Feel Good: Understand Your Emotions (Your Health)

Kathy Feeney is a Capstone Press author.

PreSchool-Grade 2-Vibrant visual appeal can't substitute for informational substance. Each volume presents a "once over lightly" approach to its subject that will leave even the youngest readers unsatisfied. Bagley introduces proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and minerals as nutrients ("something that is needed by people-to stay healthy and strong"), then goes into the food-guide pyramid without further explaining these specific nutrients. Although each layer of the pyramid is identified as to types of food and number of recommended servings, the additional information is very superficial, and even potentially misleading ("The right amount of iron helps you stay awake"). Feeney's discussion of emotions is equally lacking. Each feeling-happy, sad, scared, angry, and jealous-is allotted three or four brief sentences. Additional material on sharing feelings, handling disagreements, and self-esteem is equally minimal. In both books, each spread features a bright, colorful photograph of children of different races and abilities on the left, with text on the right. Lizzy Rockwell's Good Enough to Eat: A Kid's Guide to Food and Nutrition (HarperCollins, 1999) presents plenty of detailed information on nutrition in a delightful manner that gives youngsters plenty to chew on. Elizabeth Crary's "Dealing with Feelings" series (Parenting Press) offers many practical suggestions to help kids deal with strong emotions in healthy ways.
Joyce Adams Burner, Hillcrest Library, Prairie Village, KS
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.