Such a sweet and beautifully illustrated book! The humorous approach to dealing with heavy emotions/crying is so important for children. They may read this and laugh, and then later remember the message of the book when they are experiencing overwhelming emotion. Great for parents and librarians to read to children and discuss!

This didn't quite hit the mark for me. It starts with seeming to shame or discourage a character for crying, then they're supposed to "cry. better" and led through a bunch of silly scenarios where tears could be useful, and then, abruptly, everyone cries and it's a good thing? I don't think kids young enough to benefit from this book will quite grasp the message.

It might work to help distract an upset child and get them giggling at some of the absurdist uses for tears, and I did like the illustration showing that even people we think of as invincible (police officers, superheroes, etc.) cry, but I would have liked a message of "everyone cries and it's OK and healthy" to have been clearer right from the start.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review.

<b>**NOTE**</b> <i>THIS is an outlier review. Even if I like the story, I believe in giving a full and honest review about how I view a book and whether I would buy it or read it to the littles in my life, EVEN if it goes against every other review out there. I am used to being unpopular, so I'd rather be honest than win a popularity contest or impress someone. </i>

<spoiler>This is a [mostly] lovely book. I initially really like the story [it teaches kids {and the adults reading it} that crying isn't only okay, it is often much-needed. This part of the book is a fantastic lesson for everyone], but I did find the story to be a bit convoluted in its delivery and that because I am myself a crier, I am reading more into it than most people would I think] and the illustrations are colorful and fun - they will make you laugh.

Unfortunately, the illustrations are also very problematic - or at least one of them is [having worked with kids since I was 11 and started babysitting, I have read a huge amount of children's books. The illustration in the book floored me - I even checked in with the bestie AND my 74 year old mother who is mostly clueless about things and they both 100% agreed with me on this]. The story opens with a crying worm. That doesn't look like a worm [it does later in the book when it is lying flat on the crocodile], it looks exactly like a penis [and does through out the book, in some cases more than other times]. I was shocked [hence me seeking out others advice, thinking I must be seeing things. The bestie {who is a Professor and worked in the developmental sector of child welfare and knows her kids books as well actually asked me if this was a "real book". ] and it was extremely disconcerting [and you just know that some kid will yell out "IT IS A PEE PEE" when someone opens this book] and to be honest, rather upsetting. It ruins an otherwise completely lovey book.

Because of this and the extremely abrupt way this ends [there is no feel good ending here and it seems so off from the story overall], I cannot recommend this book to anyone. I am so disappointed. </spoiler>

Thank you to NetGalley, Noemi Vola, and Penguin Random House Canada/Tundra Books for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When I read the title and saw the cover, my attention was immediatly captured. I'm grateful for receiving the electronic ARC from Penguin Random House Canada/Tundra Books through NetGalley.

Though I understand the author's intention, reading the book was a bit disappointing because not all children will understand the sarcasm needed in order to truly get the book's message. The illustrations are fun and colourful.

I recommend this for opening a conversion with little ones about crying, as well as expressing emotions. It is okay to cry.

A light-hearted story aiming to normalise crying. I feel it missed the mark slightly. I’m not a fan of the illustrations, I read a lot of picture books to children aged 10ish and I wouldn’t be able to read this book to them due to the specifically oblong shaped characters and objects within the story. Particularly the crying worm, pig and dolphin characters and the very dubious looking ‘elongated’ mushrooms. Frued would have a field day.

I was excited about this book, and was hoping for a great resource that would share coping strategies for children when they are feeling sad. I was disappointed-at first the book makes crying seem like a negative thing (by the end it does normalize it). If you are looking for a silly story, this may hit the mark. I would not use it as a teaching tool.

Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for the advance e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

A fun way to help children understand "negative" emotions (sadness, anxiety, anger) and that crying doesn't have to be a bad thing or the end of the world!

When the attempts to cheer up a sad worm leads to tears, the narrator begins to describe various uses for tears.

This is such a sweet story about the importance of showing emotions and the connections it builds. It teaches children not to feel upset about being sad, and gives suggestions for activities to do when upset (self care, snack, time outside). The story normalizes complex emotions and reactions to them, presenting these emotions in a way that is understandable for children.

Absolutely adore the design of characters. The drawings are cartoonish and speak to my inner child who remembers drawing characters in the same style.

I liked this book. It shows everyone how vital crying is, and how useful. By imagining the different ways tears can be used in our everyday life, the author managed to show how silly it is to spurn crying. It's an important lesson for us all. Children reading this book have to understand sarcasm and metaphors to be able to understand the book on their own. Or an adult could help explain it.

A genuinely beautiful, stunningly illustrated story that is heartwarming and brought a smile to even my face. I could not recommend this highly enough

Colorful and funny way to teach kids crying is more than okay. Crying has a function.. With colorful drawings the author breaks the taboo on crying. Even the toughest rock can cry.

I understood the point of the book that it was okay to cry and that everyone did it. The artwork was very cute and I loved all the colors. the book never stated anything about the emotions, I think there could have been a little more to this book.

This book started off a little shaky but by midway I warmed up to it and appreciated the message it was trying to convey. The artwork is very cute and little kids will love it. My child liked to point out the different things in pictures, and identified the ones that were sad and we discussed how crying isn’t a bad thing, that it can make us feel better.

(I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.)

This is a picture book for children. It shows some practical uses that tears can have, teaching that crying is not all bad and that it is a kind of universal language.
I wanted to like this more that I did, but it is what it is... It's a nice book and I can picture it being great for some kids. Nevertheless, I feel like it could have been much better and more captivating if it went deeper into the characters. Either that, or make the reader have a stronger connection to the story somehow. The illustrations are very interesenting and enjoyable, though :)

I love how this book normalises feelings in a way that children understand and in a way that children learn it is okay to feel the way they do. My 7 year old really enjoyed it. It is very well illustrated and draws the eye to each page. It's a definite recommendation for me. Children will love it.

Thanks to Penguin Random House Canada/Tundra Books and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in return for an honest review.
I like children's books, and enjoy reading them to see what they are teaching and how they are entertaining children. Unfortunately this book really did little for me. I am not exactly sure what it is about and the only thing it seems to teach is to learn how to cry better! Not every book has to be educational, but if you wanted to be silly there are better ways than telling kids then should cry better and longer. Sure all this is fanciful but it is just no more than a mediocre read for me. Tundra Books have a lot of really good books, books that I have given high marks to, but this is not one of those. Sorry. The only thing that helped the rating was to have the narrator being a worm!

A wonderful book for little ones! Simple language, adorable pictures and fun ideas. I read it to my kids and they loved it too!

In an attempt to cheer up a sad-looking worm, a narrator makes things worse by causing the worm to cry. But in the process of trying to make the sobbing worm feel better, the narrator starts to think of the various ways tears can be used productively.

A cute and imaginative story about emotions and being upset. The author has used colourful and engaging illustrations to demonstrate that crying is useful in a variety of ways. Although I enjoyed looking at the illustrations, I found the authors underlying message somewhat confusing. Is it OK to cry for emotional release? Or is it only useful if fulfilling another purpose?

I received an electronic ARC from Penguin Random House Canada through NetGalley.
In some ways, it feels like reading two books. At the start, the narrator appears to shame the worm for crying and I was not sure where that message was going to go. Then the author does a turn and readers see joyful and humorous ways to use tears. The illustrations work well and clearly show how tears are being used in practical and absurd ways. The overall story does not feel connected. It reads like a bunch of ideas that sort of fit but don't always work together cohesively. I can see younger readers laughing as this one is read, and it will lead to more discussion on sharing emotions.

I absolutely adored this book. At first, I was concerned that the tone was a bit blame-tainted but the illustrations and humour are quirky and refreshing. This would make an excellent talking point for any child learning about emotions, and that it is okay and useful to cry and let our your emotions. The illustrations are phenomenal. I loved this so much. Fantastic.