Pajama Press

Brigham Young University, Children’s Book & Media Reviews

“This is a sweet children’s book with acrylic and colored pencil illustrations. Each animal uses a simile to describe how they feel: ‘I feel slimy, like a slippery watermelon seed.’ Some of the comparisons should help children who haven’t had direct contact with some of these animals to understand what they feel like.”

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“This is a literal (tactile) feelings book with lots of beautiful similes. Toad feels bumpy like the trunk of a gnarly tree. Duckling feels fuzzy like tall grass reaching for the sun. Rabbit feels silky like a web carefully spun. Use this captivating book to inspire your own metaphorical statements.”

Click here to read the full list of “Picture Books You Can Use for Writing Prompts”

Pajama Press is very proud to announce that nine of our Spring 2017 books are featured in the Canadian Children’s Book Centre’s Best Books for Kids & Teens.

Adrift at Sea by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch with Tuan Ho and illustrated by Brian Deines is a Starred Selection

All the World a Poem by Gilles Tibo and illustrated by Manon Gauthier is a Starred Selection

Hat On, Hat Off by Theo Heras and illustrated by Renne Benoit is a selection

How Do You Feel? by Rebecca Bender is a selection

Rhino Rumpus by Victoria Allenby and illustrated by Tara Anderson is a Starred Selection

When the Rain Comes by Alma Fullerton and illustrated by Kim La Fave is a Starred Selection

Timo’s Party by Victoria Allenby and illustrated by Dean Griffiths is a selection

Root Beer Candy and Other Miracles by Shari Green is a Starred Selection

Next Round: A Young Athlete’s Journey to Gold by John Spray is a selection

Congratulations to all of our authors, and our sincerest thanks to the Canadian Children’s Book Centre and Friesens for their continued dedication to promoting childhood literacy and quality children’s literature.

“Oh this book is so perfect for Little Miss (closing in on her second birthday in a few months)….The text is also rhyming which is so great for this age. The illustrations are delightfully soft – a perfect compliment to the text.”

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“A little hedgehog sets off on a voyage of sensory discovery in the picture book, How Do You Feel?, by Rebecca Bender….

Through an elegant simplicity, the author is able to use richer language, which becomes accessible to even the youngest of readers.

This is a lovely story for young children, as it explores the complexities of the world in a simple format. Few will have experienced physically touching all the varieties of animals in the story, and Bender creates an opportunity for children to use the natural world around them to build richer experiences to add to their imaginary worlds.”

Read the full review on page 31 of the Spring 2017 issue of Canadian Children’s BookNews

“…The uncomplicated poetic descriptive text is paired with charming colourful and whimsical illustrations rendered with acrylics and coloured pencil. An added feature for babies is padded covers.

Thematic Links: Hedgehogs; Baby Animals; Friendship; Textures; Senses; Emotions; Concepts; Happiness
—Isobel Lang

Read the full review on page 3 of the February 2017 issue of Resource Links

“A hedgehog sets out to ask how its fellow animals feel; along the way, readers will learn there is more than one meaning to the word ‘feel.’ A puffy, cheery cover framed in soft purple opens onto endpapers depicting a fresh green meadow in early summer. The tone is set for this toddler-friendly book that introduces a few animals and how they feel. On clean, uncluttered, sturdy pages with plenty of white, and using children’s acrylics and colored pencil, Bender depicts in a realistic style—though slightly anthropomorphized—a hedgehog, a toad, a snake, a duckling, a rabbit, a snail, and a kitten. The hedgehog asks the same question of each animal it encounters: ‘Toad [or Snake, Duckling, etc.], how do you feel?’ It is in the animals’ vocabulary-rich answers that this book really shines.…At the end, when all the animals ask hedgehog how it feels, readers will have a little surprise, as its answer is not one of the tactile kind: Hedgehog feels happy! A charming, smart, and attractive book. (Picture book. 2-4)”

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“The toad feels bumpy, like a gnarly tree. The snake feels smooth, like a stone polished by the sea. One by one the hedgehog discovers the textures of his animal friends. But how does the hedgehog feel himself? Award-winning author/illustrator Rebecca Bender’s How Do You Feel? will utterly charm children ages 2 to 5 with its lyrical text, endearing animals, and surprise ending. The small trim size and padded hardcover format make it perfect for little ones, who may even be inspired to find new ways of expressing how they feel in every sense of the phrase. Thoroughly ‘kid friendly’ in presentation, How Do You Feel? is very highly recommended for family, preschool, elementary school, and community library collections.”

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“Format: Hardcover

Rating: (1-5 5 is a starred review) 4

Genre: Picture book

What did you like about the book? This book is about an adorable hedgehog who asks animals how they feel. The answers speak to their physical nature. A duckling feels fuzzy like tall grass reaching for the sun. Each animal responds with an answer that also includes a simile. The cute ending is when the animals ask the hedgehog how he feels, and only negative adjectives come to mind. Finally they all tickle him and he says he feels happy.

Anything you didn’t like about it? I love everything about this book.

To Whom Would You Recommend this book? This is great for very young children and especially good for students learning English. There are lots of new adjectives and similes that students will enjoy learning.

Who should buy this book? all libraries

Where would you shelve it ? Children’s Books

Should we (librarians/readers) put this on the top of our “to read” piles?  Yes

Reviewer’s Name, Library (or school), City and State: Sandra Pacheco, ESL teacher, Washington, D.C.”

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“…The illustrations, done with acrylics and coloured pencils, are quite detailed and realistic, and children will have fun identifying the animals on each page – particularly those few that they may not have seen before, such as snails or hedgehogs.

The ending of the book is a nice surprise – switching from a focus on physical feelings (e.g., soft, gnarly) to emotional feelings. This may allow parents an opportunity to discuss the differences in what or how a child might be ‘feeling’ and that both types of feeling are important. It can often be difficult to tease out how a young child is feeling emotionally, and so having a book act as an entry point can be helpful….

Recommended.”
—Mę-Linh Lę

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