WOO-HOO! This is the perfect way to foster healthy self-esteem in little ones. The energetic, comical illustrations, in Boynton’s signature style, will elicit giggles and go far to make the book’s important point. This riotous book hits all the right notes and does so succinctly and hilariously.

So forgive yourself, chickens! But the best thing is…instead of relying on someone else-like a chicken-to strengthen your ego, say a generous daily “WOO HOO!” to yourself. That alone is a pep talk, enhanced by the wisdom that making mistakes allows everyone to learn and demonstrate they did their best. But what if your cheerful chick errs and doesn’t do what it set out to do? Don’t worry-your cheery chicken just needs a reminder that everyone makes mistakes. Your feathered champion will be right there, encouraging you all the way, with a loud “WOO HOO!” that’ll keep you going and remove any doubt you’re super terrific. What’s better than a cheerleading chicken?Īre you ever blue, unsure, tired, or overworked? Do you ever feel lost or overwhelmed? This uplifting book, expressed in delightful, jaunty verse, explains how to lift your spirits pronto: What you need is a booster chicken telling you’re doing great even when you’re not so confident, as when you’re learning or practicing a new skill, for instance. Ignore the lackluster, prescriptive text-get this Spanish import for its fabulous artwork. Tugged across a blank white spread by the eager child, the multicolored monster trails collaged ribbons of color.

Shapes are irregular and organic like home-cut crafts. Cardboard or cardstock cutouts, punctured and layered, look as though they could be felt by readers’ fingertips. Lines are scribble-style, checkered, and swirled background paper is graphed, perforated, and newsprinted. Using wax colors, watercolor pencils, acrylics, pencil, and collage, Llenas lays out entrancing textures and hues in enthralling compositions with plenty of white space. However, taken on their own, the multimedia illustrations are downright splendid. The textual descriptions sometimes contradict the visual messages, showing aesthetically cheerful or peaceful artwork for spreads about sadness or confusion. Placing emotions literally into jars implies an odd repressiveness, while declarations such as “When you’re sad, you…want to be alone” are unnecessarily universalizing. Then, either the child or a narrative voice proclaims, “Your emotions don’t work well when they’re all jumbled up.” The child, now smiling, offers to help separate the monster’s emotions “and put each one in its own jar.” Each emotion is assigned one color, and the monster turns that color only (rather than multicolored) while that feeling is explained. “Are you all mixed up again, Color Monster?” asks an inexplicably annoyed-looking child. A kid helps a monster sort out his emotions.Ī monster arrives, multicolored, with frowning mouth and troubled eyes.

Anna llenas the colour monster