Holidays 101: # 3- Moods

Some of you may remember her from her movies, but her writing is a bona fide career now, and a field in which she has also gained great respect.

Jamie Lee Curtis  has written a whole series of books on kid friendly topics and feelings.  [See the list below. The illustrator [Laura Cornell] adds fun, colorful, slightly zany, whimsical illustrations. Today I recommend one of my favorite books of hers:

TODAY I FEEL SILLY & Other Moods That Make My Day

In this book Curtis uses rhyming lines that kids will enjoy following. She covers a wide range of emotions that children typically experience and why the moods might happen.  She is right on target every time without beating the idea to death. Kids will laugh, but they will understand and recognize the feelings. As with the "It's Not Fair" book I love that this book normalizes the range of feelings and moods for kids rather than see moods as something to "snap out of" or "fix."

My FAVORITE part of this book for some of my challenged kiddos was the back page where there is a pair of wheels to spin that change the eye and mouth expressions on a face.  As you change the expression the label shows up for the typical mood that face shows.  GREAT for teaching non-verbal cues and helping kids understand, explore, mimic, etc.


Other Jamie Lee Curtis books:
My Mommy Hung the Moon: A Love Story
It's Hard to Be Five: Learning How to Work My Control Panel
I'm Gonna Like Me: Letting Off a Little Self-Esteem

Big Words for Little People

Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born
Is There Really a Human Race?
Where Do Balloons Go? An Uplifting Mystery 
When I Was Little: A Four-Year-Old's Memoir of Her Youth

  

AND:

Jamie Lee Curtis's Books to Grow By Treasury

Includes 4 of her stories [Balloon, Human Race,  Like Me, and Moon] plus songs and activities to go with each.