Review Detail

MARCIE AND GIRAFFE is a cute picture book about tough feelings. Marcie and Giraffe are making pictures of each other, but when Marcie sees Giraffe's picture is better than hers, she feels angry and upset. Marcie uses pictures to show how she is feeling, and then they begin to create anew in her new style. The story ends with happy friends and messy paintings.

What I loved: This book captures challenging feelings well. Through Marcie's paintings, she captures the upset feelings of a messy stomach, angry brain, and smoosh face. Children will relate to those feelings as well as not being as good as they'd like to be at a skill. The story also highlights how people may have different ways of doing things and have different skills that are all valuable.

The illustrations are simple but capture the story well. The colorful paint and paintings grow throughout the story as Marcie and Giraffe continue to create, adding visual interest throughout. The simple text keeps the focus on the feelings and images. With the white background, the text is very easy to read throughout, even in lowlight (bedtime) settings.

What left me wanting more: As a small thing, it would be helpful to help name the feelings Marcie is having so that children can understand this as well. However, caregivers can do this as they read and have children consider which emotions she is experiencing.

Final verdict: MARCIE AND GIRAFFE is an engaging picture book that delves into challenging feelings and friendship, great for preschoolers.