Our Reviews
“Keith Ruffner's Making Friends With Feelings is a gentle picture book exploration of emotions for the very young, and uses cute bunny images illustrated by Kate Gleyzer to add appeal to the story. The basic focus is on developing understanding and compassion for others. Even little bunnies can feel confused, sad, or scared for different reasons.
The result is an exploration of emotions that engages all ages with a story of bunnies who face others and themselves with ‘courage, courage, courage.’ Adults who choose this story to help the very young understand their feelings will find Making Friends With Feelings visually compelling and emotionally astute.”
D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review
Our book Making Friends With Feelings has been Story Monsters’ Approved in the “Making a Difference” category! This book designation program recognizes and honors authors in the field of children’s literature whose books inspire, inform, teach, or entertain. What makes this book program unique is that every book submitted is judged on its own merit, and since kids assist our industry experts in judging submissions, when a book earns the Story Monsters Seal of Approval, it means that children are recommending the book for other children to read, too!
“This story demonstrates how to manage difficult feelings and how to offer help to someone who is struggling. We, as the readers, learn from them, as the bunnies help their friends. We learn how to listen with compassion, take care of others emotionally, and be considerate of someone else.
This book will leave readers feeling happy, happy, happy. We enjoyed the pictures a lot; the bunnies are sooooo cute!”
Aaron, Age 8, Kids Book Buzz
"Author Keith Ruffner dedicated this book to “all those who want to suffer less, love more, and heal.” His kindness and good intentions were present throughout this story. The illustrations by Kate Gleyzer accurately portray the very real emotions felt by kids and adults. I highly recommend this book for children ages four to eight, especially those who have difficulty identifying their emotions."
Rita Long, San Francisco Book Review
"This story is a wonderful resource for teaching children life lessons grounded in social and emotional learning . . . Making Friends With Feelings illustrates the importance of open communication and the value of collaboration as the bunnies all find a way to play together in spite of their different abilities."
Caroline Chase, Social Emotional Learning Consultant and Founding Member of the SEL Department for the Austin Independent School District in Texas
“Making Friends With Feelings is a sweet story for children to learn about healthy forms of expression of very big and sometimes scary emotions.
The story weaves a wonderful tale of how difficult it can be to share emotions with others, but it can be achieved through courage, healthy communication, and connection. I am excited to purchase this book for my young clients and co-workers."
Danielle Fluhr, Licensed Clinical Social Worker with 10+ years providing therapy to children and families, and mama to 12-year-old twin girls
“This book is a beautiful reminder to adults that our Social Emotional Learning journeys are continuous. We owe it to ourselves and our children to build a strong SEL foundation.”
Catherine Dowhin, Certified School Librarian, Founding Librarian of Trinity Basin Preparatory in Mesquite, Texas, with 7 years of guiding students to find the love and magic in literature, and mama to a sweet 2-year-old baby girl
“This story will definitely help develop children’s emotional intelligence by teaching them to identify and label the emotions in others and themselves. I also appreciated the problem-solving skills the story introduced.”
Jennifer Miller, Kindergarten Teacher at Primrose Early Childhood Education Center in Bee Cave, Texas
"Making Friends With Feelings is a fine complement to social and emotional learning in that it calls out and reinforces the important competencies of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making.
Children struggling to name and share their strong feelings will benefit from the example the bunnies set in their relationships with one another as well as through the repetition of feeling words throughout the story.”
Caroline Chase, Social Emotional Learning Consultant and Founding Member of the SEL Department for the Austin Independent School District in Texas
Buy Your Copy Now!
Reviewers love the sweet story of three bunnies learning to understand and communicate their big emotions. The bunnies learn and teach empathy and kindness through deep listening and compassionate speech. Buy your copy now to help teach these social and emotional skills to the children you love!
