How Do You Feel?
The young chimp from Things I Like (1989) and I Like Books (1988) returns in a new concept book, this time about feelings. After asking, “How do you feel?” the chimp describes his range of emotions: happy, sad, curious, guilty, and so on. While the text itself communicates each emotion—using large, bold letters for surprised, a smaller font for lonely, letters that seem to leap up and down for funny, and so forth—it’s Browne’s brightly colored watercolor-and-gouache illustrations of the expressive chimp that truly convey the animal’s feelings best. For example, there’s no doubt that the stomping chimp, with its teeth bared, eyes wide, and all those red marks emitting from his head, is angry, or that the yawning chimp drawn only in grayscale is bored. A concluding double-page spread with thumbnail illustrations recaps the emotions, allowing preschoolers, particularly those less verbal, to point out how they are feeling right now. Preschool-Grade 1. --Angela Leeper