Reading Makes You Feel Good

Todd Parr's positive messages and cheerful artwork convey what is so great about reading (in case there are any doubting Thomases!) Rreading is an adventure, reading helps you learn new things, and ....you can read anywhere!

I borrowed this book from my local public library and my 1 year old daughter couldn't get enough of it, so we just had to buy it. This book is full of bold, bright colours, there are lots of great pictures to look at and the story is simple, easy to follow and has a great message about reading. I have to read this to Isabella 3 times a day, and each time she sees it coming down from the "special bookshelf", she laughs and giggles and knows that her favourite story is just about to start. It is interactive and fun and it really does make you feel good!

I want more copies of this book (because mine is always being borrowed)! I am a Reading teacher in an elementary school and the children love Todd Parr's pictures and easy way of telling stories. They relate well because the phrases are short and realistic, and they beg to read it over and over again. My first Todd Parr book was "Things that make you feel good, things that make you feel bad" and I bought several as gifts for adults as well as children. The kids will want to hear (or read) his stories over and over again!

Todd Parr has a way with encouraging children to do things (reading) without being 'preachy' and by being FUN. My 3 children, ages 15 mos, 15 mos, and 5 years love all of his books. We just bought this one today and have already read it 3 times - it is still afternoon. My young toddlers are attracted to the illustrations, my 5 year old is attracted to the easy to read text and "funny looking characters". She often identifies her family or pets in all of the pictures.

Reviewed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, award-winning author of This is the Place, Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered and The Frugal Book Promoter. This is a book that cares. Todd Parr and his publisher, the Little Brown for Young Readers division of LB Company, have introduced a book that supports the work of a wonderful literacy organization, Reach Out and Read. They've done it with Reading Makes You Feel Good, an imaginative book that explores how reading can empower a child--can empower anyone, for that matter. The illustrations are in Crayola colors and remind me of the bright little cut-out puzzles from Europe made with wood. You know, good Danish or Swedish design. Each picture-page includes not only the story narrative but pictures of things with words in them. That association between words and how they can label objects is a subtle message for toddlers and beginning readers. The only advantage for reading that Parr misses in this simple but well-written story is that reading prepares one for writing better, for writing other books like Parr's that will help children learn, writing reviews like this that will help parents pick the very best of books for their children! ------- (Carolyn Howard-Johnson's first literary novel, This is the Place, has won eight awards and Harkening, a collection of stories, has won three. She is also the author of The Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won't, the winner of USA Book News' "Best Professional Book 2004." )