4 to 8. It is a picture book you read together, with 40 to 80 words on a story page. It talks about anxiety, hurtful words and saying sorry, which suits preschool and the first years of school.

Is it about anger, or sadness?

Both, and how one turns into the other. Foo is sad because his best friend is leaving, and the sadness comes out as arguing, yelling and a fight with his sister. The book is about noticing that, calming down, and making things right.

Does it teach ways to calm down?

Yes, inside the story: Foo breathes slowly in his tent, and each of his five friends shows one way, from jumping rope to blowing bubbles. Then two pages of activities to try together: painting in the air, a spaceship countdown, letting worries go on balloons, and new words to say instead of "I can't".

It starts sad, and it ends warm. Foo hurts people he loves, then he calms down, says sorry to everyone and finds his friend again. As the book puts it: all we feel and experience is important and everything is needed.

Do we need a phone or tablet?

Not to read it: the book works without one. The QR codes open in the camera of any recent Android or Apple phone or tablet. There is no app to install and no account to make.

Is anything about my child kept or sent?

No. Nothing listens to your child: no page uses the microphone. The leaves page shows your room through the camera, and the picture never leaves your phone or tablet. The child's name on the calm plan is typed on your device and never sent. Only the bedtime nights ask for something: a grown-up's email address, for nights 2 to 7.

Is it good for a classroom or a calm corner?

Yes. Foo's tent is a calm-down corner of his own, and the activities work with a group. The calm-down cards, a feelings chart and a door sign for a calm corner are free to print on our calm-down pages.

Can a book help with big feelings?

A story gives children words for what they feel, and a calm way they have already tried in a story is easier to reach for later. It is not a treatment: if big feelings worry you, the calm-down page says when to ask for help.

Foo's Big Emotions front cover: Foo, a fluffy blue dandelion puff, holding a red heart among bubbles, paints and falling leaves — Front cover

A feelings picture book by Katia Sunn

Foo's Big EmotionsA story about big feelings, and ways to calm down

Name: Foo's Big Emotions
Price: 14.99 USD
Availability: InStock
Author: Katia Sunn
ISBN: 979-8161879979

Foo's best friend is leaving, and his sadness comes out all wrong. His friends show him how to find his calm.

5 friends, 5 ways to calm down
Read aloud, with music
Calm-down activities to try together

Ages: 4 to 8
Pages: 46
Format: Paperback · 8.5 × 8.5 in

Buy on Amazon · $14.99 Look inside What the codes open

Illustrated by Eleni Potamianou.

The story

Foo is sad. But the sadness comes out all wrong.

Foo is a little dandelion puff, and today his best friend Fall is leaving. He wants to tell his friends how sad he is, and ends up arguing with them instead. He goes to play with his dog and yells at her for the paw prints and the crumbs. He goes to his big sister, who always makes him feel safe, and they have a fight.

So instead of one last day with Fall, he hides in the tent the two of them built, alone with his toys and a big, dark cloud in his mind. There he starts to take slow, deep breaths, and with every breath out the cloud turns to rain.

Little by little Foo understands that his feelings have been steering what he says and does. The next day he runs to his friends, says sorry, and each of them shows him the way they calm down. Then the book turns to your child: what calms you?

From the back cover

Some feelings are BIG!

Foo is facing his emotions, those BIG emotions that can be so confusing. Every decision he makes ends up in a fight... Will he be able to figure things out?

This is a story with a lot of emotions! Anxiety, sadness and worry, but at the same time peace, gratitude and joy, because all we feel and experience is important, and everything is needed!

Katia Sunn

In the tent

A few deep breaths, and the cloud turns to rain.

“He started taking a few deep breaths. Each time he exhaled, Foo felt that somehow that big, dark cloud in his mind was becoming rain and releasing his sadness on the ground.”

The first calm-down tool in the book is the simplest one: a slow breath out. Children see Foo do it before anyone asks them to, and the page's code lets them breathe along with him, five slow breaths, until the cloud rains away.

Inside Foo's Big Emotions: Foo breathes slowly with his eyes closed, and the dark cloud over him turns to rain

The Calm Crew

Everyone has a different way to calm down. Do YOU, Foo???

When Foo goes to make things right, each of his friends shows him how they find their calm. Your child can try every one, and keep the ones that work.

Blue
jumps rope
When his mind is full and he feels like a volcano ready to erupt, Blue jumps rope.
Bubbly
blows bubbles
Bubbly keeps a bottle of soap bubbles in his pocket, and blows one big, slow bubble.
Gooey
squeezes slime
Gooey squeezes his new green slime, and lets go.
Flo
paints
Flo's hands are always painted. And the book really means always.
Muse
listens to music
Muse always carries a little music player with him, to listen to music.

Six pages with a QR code

Scan a page, and it opens on the screen.

Hear the story
The whole book read aloud by Maria, with music and moving pictures. It also plays with the screen off, for bedtime.
Breathe with Foo
Five slow breaths with Foo, in as the circle grows and out as it shrinks, until the cloud rains away.
Leaves in your room
Fall's leaves fly out of the page and fall all over your own room, seen through the camera. Swipe to make the wind blow.
The Calm Crew
Try each friend's way to calm down, pick a favorite, and print a calm plan with eight calm cards.
More calm ideas
The book's activities to print, with calm-down cards and a feelings chart.
And a secret page
Near the end, Foo has a secret: seven short bedtime calm-downs with his friends, one a night.

No app to install and no account to make: any recent Android or Apple phone or tablet opens the codes straight from the camera. Nothing listens to your child, and the book works without them too.

Inside Foo's Big Emotions: Everyone has a different way to calm down. Do YOU, Foo? With the code of the Calm Crew, covered here

Look inside

Four double pages from the book.

Real pages, with Eleni Potamianou's watercolor pictures. Where a page has a code, we covered it here: scan it in the book.

Foo goes to play with his dog, and ends up yelling at her for the paw prints.
In the tent, a few deep breaths. The big, dark cloud turns to rain.
The next day, Blue tells Foo why he keeps jumping rope.
Gooey's slime, Flo's paints and Muse's music: every friend has a way.

Buy on Amazon · $14.99Paperback, 46 pages, 8.5 by 8.5 inches, full color.

After the story

Calm-down ideas to try together, at home or at school.

Two pages of the book's own activities: painting in the air, a spaceship countdown with deep breaths, letting worries go on balloons, and new words to say instead of “I can't” (“I'm not good at it YET”).

Want to try Foo before the book arrives? Our free calm-down pages are made from it: sixteen ideas from Foo and his friends, a feelings chart with Foo's faces, breathing exercises and a calm-down corner, all with sheets to print.

Calm-down ideas for kids Breathing exercises

Inside Foo's Big Emotions: the activities, Let's take a break, I change my perspective by changing my words, and Let it go

Foo from Foo's Big Emotions, smiling with his eyes closed and holding a big red heart.

“All we feel and experience is important and everything is needed!”

Foo's friend Fall told him so, and by the end of the story Foo believes it. A book for the days when a feeling is bigger than the child holding it.

Foo sitting with his eyes closed in his tent, among his pillows and toys, from Foo's Big Emotions.

Before you choose

Is it the right feelings book for your child?

What parents ask, answered straight. Anything else? Write to us, one of us answers.

What age is it for?: 4 to 8. It is a picture book you read together, with 40 to 80 words on a story page. It talks about anxiety, hurtful words and saying sorry, which suits preschool and the first years of school.
Is it about anger, or sadness?: Both, and how one turns into the other. Foo is sad because his best friend is leaving, and the sadness comes out as arguing, yelling and a fight with his sister. The book is about noticing that, calming down, and making things right.
Does it teach ways to calm down?: Yes, inside the story: Foo breathes slowly in his tent, and each of his five friends shows one way, from jumping rope to blowing bubbles. Then two pages of activities to try together: painting in the air, a spaceship countdown, letting worries go on balloons, and new words to say instead of “I can't”. Our calm-down ideas page has sixteen more, free.
Is the story sad?: It starts sad, and it ends warm. Foo hurts people he loves, then he calms down, says sorry to everyone and finds his friend again. As the book puts it: all we feel and experience is important and everything is needed.
Do we need a phone or tablet?: Not to read it: the book works without one. The QR codes open in the camera of any recent Android or Apple phone or tablet. There is no app to install and no account to make.
Is anything about my child kept or sent?: No. Nothing listens to your child: no page uses the microphone. The leaves page shows your room through the camera, and the picture never leaves your phone or tablet. The child's name on the calm plan is typed on your device and never sent. Only the bedtime nights ask for something: a grown-up's email address, for nights 2 to 7 (see our privacy page).
Is it good for a classroom or a calm corner?: Yes. Foo's tent is a calm-down corner of his own, and the activities work with a group. The calm-down cards, a feelings chart and a door sign for a calm-down corner are free to print.
Can a book help with big feelings?: A story gives children words for what they feel, and a calm way they have already tried in a story is easier to reach for later. It is not a treatment: if big feelings worry you, read when to ask for help.