Review Detail

Ups and Downs is the perfect book for introducing the language of our emotions to toddler and preschool children. The text is a single word per page and the illustrations perfectly encapsulate the emotion. The scenarios are common so children can identify them easily with how they also experienced or felt these emotions. The emotions featured go beyond the simple mad, angry, happy, and excited that are common in early books for emotional development. We get words such as comforted, connected, lonely, jealous, annoyed, and so many more. I like that the illustrations have opposite emotions paired together as the scenario advances to the next page. It highlights how rapidly our emotions can change as outside forces change. This book would be great to extend to acting out the emotions or connecting the text to themselves and the time they also felt the emotions. Overall, I highly recommend this book for breaking down complex emotions into simple terms that even the youngest can use to understand themselves and their world.