Ida’s Really Big Feelings
Modeling how compromise and caring communication can be used to overcome emotional conflicts, Ida’s Really Big Feelings is an edifying picture book.
In Karen Bartlett Durack’s educational picture book Ida’s Really Big Feelings, a mouse learns to navigate her emotions.
On a rainy morning, Ida tries to convince her mother that she can’t attend her first day of school, to no avail. Once she’s in class, she misbehaves and refuses to participate. Her kind teacher, Ms. Kay, uses breathing techniques and explains emotions including sadness and anger to help Ida understand what is bothering her. Thanks to her repeated efforts, Ida is later able to tell her mother that she is sad about leaving their former home. Further, once she feels heard, Ida agrees to give school a second chance.
Making drama out of Ida’s unspoken frustrations, the story is moved along by her outbursts. The tense or complementary emotional states of others are also revealed: Ida’s mother is busy with work; Ms. Kay is conscientious, caring, and inquisitive. When Ms. Kay shares how Ida can express her feelings by pointing them out on a colored apron, a clear narrative shift occurs.
Though rough, the illustrations are attentive to color and details, down to the tattoo of a flower on Ida’s mother’s right calf. The animal cast is also drawn with attention to their differing fur colors and ear shapes, with large, emotive eyes and mouths that speak to their heightened emotions, as when Ida knocks a classmate over. The text is superimposed on these illustrations and is given spatial balance on the page.
However, inconsistencies in the book’s presentation, as with the use of different colors and fonts to designate dialogue, prove distracting. At times, the specific color of a character’s speech changes within the space of a single page without explanation. There is also a jarring, dated reference to a politician that interrupts the story’s flow. In addition, the discursive final scene, in which Ms. Kay’s colorful apron goes missing, ends the story on an inconclusive, ambiguous note.
In the illustrative picture book Ida’s Really Big Feelings, a mouse’s frustrations boil over and are resolved by clear lessons about communicating emotions.
Reviewed by
Willem Marx
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
