Cover Image: Simon and the Big, Bad, Angry Beasts

Simon and the Big, Bad, Angry Beasts

Pub Date:   |   Archive Date:

Member Reviews

This is a great book for learning about anger, and how you can either control it or let it control you. It is a perfect book for young children or children with disabilities who might have trouble controlling their anger. The guide in the back is perfect as it has a section for both parents and teachers, and gives suggestions and references for teaching about anger. I'm looking forward to both reading this to my middle school life skills class and reading it to my 3 year old daughter. There are also a couple of the activities in the back that I plan to try, as well.

Was this review helpful?

What child — furious at discipline or a setback — hasn’t imagined the vengeance that s/he might take on those nefarious evil-doers who thwarted her/him? So does the tantrum-stricken Simon, who imagines metamorphosing into wild beasts — a ram, an alligator, and more — to exact what he’d see as rough justice. Whether it’s losing at a board game, being sent to his room for crayon scribbles on the wall, or being denied, Simon thrills in intimidating others. Until he realizes that his anger is getting in the way of having friends.

Author Ian De Haes’ beautifully illustrated picture book guides children into understanding the terrifyingly strong emotion of anger and how to use calm, quiet, and mindfulness to deal with impulsive angry outbursts. The book also includes excellent suggestions for parents and educators. Parents will come for the help with anger, but they’ll revel in the beautiful pictures and charming words.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Flyaway Books in exchange for an honest review.

Was this review helpful?

A story every parent and child can relate to! I really enjoyed the illustrations and the ending. Using the visual of butterflies was brilliant.

Was this review helpful?

This book has a great concept - when the main character Simon gets angry, a variety of beasts appear, getting ever increasingly big and scary. Eventually, when a large dragon appears, Simon's family and friends are too scared to be around him. This is a difficult notion to try and explain to a young child, but this book really helps with the discussion as the illustrations are very real. It is definitely a case where the pictures could tell the story without the words. It is a very useful book for talking about anger issues with children, and I would recommend it to others.

Was this review helpful?

Simon and the Big, Bad, Angry Beasts is an age-appropriate picture book that helps young children define and understand anger through various beasts and colors. Be sure to read through the notes at the end regarding mindfulness and discussion questions.

Was this review helpful?

Simon and the Big, Bad, Angry Beasts: A Book About Anger by Ian De Haes is a children's book currently scheduled for release on April 26 2018. When Simon gets mad, he gets REALLY mad. So mad that big, bad, angry beasts appear. At first Simon loves having the beasts around to help scare off anyone who upsets him, but over time he realizes that no one wants to be around him or the beasts. This makes Simon sad, so he decides to try to still his mind and practice being calm. And the beasts disappear!

Simon and the Big, Bad, Angry Beasts is a book that offers children, teachers, parents, and other caregivers tools and language to talk about and deal with anger. On the surface the book is colorful and relatable, a story about a child that has used his anger to get his way, and enjoyed the release kicking and screaming could give. However, he discovers that the beast and behavior his anger brings out has made others avoid him. Simon needs to learn to cope with and express him anger in better ways. I like the imagery of the beasts to represent Simon's anger and the resulting behavior, and I loved the information and tools at the end of the book for the adults helping a child to cope with emotions. I loved the artwork, and think it will capture the attention and imagination of young readers. I think for a majority of children this book will be a helpful lesson. However, there are those with additional challenges to facing anger appropriately, and I was a little disappointed that there was no mention that some children (and adults) need more than awareness and mindfulness to deal with anger because of chemical imbalances or other issues. Unfortunately, while great tools for everyone to help, it is not the ultimate solution for everyone and that is not mentioned in the endpapers, at least not that I noticed in the advanced copy I read.

Was this review helpful?

This is a wonderful way to teach children about anger and how to deal with it. Simon's anger presents itself in the form of many beasts. He feels it is a great way to express his anger...that is until nobody wants to be around him. He knows he must find a way to make the beasts go away. When yelling at them fails to work, he settles and learns to quiet his mind.

This is a great resource to teach children about controlling their temper. The bright and vivid images kept my son's attention through the entire story. He even had comments like oh cool a dragon...until he realized Simon was lonely from having nobody to play with. This book is very well put together.

Was this review helpful?

This book about Simon talks about the different animals that Simon’s anger turns into. At first Simon thinks it’s a great way to feel his anger until he realizes no one wants to be around him. He must find a way to make his creatures go away.

This is a great way to teach children about anger. The pictures are very colorful. The text is simple and easy to understand. It teaches a good lesson.

#netgalley

Was this review helpful?

As a future psychologist, I love this book!
Ian uses animals/monsters to describe different situations that made Simon angry. At first, Simon loves the beasts that joined him. He soon changes his mind though.

The end of the book includes discussion questions and tips for working on mindfulness with children.

This is a great tool for children and adolescents who struggle with anger.

Thanks, NetGalley, for allowing me to read this book.

Was this review helpful?

There are times we all get mad, and we have to learn from a young age how to deal with that anger. In this story, Simon learns that he gets angry when things don't go his way. He gets angry when he gets punished by his parents. He gets angry when he loses a game. He gets angry when he is told "no". Each time Simon gets angry, his anger is manifested in a different animal or beast that gets more ferocious each time he gets angry. Simon thinks this is great, because that beast helps Simon show everyone around him just how angry he is. "It was great, it was marvelous, it was magical..." or so Simon thought. He soon realizes that when he gets angry, there is nobody there for him when his beast leaves. His anger has pushed everyone away.
This is a wonderful book that really illustrates what people feel when we are angry. This book would be a wonderful resource for adults that have or work with children that have anger issues. I really like that the illustrations bring to life what Simon is feeling and give children a visual representation of what anger is and how to deal with it. By the end, Simon learns how to calm himself and release the beast of anger. I also really liked the fact that there is a Guide for Parents and Teachers, as well as useful information for using this book in individual or group settings, as well as teaching children mindfulness and activities to accompany the book. Included in this section, there are resources for further exploration into the topic.
Overall, I believe this book would be a wonderful asset to a home or school library. The vibrant illustrations and relatable story to life and open the door and spark interest in a conversation about the difficult topic of anger.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this title prior to publication.

Was this review helpful?

This is my first ever kids book review. Thanks a lot NetGalley & Flyaway Books for this chance!!

B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L illustrations!! <3 Your kid will fall in love with the pretty and rich colored pictures. Its soo pretty!! Its a great book for teaching your kid what are the consequences of being angry/rude to people. 

Only problem I found is that, I wish the kid was not shown to be dealing with the anger alone, I wish it showed he went to his parents for help or his parents came to him when he tried dealing with his issues. I want my son to believe that I will always be there for him if he ever needs help. 

Rating:
Overall rating is

                                4.5/5

                                          :D :D :D 

**I am looking for ways to ask for physical copies of this book, anyone has any idea how can I do that???

Was this review helpful?

I requested this book for the title and cover and was overwhelmed at how wonderful it is for teaching. This short little kids book is about being angry, at everyone, all the time and the monsters you can bring out. Simon has a lot of beasts to stick up for him but no one else to play with. Not only is the story here a very nice one, it is a great teaching tool and even comes with additional teaching tools and follow-ups in the last few pages for parents and adult readers.

The vibrant and fun illustrations keep it semi-light but it is an important lesson to share with young children - the importance of calm and working through your problems. This was very well put together and I think that parents will enjoy it along with their kids.

Was this review helpful?

I received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a beautiful book about a boy named Simon and how he learns about the consequences of having a bad temper, as well as how to manage his anger. The illustrations were absolutely stunning, and I truly loved every single page.

The book will be released on April 26th, and I definitely recommend that you pick it up for any little ones in your lives.

Was this review helpful?

I love the message of this book, and the content at the back of it for parents and teachers on dealing with anger with children and how to use this book to talk to kids about anger. The illustrations are also really great and the story has a good flow, so it’s enjoyable for kids to read as well as having an excellent message.

Was this review helpful?

Simon and the Big, Bad, Angry Beasts is about learning to temper your anger, and work with it, rather than let it rage out of control. Simon is a (rather bratty) kid who loses his temper on day after his father puts him in time out for scrawling on the walls. He temper tantrums, and the next thing he knows, there's a great ram pounding the door with him. As Simon’s anger gets more out of control, his beastly companion changes, eventually becoming a fearsome dragon! It is then that Simon realises no-one wants to be around him any more. He tried to shout the anger away, but that only makes it worse. Finally, Simon settle down and quiets his mind. The dragon turns into a flock of butterflies. Now that he's learns to manage his anger, his friends come back and he finds happiness.

Full of beautiful artwork, this is a perfect book for teaching children about dealing with anger, and cultivating mindfulness. At the back are some suggestions and guidelines for helping parents work with their kids using this book. I read this with my cubs, and they all loved it. It's a great teaching tool!

***Many thanks to Netgalley and FlyAway Books for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Was this review helpful?

Simon has a temper. First it starts small, but it keeps growing and growing until it becomes a fire breathing dragon! Now, Simon has lost all his friends and doesn't know what to do.

I'll admit that I enjoyed this book. The art is gorgeous and suited the story very well. The story is great. I think it's a pretty accurate representation of a child who doesn't know how to process strong emotions like anger yet and needs a little help dealing with it. Simon's anger grows out of control.

I had two issues. One, the narrative makes it seem like the parents abandon Simon because of his temper. I'm sure that's not the intended message, but the absence of the parents in this one means that Simon deals with his anger on his own and it just sort of goes away by happenstance. I think a parent would be more involved in the case of severe anger issues.

Second, there's a section in the back that is supposed to be a guide for parents and guardians on how to help a child work through strong emotions. That's great, but one section indicates that the anger comes directly from the over consumption of violent media. I absolutely do not agree with this. It places the consequences of allowing a child's temper to get out of hand into the purview of inanimate objects rather than the parents. I understand that a child is exposed to violent media in many forms, but it's the parent's responsibility to either field or control what their child watches or reads. Barring that, if parental controls don't work, it's the parent's responsibility to explain to their children what behaviors are correct to emulate from society.

Overall a cute read. I liked the premise, but I don't agree with some of the information in the back.

Was this review helpful?

The book has really great illustrations but the text and the help guidelines in the back are so helpful. I could see this helping kids try to find a way to conquer anger issues with being calm and not always getting there way. Especially if it leaves them lonely.

Was this review helpful?

Simon and the Big, Bad, Angry Beasts is a story about anger and how to deal with it. Simon is a boy who expresses his anger in harmful ways. Each time he becomes angry a beast appears and they become bigger and meaner while lashing out at his friends and family. At first Simon likes how this makes him feel, but eventually no one wants to be around him. He does not like being alone, so he makes the decision to get rid of the anger beasts. It takes a while to figure it out, but he is finally successful.

This book would be a great one for parents, caregivers or teachers to read to their children about how anger can affect our relationships and how to deal with their anger in constructive ways. I would have liked to see the dealing with part given a bit more book time, but if you use the tips at the back of the book to discuss and practice dealing with anger, it should work. The illustrations add to the story by visually presenting Simon's anger in a way that children should understand (in the form of different animals). I love the ending with the dragon dissolving into butterflies. There are several tips and things to try with children mentioned at the back of the book.

Was this review helpful?

I think this could be a great book for parents to read to their kids about how anger can affect our relationships and how to deal with their anger in constructive ways. It presents anger in a way that I think kids will understand (in the form of different animals) and also presents a nice tool to try out next time they feel angry. I really enjoyed the illustration especially the dragon turning into hundreds of butterflies. Overall, I enjoyed this.

I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Was this review helpful?

Simon has definite anger issues. When his anger flairs up he becomes out of control and huge, spine-chilling beasts appear out of nowhere, take over his emotions and together they attack anyone who causes his anger to erupt.

He comes to the realization that each time he throws a monumental temper tantrum the forever shape-shifting imaginary monsters grow more in size and become even more snarly and vicious. Oh my!!!

Simon soon discovers that his demonic beasts are not his friends because once they manifest themselves his family and friends flee leaving him all alone and friendless. Is this how he wants to live his life isolated and stigmatized because of his unstoppable anger outbursts?

Simon makes a decision that he must learn to calm down and irradiate those beasts once and for all. He practices breathing exercises and mindful techniques that soothe his anger episodes and makes him composed and serene.

The illustrations are the perfect visuals to accompany such a tale. They are meaningful and effective. Adults have several pages at the back of book that contain strategies they can discuss with their children and various exercises that can be used to cope when dealing with anger issues. This book would be a wonderful asset in an individual classroom or elementary school library setting.

Was this review helpful?