The Boy with Big, Big Feelings by Britney Winn Lee

For boys, though, this freedom seems even more urgent. Of course, we want all children to grow up in touch with their feelings, understanding them in a healthy way and finding safe ways to express their emotions. Therefore, this book seems meant to be read aloud and shared, to bring adults and children together as they share this book to allow them greater comfort in sharing their emotions and experiences with each other, too.Īnd lastly, just look at these illustrations! From the end pages to how Souva has portrayed emotions swirling around the characters, these illustrations will make YOU feel! The combination of Souva’s illustrations with Lee’s descriptive phrases (you know it’s special when tears are described as “That big heart of his / would push feelings right out of his eyes!”) allows children to deepen their understanding of feelings and develop language to describe how their emotions make their bodies feel. So often, we equate squashing emotions to bottling up our worries, fears, and sadness, but many children also try to temper their happiness and excitement, too.Īdditionally, you should know that Lee crafted this story originally as a stand-alone poem, not as text for a children’s book. When he is scared, he cries hard when he is happy, he bursts with joy and when others around him feel their own emotions, his heart reflects those feelings back as if they were his own. I greatly appreciate that the main character feel big, big feelings both positively and negatively.

Through their friendship, the two learn to open their hearts again, and also realize that others around them feel big emotions at times, too! So, he hides his heart until one day, he notices a peer who also seems to be feeling extra big emotions, too. However, he learned to “stuff all his feelings deep down” and “control what he thought he should hide,” because he worried that his peers would laugh at and make fun of him if they knew all that he felt. In The Boy with Big, Big Feelings, Lee and Souva introduce us to a boy who feels. Read on to see why The Boy with Big, Big Feelings by Britney Winn Lee, illustrated by Jacob Souva, is important and worth sharing!

Then, of course, you fall in love with it and add it to your posting calendar to ensure that you remember to share it with the world ASAP. This book sums my children up perfectly and would be so important for anyone raising boys… No, anyone raising children… to know that it’s okay, and maybe even essential, to both feel and show emotions,” you immediately ask her if you can borrow said book. When a friend with impeccable taste in children’s books comes to you and says, “Mary, you’ve got to read The Boy with Big, Big Feelings.