By Karen Kaufman Orloff, Illustrated by Ziyeu Chen
(2018) Sterling Children’s Books, New York
Some Days… you’re lucky enough to find a beautiful book to help young children develop a “feeling vocabulary” and begin to articulate and understand life’s inevitable ups and downs!!! Karen Kaufman Orloff’s Some Days is all that and more!
Teaching young children to recognize, identify and sort a range of feelings and offering them the tools to develop emotional resilience is at the core of social- emotional learning. Children routinely experience a range of emotions in just a few short minutes. From the tug of a goodbye as they are dropped off at school or daycare, the sting of a reprimand, or the pleasure of a playful exchange, children’s lives are filled with emotions. Not only are children affected by their own emotions, but they are also impacted by the emotions of others. Unchecked, this flood of emotional energy can be stressful and draining. The neural pathways that help us to deal with stress are the same ones that are employed for thinking and learning! So, we can’t expect our children to achieve more academically until they have learned to identify and understand their feelings and manage them effectively.
Studies have shown that children who are able to identify their feelings and demonstrate facility in self-soothing and regulating their own emotional states:
Are better able to focus in situations that require academic performance;
Are better able to relate to and understand others;
Have stronger immune systems; and
Enjoy better friendships.
Karen Kaufman Orloff’s playful rhymes, coupled with Ziyue Chen’s vibrant illustrations combine to capture a very relatable snapshot of a typical day. Each page affords the reader plenty of opportunity to consider and react to a range of everyday situations. From waiting in stores, to kicking up stones there’s plenty of fodder for meaningful discussion and vocabulary development around the feelings each unique situation elicits. As your child grows, so too will his/her feeling vocabulary - something you can develop together as you enjoy “Some Days” for quite some time!