(TL;DR: Scroll down to get a free excerpt of my new book, Growing Feelings!)
For an author, the release of a new book is like giving birth. There was definitely a lot of labor beforehand. There’s excitement to have it out in the world, but also trepidation about what comes next.
On July 11, my publisher, Beyond Words, will be releasing my new book for kids (ages 6-12).:
Growing Feelings: A Kids’ Guide to Dealing with Emotions about Friends and Other Kids.
I wrote it with my dear friend Christine McLaughlin, who was also my partner on a previous book, Growing Friendships: A Kids’ Guide to Making and Keeping Friends.
There are plenty of children’s books about emotions in general, but Growing Feelings is the only one that focuses on feelings about friends. We cover feeling worried, disappointed, guilty, jealous…and so much more! We highlight both actions and reactions from others and how these fit into a Feelings Story. We go far beyond “take deep breaths” to help kids understand, cope with, and communicate about their own and others’ feelings.
The book is filled with cartoons about common friendship dilemmas, plus research-based tips and silly suggestions from a cat and dog.
Growing Feelings is funny and genuinely useful.
Waiting for the release on July 11 is a bit of a nail-biting time period for me. Chris and I put so much into this book, I really, really, really hope you and your kids will like it!
I’ll tell you more about some of the ideas we cover in the next few weeks, but today, I want to share the back-cover description plus an excerpt. Here’s what’s on the back cover:
A clear, useful, and entertaining tooklit for children about understanding their own and others’ feelings so they can build meaningful and joyful friendships.
Friendships are fun, but they can also be complicated, and they often involve dealing with difficult feelings. It’s common for kids to feel:
anxious around friends they don’t know well,
angry or hurt about something a friend said or did,
sad, lonely, or jealous when a friend spends time with someone else.
Learning how to deal with feelings about friends helps kids make and keep strong friendships. It also helps them be a good friend. In Growing Feelings, the follow-up to their bestselling book, Growing Friendships, psychologist and children’s friendships expert Dr. Eileen Kennedy-Moore and parenting and health writer Christine McLaughlin teach kids healthy ways to cope with and communicate about the full range of feelings involving friends and other children.
This funny and empowering guide offers kid-relatable cartoons, research-based coping strategies, and silly observations from a cat and dog who have their own (questionable) ideas about what might help.
Growing Feelings shows how all emotions—even the painful ones—can be useful in navigating the emotional roller coaster of childhood friendships. Going far beyond a simplistic and unrealistic “don’t worry, be happy, think positive only” approach, this book equips kids with real, practical tools to understand and deal with their feelings about friends throughout childhood and beyond.
Here’s a link to an excerpt: https://bit.ly/Growing-Feelings-Excerpt.
Pre-orders are extremely important for telling my publisher and booksellers to pay attention to this book. If you like it, please pre-order the book (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop) and tell your friends about it!
I’m deeply grateful for your support!
I’ll be off this holiday weekend, so the next podcast will come on 7/8.