Manny's Mood Clouds

For a children’s book, this one deals with some heavy hitting issues, mainly moods and mood disorders. This one introduces us to a little boy who realizes his older brother has been acting “different” lately, in a way that he cannot understand. Whenever his moods change, there are colorful clouds above his head. Confused about his brother’s clouds, he asks his mother what is going on. Wisely, she lets him know that we all have little clouds above us sometimes (this is a good reminder for the adults in the room as well as the children). This book does a brilliant job of making our various emotions and feelings expressible, painting anger as a red cloud with thunder and lightning, sadness as a melancholy blue cloud, and panic and worry and anxiety as a purple cloud. While the little boy attempts to always make sure his brother’s cloud is yellow, a sign of happiness, his parents introduce him to the lifelong truth that we cannot always control the color of someone’s clouds or how they feel, but we can be there for them and try to help them work through their feelings. His brother ends up seeing a therapist, a new concept to the little boy, and discovers he has a mood disorder. Eventually, between friendship, family, and therapy, everyone figures out how to help the brother feel better on his rough days, and get through his emotions in a healthy, positive way. This one is so important, so meaningful, and makes exceedingly difficult issues easy to communicate and understand. Above all, it reminds us to show love to our family, friends, and peers, as we have no idea what’s going on within.