Kim Lee

This is a wonderful story. Nice message. I love the bright and colorful illustrations, as well as the interactivity of the book and the cookies search quiz at the end.
I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to teach children about being kind. Also great for not taking friends for granted.

What a delightful story! The illustrations really captured my attention with their colorful images of Francisco the fugu. I had to look up what a fugu is. It is a puffer fish! My kids loved watching a puffer fish at the dentist office when they were younger! Now I have grandchildren and can't wait to share this book with my grandson! He is 7 yrs old now & has difficulties with his emotions.

The author does a nice job describing physically the feelings of anger with Francisco. He has a funny feeling in his stomach, his face gets hot and he wants to scream! I think this is a great start connecting the child being read to with their bodies and how anger affects them.

Sometimes anger can be used to push others away. Francisco the puffer fish figures he can puff up and scare the other fish. Francisco discovers he likes puffing up and scaring everyone away. (what a great idea to use a puffer fish to showcase this part of acting out angry feelings).

The other fish are avoiding Francisco. He realizes he is pushing the other fish away with his behavior! How does Francisco deal with his anger if he can't puff up? He learns to take a deep breath and count to 10! The other fish realize they can be friends with Francisco. He isn't puffing up and scaring them away.

I like how the book ends on a positive note with Francisco being known as the friendly fugu!

Francisco was a nice fugu. One day she discovered how much fun anger can be. She used her angry puff all the time until one day she realized no one was going near her anymore. Francisco lost all of her friends.

I liked this book for many reasons. First of all, Francisco came across as a bully. However, this book was from her point of view. When looking at her, not all bullies mean to be bullies. Another fact I liked was it talked about the feelings of her friends. Their feelings were just as important as hers. At one point in the book, all the fish started talking briefly about the situation. It was up to Francisco to come up with a new solution in order to keep her friends.

The one thing I will point out, some of the pages were a little wordy. Not a problem for children 4 and older. However, if your child likes to move a lot, just take note.

Overall, I like this book. It shows children that there are many sides to a story and sometimes they need to come up with new strategies.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine and were in no way influenced by outside sources. I am a professional blogger at Little Lady Plays

Jacqueline A. D

Love this book!! Cute story with great illustrations. I purchased this with my 3-year-old in mind, but my 7-year-old got a kick out of it too! Definitely add this one to your children's library, they will love it and so will you!!!

I'm so glad I stumbled across this book while searching for children's books about anger geared at young kids. This is a perfect book to start a conversation.
The story gives you as the parent a good way to talk about emotions and discuss strategies on how to handle big feelings with your little ones.

This is a story of choices and how they affect you and those around you. It's well written, has bright colorful pictures and a fun cast of characters. Good lesson for kids told in a way they're sure to understand!

This is truly a great children's soothing story. I highly recommend this book for young school-age children who don't know quite how to express themselves.

Jorge A. T

We had a great time reading this book with my son. Beautiful illustrations. Zico is very cute. My son wanted such a friend for himself ... The book is very cool.

My daughter will be turning 5 soon. This book has really helped her express her anger in a safe and healthy way.
I think my daughter could really relate and has gotten better about talking about his feelings instead of just throwing tantrums.
I wholeheartedly recommend this book for parents of preschool age children.

The writing is fairly simple but interesting and the illustrations are bright, colorful, and cute. The book is likely to be a motivational conversation-starter for younger children, though my 9-month old grandson wouldn't have much to say. He will love the pictures though!

One quibble: is the first line of the book supposed to lack an 'an'? I could picture reading it aloud in a funny voice as is, but it isn't proper English. Nonetheless, I stand by my 5 star rating.

What a delightful story! The illustrations really captured my attention with their colorful images of Francisco the fugu. I had to look up what a fugu is. It is a puffer fish! My kids loved watching a puffer fish at the dentist office when they were younger! Now I have grandchildren and can't wait to share this book with my grandson! He is 7 yrs old now & has difficulties with his emotions.

The author does a nice job describing physically the feelings of anger with Francisco. He has a funny feeling in his stomach, his face gets hot and he wants to scream! I think this is a great start connecting the child being read to with their bodies and how anger affects them.

Sometimes anger can be used to push others away. Francisco the puffer fish figures he can puff up and scare the other fish. Francisco discovers he likes puffing up and scaring everyone away. (what a great idea to use a puffer fish to showcase this part of acting out angry feelings).

The other fish are avoiding Francisco. He realizes he is pushing the other fish away with his behavior! How does Francisco deal with his anger if he can't puff up? He learns to take a deep breath and count to 10! The other fish realize they can be friends with Francisco. He isn't puffing up and scaring them away.

I like how the book ends on a positive note with Francisco being known as the friendly fugu!