By Sue Graves, Illustrations by Desideria Guicciardini
Review by Debra L Scott
Who Feels Scared? is one of a new four-book series from Free Spirit Publishing called “Our Emotions and Behaviors”. The other books in the series are: Not Fair, Won’t Share, But Why Can’t I? , and I’m Not Happy. Three friends, one sister, and one dog are all scared of different things. With each scary situation, one of the others finds a way to make it not scary.
Who Feels Scared? takes a fun look at some scary situations kids face on a regular basis.; scary growls from neighborhood animals, spooky noises in the closet, flying in an airplane, fireworks and even scary stories. The solutions are creative and real. Sometimes it is discovering that the scary thing has a very real and not-at-all scary source. Other times it is finding ways to be distracted from the feared thing so it’s not so scary after all. The scary story Dad tells brings a reminder that stories are just stories and not real, so sometimes being scared can be kind of fun.
I couldn’t find a thing to be concerned about in this delightful addition to the series. It is clear and well written, with real life situations that children encounter all the time. The solutions are also easy to understand and apply for a young child. It is certainly my favorite book of the four.
After the story, there is a two page story board without words describing a similar situation. Children are encouraged to talk about what is happening in the pictures and answer questions about it. Following this is a teacher/parent guide to the book with tips on how to discuss the issues presented and gives suggested topics for discussion.
The vocabulary of the story is suitable for young readers to sound out by themselves, but not the included instructions which are intended solely for the adult. The illustrations are expressive and simple so that it is easy to see how each character feels about what is happening.
Word Seeds 