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  • Theo's Mood by Maryann Cocca-Leffler
  • Hope Morrison
Cocca-Leffler, Maryann . Theo's Mood; written and illus. by Maryann Cocca-Leffler. Whitman, 2013. [24p]. ISBN 978-0-8075-7778-3 $15.99 Reviewed from galleys R 4-7 yrs.

On Mondays in Miss Cady's class, students share their "mood news," but Theo, who became a big brother over the weekend, isn't exactly sure what he feels. His classmates give suggestions, each offering an emotion and its cause ("'Maybe you feel jealous like me,' said Lily. 'My sister won another trophy'"). After Theo listens to each friend, he finally explains that he feels all the moods described ("I feel happy. My grandma is staying for a whole week. But I also feel jealous. Mommy has no time to play with me. And I feel afraid. I don't want to drop the baby," etc.). The new-brother storyline adds a nice framework to the typical grocery list of feelings, and the storyline helpfully results in each mood's getting more than one possible motivation. This is a useful resource for talking about emotions, and the narrative partners effectively with the mixed-media art, with a clean page design that enhances focus on the theme: an image of the student making the suggestion faces a scrapbook-style snapshot of the described event. The simple emotions and kid-oriented examples make this accessible for young listeners, and there are plenty of springboard activities about feelings that could follow a sharing of Theo's tale.

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