Feelings

In each spread of this rhyming concept book, a small boy in a red knit cap appears through a die-cut to the title’s last page. The boy explains, “Looking from the outside, I may seem the same to you,/ but deep beneath the surface, feelings bubble, stir, and brew.” The child experiences a different emotion with each page turn, while his changing surroundings mirror his feelings. When he is angry, he stands at the foot of an erupting volcano; when he is happy, the world is a joyful island in the sun; and when calm, the boy sails a little boat on a gentle bay. Walden’s phrasing can be stilted (“your vision blurs—your mind is fixed on things you do not own,/ and as green steam begins to rise, you give an envious moan”), but the die-cut element enhances the exploration of changing emotional states, and Jones works in a warm, elegant art style that calls to mind a comforting patchwork quilt. Ages 3–7. [em](Sept.) [/em]