Review Detail

I Am a Tornado is a terrific social-emotional learning book. The story is told while a tornado is formed and picks up a cow in its cyclone. Cow tries to understand why Tornando is upset. As the story unfolds, Tornado describes how angry he feels when he destroys things. In the end, Tornado calms down thanks to Cow's patient and empathetic response.

What I Liked: This is a fun read-aloud with lots of opportunities to act out Tornado's anger. Additionally, I liked how the illustrations showed Tornado speaking in bold letters, while Cow spoke in a smaller brown font. It enforces the contrast between Tornado being big and loud and Cow being calm and steady. This story is very well written and explains how anger feels while also showing how to be a good friend and listener when someone is upset.

What Left Me Wanting More: The story has a bit of science in it, but I would have appreciated some more details about actual tornadoes.

I Am a Tornado is a book that can teach young readers about big emotions and how to control them.