Review by Booklist Review
A girl and her dad are in a fight, and, folks, this kid is PISSED. She's so mad that she gags on her food, storms away from the dinner table, and SLAMs her bedroom door. It's a rage that can only be contained by a double gatefold, which is also necessary to hold all the massive, battle-scarred letters of "SOOO MAD!" and really show the emotional distance between daughter and dad, positioned at either end. From there, the girl tries every coping strategy: counting (but she can't even count straight), doing furious cartwheels (and frowning from every angle), drawing (pictures of enraged animals), and jumping rope (while sobbing). When she tries to just breathe, she breathes fire, crying, "IT IS HARD TO NOT BE MAD!" Hao's angry protagonist is delightfully unleashed on the page, her fury punctuated by a single tooth inside her wide, shouting mouth, two eyebrows that in anger become one, and a jagged ponytail that might as well be spikes. Of course, we don't know why she's mad, but that's hardly the point. It's powerful just to see this girl given the space to express her anger. The rounds of coping attempts are instructive, to boot, and best of all, after she collapses in exhaustion, her reunion with Dad--snuggled together with a snack--is the perfect reminder. An absolute SEL winner.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Horn Book Review
"Sometimes my dad makes me..." begins this expressive narrator; open the two gatefold pages to finish the overwhelming thought: "SOOO MAD!" A standoff at the dinner table (over vegetables) has the defiant narrator storming off to their room. Hao's emotionally charged illustrations, full of sharp angles, emanata, and strong vivid colors, leave no doubt that the main character has some Big Feelings; five well-placed double-gatefold spreads put their emotions on full display. "SLAM!" goes the bedroom door on a fiery orange-red double-page spread, an emphatic yellow starburst indicating sound and fury. "I DO NOT LIKE BEING MAD!!!" They try some calming techniques, to no avail: venting to stuffed animals, counting, cartwheels. Drawing doesn't work, either -- the bedroom floor begins to warp as if absorbing the child's frustration. A wildly energetic gatefold spread shows the scowling narrator surrounded by angry crayon drawings and marks "...STILL MAD!" It's hard to rage for hours, however, and as the sun goes down, both internal and external moods change. Hot pulsing colors and insistent shapes are replaced by quieter twilight purples and simpler compositions. The tone is more subdued: "Luckily, when I'm sad (and still a bit mad)... // ...here comes Dad" with a snack and a hug. This emotional journey of a picture book reassures listeners that it's okay to feel and show anger; it's also okay to let go, accept a peace offering, and mean it when you say, "I love my dad." Kitty FlynnNovember/December 2024 p.67 (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
