How Do I Feel?

October 4, 2022

How Do I Feel? was a little slow to start off with, but a few pages in, I was hooked. Published in 2021 by Wilding Books, the author Rebekah Lipp and artist Craig Phillips, authors of the bestselling Aroha’s Way and Let it Go, have again done a great job of capturing and explaining the human emotions.

The range of emotions are in alphabetical order, all the way from acceptance to worry; with a section on introverts, extroverts and ambiverts at the back. There is also a lot of information on how to deal with these emotions and why they are helpful to us, as well as some things that may be affecting our moods and what to do when we feel angry, stressed or upset.  Each emotion has four written sections and an illustration of the emotion at work.  The sections include a description of the emotion, how your body might look and feel, how this emotion is helpful and what this emotion is similar to or sometimes called.

At first, there were a few emotions I didn't recognise or understand, for example, apathy (an intense state of boredom), but the drawings really clarified and enhanced the written descriptions. I could also relate to what was happening in the pictures, such as playing with a kitten or dancing with a friend, which helped me understand what the emotions looked like and felt like for myself and others.

When I first read this book, I realised it would be very helpful for my own writing too. Recently I have been trying to 'show, not tell' in my stories, for instance, instead of saying 'he felt very angry' I would describe the emotion and what it looked like, for instance 'he stamped his foot and kicked the chair.' I know that my characters will be much more believable and will also be helpful for other people to understand what exactly my characters were feeling at the time and then why they did the things that they did in my stories. Now my characters seem much more life-like, all thanks to this book.

What I didn't like... well, the length of each description for each emotion is pretty good, but maybe there could be a little more information on some emotions like curiosity. I did like the fact that families can read and discuss this book together. I have enjoyed reading it with my mum and younger brother. My favourite emotion is love, because the picture captures exactly how the emotion feels for me and the illustration was of cuddling a small chicken, which reminded me I really needed to collect the eggs!

All in all, How Do I Feel? is a very interesting and informative read and I think it can be enjoyed by all ages alike, but especially children!

- Susie is 12 years old and lives in the Wellington region.