by Makayla Dias

The chosen book for this week is called Barbie: I Got So Mad by Jean Bay, illustrations by S.I International and is part of the “My Feelings” series.The topic is about the type of feelings that you feel and how you feel those feelings and the fitting age group for this type of book is 3-5 because it introduces them to feelings and how they might feel at a young age and how to rightfully express those feelings. 

In this book, Barbie takes her younger sister to go to the playground to play, and she tells Barbie that she is going to make her sandcakes and she tried and tried but they kept falling apart, then a bully comes and insults her sandcakes which makes her feel very upset and they argue for awhile, she then makes a face at him and the bully says he is going to tell Barbie; she then gets a weird feeling in her stomach and her face starts feeling red and hot, she can’t stop being mad. Barbie goes over and consults her and helps her calm down. This book is relevant to children’s development because it helps with their cognitive and learning development with the process of their emotions, and with their language skills because it has words that maybe they haven’t heard before and puts their feelings into words.

A good motivational technique when reading this book is since it’s a Barbie book, you can bring out a Barbie doll and one of Barbies’ sisters’ dolls and have them act out what’s happening in the book. You can also ask two questions at the beginning of the book, “I wonder what’s going to happen in the book” and “Can you guess how the story will end?”. When asking these questions, it’ll help them engage in the book and feel motivated to see the end of the book. Throughout the story you can stop and ask them to read one page of the book or ask what you think is going to happen after the boy is mean to her; also stop and ask them questions throughout the story such as, “what do you think she was feeling when she said she felt a ‘red hot feeling’ ?” or “is how she reacting okay?”. By asking these questions or stopping to get them to read a bit of the book, it’ll promote their critical thinking skills and their literacy skills. When the story is finished make sure to ask them any sort of questions, two examples could be, “do you sometimes feel that way when something doesn’t go right?” and “do you understand why it’s important to say how you feel?”. It’s important to ask them questions that can connect to their life and their feelings and to make sure that they understand the stories message by asking them questions involving the book. 

A possible extension activity to do, is to ask your children what they felt when hearing the story and if there had been any times where they might have felt the way the main character has felt, and if they have expressed their feelings or told you when they felt that way; by asking this you’re helping them with expressing their emotions and helping with their social and cognitive development. Another activity you can do at home to promote your child’s emergent literacy skills involving this book is for your child to hold the book themselves and be in charge of turning the pages which helps with print awareness and another way is to ask them what happened in the book when it’s finished to promote and improve their narrative skills.

Barbie: I Got So Mad is an important book to read to your children, it helps put their feelings of anger into words and show them how that emotion is felt. It’s shown with a very popular and familiar face which will make the book more inviting and welcoming to you child. This book helps promote your children to express their feelings and to know what it might feel when they get mad, and how to calm themselves down. It’s a very easy read which is good for kids at a young age. I highly recommend this book for your young children because of the topic and what the book deals with, it will help with their development literacy skills and their cognitive skills, as well as an enjoyable book overall.