Member Review

I Know Happy
Lindsay N. Giroux (Author)
Alicia Teba Godoy (Illustrator)

Expected publication February 20, 2024, by Free Spirit Publishing

Synopsis
Children learn to recognize and understand the feelings of happiness, excitement, and pride.

A young feelings detective looks for clues, both physical and emotional, to identify happiness, excitement, and pride in themselves and others. The child uses a special notebook to draw their feelings and identify how they feel. By noticing the clues, the feelings detective knows their sister is surprised and their grandma is excited.

We Find Feelings Clues
Increase children’s emotional vocabulary and boost their emotional literacy. This series helps children learn how to find, notice, and use a variety of clues to identify and name their emotions and those of others. Clues are found in facial expressions and body language, sensations within the body, and knowledge of past experiences. After identifying an emotion, children also learn how they can feel better when their emotions are overwhelming. Each book features a child using the tool of the feelings detective notebook to record their feelings through drawings and words. Additional information and strategies on recognizing and dealing with feelings are included at the back of each book.


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A huge thank you to NetGalley for giving me the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I Know Happy - what an intriguing book title. At the age of 25, this children's book made me pause and ask myself if I knew what happiness was. For a book, that is a good thing! It is an attention-getter. With a blank slate and no idea, I dove in. It made me curious what this whole book was all about.

Next, the cover made me all giddy. I like how cute the illustrations were. The only downside is that I am not such a big fan of orange. I would rather have it pink or blue, just a personal preference, but orange seems more fitting for the idea of happiness. Orange IS a happy color.

Right as I started reading the book, the concept of having my own feelings detective notebook was very enticing. The fact that it is not just applicable to young readers but to us adults is mindblowing. I should probably try it and apply it in my life. Until now, the idea is honestly still stuck with me and I cannot help but think about it. This children's book just completely makes sense that I want a hard copy and would recommend it to friends with kids and even adults for a light, quick, and meaningful read. This book was written simply and directly to the point. It doesn't drag or beat around the bush.

"Sometimes it's easy to know how I feel."
"Sometimes it's hard."

Wow. Just wow. And I thought nothing would make this book even more relatable than it already is.

I also like the idea that this book encourages coping, like how the main character is into art. However, I wonder if the main character was left nameless to make it more applicable to all readers, and to make the imagination run wild.

Some parts of the book also include questions like - What activities help you feel happy or calm? When have you felt excited? Simple questions but huge enough to connect and make precious moments with the readers. Other feelings were also introduced, not just happiness, such as excitement, surprise, pride, and delight.

The different locations and characters made the book more interesting. I suppose it was the reason they were added in the first place. It worked. As simple as this book is, it makes such a huge impact.

Another part that I like about this book is that it invokes an author-reader interaction. Whenever the main character takes a deep breath, I do too surprisingly!

Now talking about the Author's Note, I never encountered one like this. I for one encourage exploring emotions at a young age. I am very pleased to have known someone advocating the same principle. Also, the ideas shared by the author at the end of the book are very precise and downright easy to understand. I would love to enumerate all but where is the fun with that? I shall let you experience and discover it yourself.

To the author and illustrator, thank you for a job well done. You delivered.

Overall Rating: An easy 5-star read!

#IKnowHappy #NetGalley