they are feeling is normal while encouraging them to be the big-girl (or boy) that they are!

Overall, I give it five stars, The art work and text work seamlessly creating a book that is fun to read and a feast for the eyes. My kids just love poring over the pictures after we read these...there's so much to absorb that provides an additional layer of fun and enjoyment above and beyond the story!! I'd recommend It's Had To Be Five, it is a simply a fun way to explore the feelings many children experience as they become big boys and girls and are expected to act that way but they still FEEL like reacting in highly emotional and instinctual ways.