LITTLE CAT HIDE-AND-SEEK EMOTIONS

A seek-and-find board book with a cute feline twist seeks to boost young children’s emotional intelligence.

Each double-page spread shows a dozen different cats whose facial expressions and body language express sundry emotions. A question at the top of each verso challenges young readers to identify which cat of the 12 is displaying a particular emotion (the feeling words are printed in boldfaced block letters), whether it is anger, happiness, nervousness (the text uses the word fidgety, which may be new to some children), surprise, sadness, disgust (the more age-appropriate word icky is used), love, and more. A prominently placed emoticon on each recto aids kids’ search. Short prompts—like “Give little cat a cuddle to calm him down” and “Do you remember a time when you got a nice surprise?”—help readers to get in touch with their own feelings and practice demonstrating emotional care. This book has much to offer, providing little ones with the opportunity to develop their lexical and emotional vocabularies; sharpen visual literacy skills; and develop empathy. Youngsters will benefit from adult scaffolding, as the cats’ kinesics are sometimes open to interpretation. Once children have matched the emotion to the appropriate cat, they can be invited to discuss what feelings the other kitties are displaying. The cartoony cat illustrations with faint drop shadows are set against bright backgrounds of solid color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

An engaging interactive board book that helps demystify the world of emotions.