The Spanish edition of Big Feelings. Review is of the English edition.
The group of children, diverse in race, ethnicity, religion, gender, physical ability, and more, whom we met in the author/illustrator pair’s joyous All Are Welcome, are gathering to build a tire swing. Not everyone agrees on how things should go, however, and feelings get hurt. We see the children express anger and sadness—but also learn to talk it out and try again, despite frustration. Some are scared or nervous when things go awry; others are hopeful or prepared. Author Alexandra Penfold gives equal weight and value to each of these emotions, stressing that “We all have big feelings, both me and you. How can we help? What can we do?”
“See another point of view?” the book suggests, and the children come up with a solution that makes everyone happy.
As with All Are Welcome, illustrator Suzanne Kaufman’s images tell as much (if not more) of the story than the simple text, allowing readers to place themselves in the world and find lots to discuss.
There is no clear queer inclusion here, except that one character has rainbow socks and appears in the duo’s third book, All Are Neighbors, with the same socks and a rainbow flag, implying a queer identity. I’m tagging the book “Nonbinary/genderqueer kid” since I think they could be read that way, although their specific identity is not stated explicitly.
A thoughtful book that acknowledges the “big feelings” children (and even adults) often have, and that offers a model of how to work through them.
