What’s a feel good book? For me it’s a book that leaves you with a warm fuzzy feeling. Sometimes they can be feel good books all the way through. Others can tackle difficult subjects but leave you with a gentle glow and a bursting smile.
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Here’s a selection of books that I feel are worthy of the ‘feel good’ accolade and published in 2024. If you’d like to head to a specific title then click on the links below. They’re in no particular order.
Read on for book synopsis, reviews and inside images. If you’ve read any of these I’d love to hear your thoughts. Also, do drop in the comments your favourite feel good books for kids.
Sunny Side Up by Clare Helen Welsh and Ana Sanfelippo
Themes: 👓Glasses 🧠CBT inspired 💗Feel good 🕳️Die cuts 📖Flaps 😔Overcoming sad/ hard thoughts
Sunny Side Up is a title that piqued my interest for two reasons. Firstly, the bespectacled character on the cover wearing the most awesome looking glasses. I’m a glasses wearer so always delighted to see specs in books. Secondly, at the back of the book it describes the book as CBT-inspired. From someone who finds CBT to be highly effective I was eager to see what that meant in a story.
This Little Tiger Press title is magical and certainly gives you a warm glow. It’s very much inspired by CBT. It helps children understand that we can’t always change what is happening in our world but we can change how we think about them.
Clare Helen Welsh depicts this in simple examples of how we might see something in a negative way such as saying goodbye but if you have your sunny-side specs on you could see it as saying hello to whoever you meet next.
I particularly appreciated Clare’s honesty within the book where she explains how not all things have a sunny-side and that that’s ok. It’s ok to feel sad or frustrated etc. However, with a mindset looking for further opportunities to see the sunny-side things that are hard can become more distant. It’s a very clever book that would allow children to talk about their own thoughts and fears and give them coping strategies.
Ana Sanfelippo has a delightful illustrative style that’s playful yet emotive. We loved the peep-through and clever flaps that enthralled us throughout the book. The cardboard box fold out and rain drop die cuts are our favourites.
FREE RESOURCES: Little Tiger Press have produced some free resources to use with this book that you can find here.
The Boy on Fire by Sarthak Sinha
Themes: 🔥Fire ⭐Stars 😡Anger 💪And how to manage it 🧑🤝🧑Friendship 🧠Different
If you’re a regular reader of my reviews then you won’t be surprised about me gushing over the hardback covers of Flying Eye Books. The Boy on Fire is another sensory dream; beautiful golds, yellows and oranges with changing textures. You’ll want to stroke this book! My daughter’s first thoughts at seeing the cover was that it reminded her of the film Elemental.
The Boy on Fire has a wonderful brush lettering style font used throughout. It’s the story of a boy called Til who burns a little brighter than others and sometimes his fire can be all consuming leaving him feeling overwhelmed and alone and leaving a path of destruction. This I feel many children will relate to. My daughter describes it as a volcano that’s gone active and you don’t always know the reason why. You can’t stop the eruption!
Til goes off and finds a star who burns just as brightly. Together they learn how to control their feelings. I hope that every child who feels their fire has become all consuming manages to find someone who can help teach them how to manage the flames and how to gain better control like star does for Til in this book. It’s certainly a book that leaves you feeling warm (but not too warm) and fuzzy.
The Boy on Fire is sublimely illustrated in a limited palette of fire filled colours and cool blues. It’s a book that could almost be wordless with it’s powerful imagery. Yet, it’s made all the richer by Sarthak Sinha’s narration. It’s a picture book that could be read by children developing their phonic knowledge around phase 5.
ADHD Book Recommendation
If you’re looking for books to help develop coping strategies around this type of thing I’d recommend My Amazing ADHD Brain. A superb book for children with an ADHD diagnosis but with strategies to help children who don’t too.
FREE RESOURCES: Flying Eye Books have produced some free resources to use with this book that you can find here.
Thank You by Jarvis
Themes: 💗Gratitude 🎨Mixed media/ collage illustrations
Walker Books presents a gorgeous hardback embossed book from the incredible talent that needs no introduction – Jarvis. The words are simple although powerful with the repeated refrain throughout of ‘I thank…’. Thank You is a book that truly encapsulates the idea of gratitude in a way that everyone can understand.
Jarvis uses a myriad of mixed media to bring this book to life. We adored the use of printed papers as part of the collage elements. It’s a book that makes you want to draw and paint and get the glue out and feel incredibly grateful for everything you have.
Gratitude and the act of being grateful and recalling what you are thankful for on a day is very popular right now. Not only that, studies have shown that the act of keeping a record of what you are grateful for has a positive impact on wellbeing. What a wonderful book to introduce this concept to children whilst putting a big beaming smile on your face at the same time.
Here’s Jarvis reading this beautiful book.
Pavlo Gets the Grumps by Natalia Shaloshvili
Themes: 🧑🤝🧑Friendship 😠Grumpy 😺Cats and other animals 🔠Large font (low contrast on some spreads) 💬Speech marks
Pavlo Gets the Grumps reminds me of one of my all time favourite books – Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. However, instead of a young boy as our protagonist we’ve got the cutest, fluffy kitten who looks adorable in flip flops and swimming goggles!
Sometimes our days just don’t feel right and everything isn’t ok. At times we may know the reason but we often don’t. Pavlo Gets the Grumps sees Pavlo having one of these days. Everything is going wrong.
Mila, Pavlo’s friend, helps him get over his grumps; a cuddle goes a long way. I did think that Pavlo could really have done with reading the book Sunny Side Up as this would be a great way to try and help change his thinking on each different situation.
It’s richly illustrated in a soft, gentle style that makes you wish you could reach in and feel all the wonderous textures captured. The writing is large font with lots of opportunities to explore speech marks. The contrast of some text/ background spreads is a little low on some pages so may not be suitable for sight impaired readers to read alone.
Farah Loves Mangos by Sarthak Sinha
Themes: 👴Intergenerational relationship: Grandpa and Granddaughter 🌳Trees 🥭Mangos 🎭Imagination 💗Feel good 😠Frustration
I don’t know how I missed this one when it was published in hardback. However, it’s had rave reviews so I was eager to read Farah Loves Mangos with its release in paperback. Another Flying Eye Books treasure from Sarthak Sinha. Farah Loves Mangos was Sarthak’s debut title and just like her second title The Boy on Fire is written in the brush lettering style font that we love.
This is a book that transported me back to my tree climbing childhood. Where my love of and fascination with trees started. Farah loves mangos but in this book we learn that it’s not just the fruit of the tree that holds the magic but the whole tree.
We delighted in the start of the book where Farah is reading books to her mangos and pretending that she could live in one – very James and the Giant Peach! Each year Farah loves to collect mangos with her Grandpa. Alas, this year the tree has not bore any fruit. Farah is distraught by this and tries everything to get the tree to bear fruit. We found Mali’s solution at watering hilarious. Grandpa shows Farah that the tree is more important than just the fruit it provides.
I remember being fascinated as a child with how each year was not the same for a tree. We had a walnut tree and some years there were no walnuts and other years you had a mast year – one of bountiful abundance. In case you’re fascinated like me…walnut trees tend to have two mast years over a five year period. Farah Loves Mangos swoops you into nature and reminds you of the enchantment of nature and our symbiotic relationship with the natural world.
FREE RESOURCES: Flying Eye Books have produced some free resources to use with this book that you can find here.
Gorgeously Me! by Jonathan Van Ness and Kamala Nair
Themes: 😊Be yourself💗Feel good 🏳️🌈Gay author 🧑🤝🧑Friendship ➕Positive vibes
I always come to books written by television personalities with a degree of scepticism. It’s not that I feel these celebrities can’t be great writers too. It’s just spending time in the publishing world you know how hard it is for a regular Joe to be able to break through into the book world. Having a celebrity status makes it easier to enter the world of publishing and therefore I expect these writers to have a credibility in the genre they are writing and a way with words. Basically, I’m a little harsher critic, whether this is fair or not.
Gorgeously Me! is written by Jonathan Van Ness. I know his name from having watched my fair share of Queer Eye – that I love. I know it’s TV but the persona of Jonathan on Queer Eye could not scream more – gorgeously me – so my interest was certainly piqued by the author and title.
The text has a lovely, lilting, rhyming patter that gently rolls off the tongue. Each spread is bursting with sparkle from illustrator Kamala Nair who brings a wonderful vibrancy and energy to the repeated message from Jonathan – ‘I’m perfectly, happily, gorgeously me.’ This is a repeated refrain that children will love to join in with.
The message in the book comes through loud and clear. Be proud to be you. Along the way there are great learning points for children around doing the right thing, the value of friendship and sharing smiles. Gorgeously Me! is like a hot chocolate when you’re wrapped in a snuggly blanket – absolutely feel good and certainly empowering.
Luigi The Spider Who Wanted to Be a Kitten by Michelle Knudsen and Kevin Hawkes
Themes: 🕷️Cute spider 🏠Finding a home😊Be yourself💗Feel good🧑🤝🧑Friendship ➕Positive vibes 👵Nostalgic 📝Longer length text picture book
Luigi The Spider Who Wanted to Be a Kitten is a book that as you get towards the end will have you smiling from ear to ear with glossy eyes. There’s a timeless, yet nostalgic feel to the illustrations by Kevin Hawkes that leaves me thinking back to books by Shirley Hughes. They’re delicate and whimsical and completely juxtaposed to the image we all get of spiders usually. Yes, you are going to fall in love with an adorable spider – Luigi.
A spider finds a home, but when the homeowner Betty discovers this new ‘kitten’ and calls him Luigi the spider isn’t sure what to think or do. He tries to fit in as a kitten and really enjoys the food and the play. However, when Betty’s friends come over he’s worried that his secret will be out – he’s not really a kitten. Will Betty still love Luigi if the truth comes out?
The language used by Michelle Knudsen is quite plain but in a comforting, gentle way. It’s a story that tugs at your heart before totally melting it. It’s a lengthier text for a picture book and one that will give children working in phase 5 phonics looking for more meat a great read.
So, there you have it, some of my top picks for feel good reads published in 2024.
Feel Good Early Reader Graphic Novel
An August 2024 release that you’ll love is Max & Chaffy’s book 4. Head here for the inside scoop on this latest, awesome adventure from the incredible storytelling master Jamie Smart.