SYNOPSIS

Mandy, the star of this lovely graphic novel, has a hard time showing her emotions. At her sister’s suggestion, Mandy starts expressing her feelings by drawing (adorable) monsters standing in for joy, sadness, anger, fear, and love. One night, the monsters skip out of Mandy’s sketchbook and start causing havoc around town. According to Happster (the happy monster), Mandy can only retrieve them if she herself expresses each emotion! Motivated by this urgent monster pursuit, Mandy yells in anger, cries, shows fear, acts silly, names what she loves, and laughs heartily. The monsters safely go back in the sketchbook, and Mandy is newly able to “express herself outwardly and in her art.”

(1st in a 2-book series)

PERFECT AGE 4 – 8

THEMES

• Being respectful and patient with one’s own feelings
• Learning to name and control emotions
• Sharing feelings takes courage
• Sharing feelings feels good

We love

• Excellent book to use as intro to chats about feelings – sometimes they are hard to control, or hard to express, or hard to understand… and you are not alone in it!
• A cute plot setup – in order for the monsters to come “in”, Mandy’s feelings have to come “out”
• The illustrations portray the emotions beautifully while also making the story very accessible for younger readers
• The Love Monster’s passion for the mailbox is hysterical

CONVERSATION STARTERS

• Let’s name all monsters that escaped from Mandy’s sketchbook. Can you think of other emotions you have felt but are not in the book?
• Tell me about one time when you felt angry / silly / scared. Did you show your feelings to the world? Why?
• Why might Mandy have a hard time sharing her emotions? What do you do in similar situations?
• What did Happster mean when he said Mandy had a “poker face”?