Feelings

Libby Walden and Richard Jones have built something genuinely inventive here: person-shaped die-cut holes let children literally look through each page to see the emotion on the other side, making abstract feelings visible and tangible in a way flat illustrations rarely manage. The lyrical rhyming text moves through the full emotional spectrum — including harder feelings like fear and sadness — and the design naturally supports both phonological awareness and empathy conversations. Child therapists and educators have praised it for good reason. A few of the rhymes feel slightly strained, and the die-cut pages may not survive heavy-handed preschool use intact. The emotions picture-book market is also genuinely crowded. But the peek-through design is a real innovation, and for families wanting to open conversations about feelings with young children, this one has both creative and practical legs.