Today I Am Mad: (Anger Management, Kids Books, Baby, Childrens, Ages 3 5, Emotions) (Self-Regulation Skills Book 1)

When I began reading this, I had a hard time following along. When something is laid out with two lines that clearly rhyme, I try to find the rhythm of the poem. I know not all poems have to rhyme, and all poetry doesn't have a clear rhythm. However, when a poem DOES rhyme, I want a fairly sustainable rhythm. This didn't have that, and that made it really hard for me to follow. I tried ignoring the rhyme so I could just read it as a story, but with it being laid out like a poem I couldn't get past that. Now I have to say I have been writing poetry for at least 50 years so I have a lot of experience with the rhythm/rhyme relationship. Sometimes I have trouble finding my rhythm, but I work at it so the poem has that smooth flow. (And, yes, I also write free verse which has neither rhythm nor rhyme.)I'm all for having books that rhyme: children need to be able to recognize words that rhyme because sooner or later it's going to show up on their school work. They'll have a picture and need to find the other picture that rhymes. Maybe they have a picture of a house, a car, a bat, and a pear. They need to identity which one rhymes with the picture of the chair. OK, there is no rhythm there: it is just the rhyme that matters. However, this exercise also isn't a poem.My next thought about the book was that it didn't seem very realistic to me. When someone is as mad about something as Josh was with Tom, he isn't going to care how Tom feels about it. The story even said as much. The fourth line literally says Tom didn't want to share: he wanted the train all to himself. So he grabs the toy, struggles a little to get it away from Tom, and then immediately feels bad for Tom? I'm not buying it.While I agree with what happened (the two boys shared the train and had fun playing together), I don't think that would just happen automatically. I think someone else would be needed to encourage the boys to share. Maybe the teacher would have asked Josh how he would feel if Tom came and took his toy away. Would he have liked that? No? Then why should Tom? Isn't there some way both of you could have fun with the toy? That gives Josh the opportunity to see how Tom feels, and it gives the boys the chance to think about ways to resolve the conflict. It's much better for the boys to come up with their own solution (like they did in the story) than for the adult to say they have to share. (And sharing can mean playing together OR taking turns.) If the adult tells them they have to share, either boy might resent it which would only allow other bad feelings to fester. Or one boy might refuse to share, and the adult would take the toy away. (If you can't share, you can't have it.) I am happy that Josh made the decision to share the toy with Josh, and they were able to play together. However, I just didn't see that happening without someone pointing them in that direction.Of course, I also had the thought that Josh had had this problem before, and that he was no stranger to anger. However, if he had the skills to resolve the problem on his own, he wouldn't have taken the toy away from Tom. Either he would have asked Tom if he could play with him OR he would have asked Tom to let him have the toy once he was finished playing with it.When Josh tried to sneak a cookie, Mom suggested something else for him to do (go outside and play) so why wouldn't that have happened in school when two boys were fighting over the same toy? (And it could just as easily have been two girls or one boy and one girl, but I don't have a problem with it being two boys. I'm sure that happens all over the world every single day. Not everything has to be politically correct. Some things can just be what they are.)Apparently I am in the minority here since I didn't see anyone else comment on either of my problems with the story: rhythm or no outside input on the two boys fighting over a toy. However, I only read a few of the reviews from the top of the list as well as the one and two star reviews. At any rate this is my opinion, and since it was the way I saw it, that was what I needed to say about it - especially if no one else was seeing the same problems. I find it odd that no one had a problem with the things that bothered me while at the same time I didn't have a problem with the very thing that bothered others: the fact that it was only about boys - no girls involved. Just goes to show that we are all unique. Or maybe I am the unique (or weird) one.With all that being said, I would recommend this book because (as noted) the boys WERE able to resolve the problem. Also, Josh was able to move beyond his anger over the cookie incident. It was also great that Dad acknowledged Josh's handling of the situation: children need to know someone is proud of them. Too bad that didn't happen at school.In a nutshell: yes, I'd recommend this story for children.

Michael Gordon is the talented author of over fifty highly rated children's books including the popular Sleep Tight, Little Monster, and the Animal Bedtime and the award winning Elephants Can Not Sleep, the Dragon series and Daddy’s Little Girl. The excellent illustrations are by the artists of Kids Book Press. Michael’s goal is to create books that are engaging, funny, and inspirational for children of all ages and their parents. TODAY I AM MAD continue his stories that help children learn socialization and traits such as anger management. The fine illustrations are by Max Larin.Told in excellent rhyming couplets Josh is at playschool searching for his favorite toy when he realizes that a fellow preschooler Tom has that toy. Not wanting to share, Josh grabs the toy from Tom with ‘That’s my favorite engine!’ But seeing that Tom was sad the innately goodhearted Josh apologizes and instead invites Tom to play with him – and a new friendship begins. Going home Josh spies cookies in the kitchen and his mother tells him not to eat before dinner, to go out and play. Outside Josh placates his anger by counting to 10 and changing his feelings to calm and happy thoughts. That night his father remarked how proud he was that Josh managed his emotions. The next day at school Josh sees another schoolmate Jordan rejected from a game – and with his new insights he comforts Jordan with a reassuring hug. ‘A hug is a good thing when people are feeling sad.Not only is this an entertaining book for children (and readers) but it also carries fine information about controlling anger and appreciating the strong value of friendships and kindness. A very impressive little book that should be part of every child’s library! Grady Harp, March 19

My 5 year old loved this booked when he seen that we were done reading, he literally said "it's over?" Sadden at the fact that he wanted the story to continue.

Today I Am Mad is another great book from the author which tackles emotions in an understandable way for children and helps show through the main character, Josh, how you can manage anger through taking deep breaths and feel better in difficult times.I found this story jumped from topic to topic a bit but it is still great to show how we can calm down when feeling angry. The way we get to see Josh's method of calming down is one of my favourite parts of these books as it helps the children learn to do the same without them even realising it. I like how the story included lots of Josh considering others emotions as well and seeing how what he does can effect someone else.The cartoon style illustrations are colourful and eye catching and they get the point of the story across brilliantly whether that's the emotions shown so we can see how Josh is feeling or the interactions with his friends and family.This is a brilliant book that is great to help children understand how they could cope with anger and help others through a fun story.

I bought this as my 6 year old gets really angry quickly and struggles to process his feelings but my 4 year old found it more interesting. The book itself is fine, but I was disappointed it didn't really give any easy tips for calming down etc rather just talked about what the boy was angry about

Love this simple and easily accessible book. There are many adults I know who would benefit from reading this!! Excellent reading for our children too. One for all the family to share and read together.

After a feeling mad day, we settled into bed and found this story. My child connected with it and the fact preschool was mentioned. He listened intently and at the end gave me a big hug like in the story. A lovely quick little read that engages it's audience.

hahahha... yes today I am mad! :p