Review by Booklist Review
Learning how to calm down when big emotions bubble up takes practice. With conversational ease, Wolf's soothing rhyming verse encourages kids to recognize changes in their body when they are getting upset: "Sometimes you feel it in your chest. / Sometimes it's in your head. / Your breath becomes a hurricane. / Your face turns hot and red." After acknowledging some relatable triggers, like frustration or sensory overload, 10 actionable tantrum-taming tips are shared. After the tried-and-true deep breath, other calming strategies include expending energy and having fun through movement, like improvising a silly dance or striking a yoga pose ("Stretch out flat. Become a cat, and swish your tail around"). Morris' dynamic and bright tissue-paper collages capture kids finding comfort by curling up in a "soft and safe" fort made out of sofa cushions and a blanket or relaxing by mindfully meditating on the fluttering sights in a shaken snow globe. This helpful SEL offering provides children with concrete ways to care for themselves and manage overwhelming feelings.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Sensible self-soothing techniques drive this matter-of-fact rhyming picture book about managing strong emotions. Beginning text urges bodily awareness in the face of everyday challenges. When "your breath becomes a hurricane" and "your face turns hot and red," Wolf's useful regulating techniques stand by with activities that incorporate breathwork, movement, comfort, and other sensory-aware approaches. Readers are invited to "fly on tiny whisper wings/ as if you're a mosquito.// Wrap up in a blanket/ and pretend you're a burrito." The tactile dimensionality of Morris's digitally finished tissue paper collages enlivens vignettes of kids, depicted with various skin tones, experiencing big feels and then settling into calmer states. The title's winking humor becomes abundantly clear by the end: tantruming like a champion, it turns out, means circumventing the act altogether. Ages 3--7. (Sept.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Learn how to release big feelings like a pro. Everyone's felt big, even overwhelming, emotions at times. We know we should let them go, but we don't always know how. This book shows kids how to let off steam productively. Some of the soothing strategies may work well for grown-ups, too. The result? Improved mental health, equanimity, a better sense of perspective, and maybe even a laugh or two--some of the 10 ideas demonstrated herein will elicit giggles, such as hanging upside down like a bat, lying flat like a cat, playing a game of tic-tac-toe (solo, so you can win), and doing a silly dance and singing "Ooh la la!" In gentle, conversational verse, the author lists some of the physical symptoms kids might experience pre-tantrum: breath that "becomes a hurricane," a "hot and red" face, hands turning to fists. He also sympathizes with reasons for children's explosive feelings: not getting something they want, having a bad day, or feeling disturbed by loud noises or bright lights. Before blowing your top, he says, breathe deeply and launch into some of these champion tantrum blockers. The colorful, textured illustrations, created with tissue-paper collage and finished digitally, depict racially diverse characters. Books teaching kids to be champs are always welcome. This one goes a long way toward that goal.(Picture book. 4-7) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
