4 out of 4 stars
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Ellie and her Emotional Dragons is a delightful children’s storybook by Joseph Goodrich. Traci Van Wagoner’s illustrations depict the story in beautiful colors. The main character is Ellie, a young elephant who has just moved into a new home with her family. This makes Ellie feel scared, angry, and sad. Thankfully, there are four friendly dragons who live in Ellie’s closet who come out to comfort her when she experiences different emotions. Each dragon helps Ellie to express her emotions and overcome the emotions of sadness, fear, and anger. One dragon helps her to express happiness.
One of the best features of this book is that it teaches children emotional intelligence. Coping methods for anger, sadness, and fear are explored in the story. For instance, when Ellie becomes scared of the sounds in her new home, one of the dragons reassures her that it’s okay to feel frightened. The dragon also informs her of a great way to get rid of her fear. I think that children can get some really good advice from this book. This may help them to manage their emotions better.
Peer interaction greatly enhances the story. In the story, Ellie’s new neighbor makes her angry when he accidentally damages her drawing, but then he apologizes and offers to help her fix it. This is an excellent example of good behavior. I like that the author uses a realistic example to portray the right way for children to respond to each other in similar situations. Some children emulate the behavior of storybook characters so the interaction between Ellie and her neighbor is definitely a positive feature of the story.
I really like the illustrations in this book. The illustrator uses a paint-splatter design that resembles watercolors. This gives the drawings a whimsical appearance, especially the dragons’ tails which fades into colorful splotches. The colors are bright and will surely stimulate any child’s imagination. Moreover, the font is large and easy to read.
There was nothing I disliked about this book. It has all of the elements that a children’s storybook should have such as important lessons, examples of good behavior, and beautiful illustrations. There were zero errors and I think it is professionally edited. I am happy to rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. This book will appeal to children aged 6 and up. There may be a few words which may need to be explained to younger readers, like ‘radiator’, but the story can still be read aloud to them by an adult. Moreover, the illustrations tell the story in pictures so children who can’t read very well as yet will still be able to enjoy the book.
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Ellie and Her Emotional Dragons
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