Children's Book Review

That's right, we're gonna take a detour here. Or try something new, since this might become a normal thing for this blog - I haven't decided yet. But book reviews! Specifically, (for today, at least) a children's book review. And yes, I read a lot of these, so I'm beginning to feel a little more picky about which ones I like and don't like and which ones I would prefer my daughter have on repeat.

As we've established, I'm a reader, so my daughter has had a substantial bookshelf since before she was born. It has grown and changed over the years, but we've probably read every one of her books at least once. We also have books at her grandparents' homes that she reads when we visit, and we take trips to the library (or we did before COVID, so hopefully we'll get back into the swing of that soon). She gets gifted a lot of books too ("just because" books and presents for every occasion), but even so, she's still not usually very picky. Very rarely will she not enjoy a book.

Now, as you probably already know, it's back to school season: Which means that my daughter and I have started doing kindergarten work at home three days a week. So while we've always had reading time, now it's how we start the school day. As a result, I wanted to shake things up a bit. I recently learned that Amazon Prime members have access to something called Prime Reading. I won't go into it, but it's basically like borrowing Kindle books from a list that changes. I was pretty excited to realize that they have kids' books on there, so score! I weeded through and selected a few that I thought would be good and that AJ (my daughter) might enjoy.

In particular, the book I want to talk about today is: I Can Handle It (Mindful Mantras) by Laurie Wright

First, I really liked this! It's great for right now and everything that is going on in the world. While AJ has handled all of the pandemic and societal unrest very well up to this point, she is getting pretty tired of it and has started to stress about some of the safety measures and restrictions in place. And since she knows she can't really act out against those, she's started acting out about other, normal rules. That's where I Can Handle It has been helpful.

The book addresses the fact that big and tough emotions happen, but they don't have to overwhelm. The little boy in the book mentions something that that sets off an emotional response, then, he states that he "can handle it" and shows multiple ways of letting go of or better expressing that emotion. By the end of the book, AJ had related to several of the situations and had liked some of the ways in which they were dealt with and was repeating the refrain "I can handle it." We've been using it, since reading, to work through some tough moments. I've even caught her stopping herself (before I intervene) and taking a deep breath to calm down about things.

There is a bit of a story element, but I wouldn't really call it a storybook. The illustrations are cute though, and the wording isn't particularly difficult for her to grasp. Overall, it was quick and easy to get through, with a lesson that has made a lasting impression. As I said, I really liked it and AJ seemed to enjoy it and stay engaged for the entirety. I haven't looked into the rest of the books in the series yet, but I did enjoy this one and I'll definitely be checking them out soon!