When Simon gets mad, beasts like a lion, an alligator, and a dragon show up and reinforce his anger. But Simon quickly learns that these beasts are pushing his friends and family away. Will he learn how to manage his anger and express it in a healthy manner? There is a guide at the end of the book for parents and teachers to help children identify and manage their emotions. The illustrations depict anger in a relatable way children can understand and teaches them about the consequences of anger and how they can regulate themselves.

Note: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley. I was not compensated in any other fashion for the review and the opinions reflected below are entirely my own. Special thanks to the publisher and author for providing the copy.

Simon has a problem. Simon is angry.
Simon is excited to find that when he gets angry he has a ram, alligator, lion, rhinoceros, and dragon to help him. Soon, the animals are all he has. His parents and friends do not want to play with him. No matter what he tries he can't get rid of the animals, they get bigger and meaner.

In desperation he sits under a tree and begins to calm down. Suddenly his big, mean animals turn into butterflies and he learns a different way to deal with his anger.

Simon and the Big, Bad, Angry Beasts is a five star read.

I was given the opportunity to read this book by NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Simon’s anger is big and it’s only getting bigger. Beasts begin to appear whenever Simon is angry and they chase everyone away. For a while Simon enjoys feeling like his anger is powerful but eventually, when his anger comes without a specific reason, he notices how lonely he is.

No one wants to be around him anymore but he doesn’t know how to get rid of his anger. Finally Simon learns to take responsibility for his feelings and to manage them in a calmer way.

I really liked the illustrations, which clearly showed Simon’s anger.

While plenty of time was spent watching Simon’s anger getting more and more out of control, there wasn’t much page time dedicated to explaining how he could learn to manage it.

I would have liked to have seen more of a learning curve for Simon once he recognised that anger was a problem for him. Although it made for a neat ending, it wasn’t overly realistic that the first time Simon tried mindfulness his anger simply floated away.

There are resources at the end of the book for parents and caregivers, explaining how to talk to children about their anger and ways they can manage it.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Flyaway Books for the opportunity to read this book. I’m rounding up from 3.5 stars.

A helpful book for younger readers. I don’t think my middle schoolers would take away much (they’d say it’s too babyish). I appreciate the author’s note in the back of how to teach mindfulness to children (as a parent or teacher). Shared it with a teacher friend who read it with her granddaughter (a preschooler).

Simple story about anger The illustrations are great and the story has a good flow, enjoyable for kids to read as well as having an wonderful message.

Simon and the Big, Bad, Angry Beasts is a great book about a boy named Simon who discovers that when he gets angry a fearsome animal appears beside him and helps get rid of whatever was making him angry. This is really great..at first. Then Simon realizes that its no fun when your parents and friends don't want to be around you anymore. Can Simon find a new way to deal with his anger?

This was not only adorable (I'm a little obsessed with the way little Simon and his beasties are illustrated), it was also really well-thought out! It begins with showing off the beasts Simon's anger creates and how much fun he has with them at first, but quickly progresses into Simon's regrets as he recognizes that his friends don't want to play with him now that he's given into his anger so much. My favorite detail is that it even touches on his frustrations with himself as he tries to figure out what's "wrong" with him. There are also some resources for parents and caregivers in the back that would be great for a parent grappling with an angry child.

This appears to be an excellent picture book for adults to share with the nursery school aged children in their lives. This is the story of a young boy who sometimes feels angry. Simon does not know how to manage this difficult emotion but learns to handle things better by the end of the book.

Along the way, Simon's anger is anthropomorphized as a variety of animals that grow larger and larger. The illustrations of the animals are very expressive as you can see from the book's cover. Each time the refrain is

"It was great, it was marvelous, it was magical to have..." an animal to express his anger.

While at first Simon seems to feel powerful and not to care about others, of course, eventually he wants to re-connect and needs help to do so. The author writes

"It was not so great, not so marvelous to always have such anger."

Simon practices a bit of calming down mindfulness which begins to help. He reconnects with others after this.

At the end of the book, there is a detailed section for adults on ways to help the children that they guide.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this e-galley which will be helpful to both kids and adults.

We loved this one! Simon and the Big, Bad, Angry Beasts personified anger and offered a more understandable perspective for children. My son thought it was interesting that the boy's anger could change shape depending on the situation, and we had fun discussing what his animal would be. We both liked the illustrations and thought they really added to the overall experience (especially at the end when the dragon starts dissolving into butterflies). We will definitely be adding this one to our shelves!

Normally, I don't read the teaching guide in the back of a book, but this one was actually helpful. My son was able to express himself in new and unique ways that I think will benefit us both in the future. He even surprised me by doing the breathing exercise!

Originally posted at Do You Dog-ear? on January 17, 2019.

Wonderfully written and illustrated, this is one for the school library for sure. What a great and clever way to connect the feeling of anger and self-control!

This is such an awesome preschool book about being angry!! We have done several unit studies on recognizing our emotions in my preschool and this would make a great addition for story time.
In this story each time Simon gets angry he creates a big angry animal such as a ram or an alligator. By the end of the story Simon is so upset he has a fire-breathing dragon beside him and no one wants to be around him anymore. Simon realizes that being angry isn’t the answer to his problems.
Thank you so much to Fly Away Books and NetGalley for this great preschool title! I highly recommend it, my opinions are my own.
This will appear on my blog later today, Tuesday December 18, 2018.
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This is a beautifully illustrated story about dealing with anger. As Simon gets angry, big, bad, angry beasts come to deal with anyone who has upset him--something Simon enjoys initially but ultimately leads to him being alone since his beasts have scared everyone away. Then Simon must find a more constructive way to deal with his feelings.
My kids were very interested in this book and liked seeing the different beasts; we also had a good discussion about how getting angry and having the beasts didn't actually solve Simon's problems. Good discussion book with really engaging illustrations.

I read an ARC via #NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I thought this was a wonderful book to teach children how to understand and manage their anger. Simon gets angry - as any child would! - at getting in trouble for writing on walls, after being denied ice cream, after being told to finish his dinner, etc. And each time, his anger manifests itself as a different big, bad beast attacking all around him in revenge. But then he gets lonely - his friends and parents won't play with him with the beasts around. So he finds a way to calm down and his anger turns instead into a million butterflies, each taking a tiny bit of the bad feelings away.

I especially liked that it included helpful conversation starters and activities for parents and teachers to do with their children before, during and after reading this book, so children really learn how to grapple with their own angry feelings in productive ways.

A cute little book about anger management (with more focus on the anger and less on the management) and a nice way to explain the kids how anger can be harmful. It shows how these feelings can only grow and hurt other people without resolving problems.

Bold, bright illustrations and an easily understandable explanation of anger make this a good book for helping children deal with angry feelings. Simon's anger becomes big scary animals that make him feel powerful, but the anger gets out of control and turns into a big dragon that keeps people away. He learns a way to deal with his anger and the dragon turns into a thousand butterflies that carry his anger away. At the back of the book are tips for parents and teachers to help talk to kids about anger and how to deal with it, plus suggested activities including mindfulness meditation. Honestly, the guide for teaching mindfulness meditation is helpful for adults too- I'm going to give it a try!

Beautiful, fun illustrations with an excellent message. I think many kids will relate to the main character and his feelings.

5 great, marvelous and magical stars to Simon and the Big, Bad, Angry Beasts! I believe this book is going to be widely popular! It will be an amazing tool in classrooms and as a read aloud book for lower-elementary! It is a fun way to talk about a hard topic for kids and parents as well. I loved this book! The illustrations are also very well done - bright and colorful and very fun! I highly recommend and think I will pick it up myself!

Many times picture books seeking to deal with teaching children the how and why of controlling their emotions can come across as inaccessible to the children they're written for, not so with this one. The illustrations do a wonderful job of working with the text to give a concrete form to how anger can feel and the very real impacts in has on yourself and on the people around you. One of the best aspects of this picture book is that it shows Simon going through the process of apologizing and trying to make things right with his family and friends. This book is definitely one that I'll be recommending to parents at my library.

This book will appeal to students in preschool through 3rd grade. Kids can relate to getting angry with family, having temper tantrums, and struggling to figure out social skills. The animal representation of emotions, and them growing in stature, was a key element, and again, something even young kids can understand and relate to.

I especially like the information in the back for further activities, further reading, and about mindfulness. Students need these coping mechanisms and tricks today. This book can easily open up discussions and extensions in schools and at home.

A nice look at dealing with anger for young children, though it does at times feel too rigidly repetitive, and though the story is a nice one it doesn't feel as hugely inspiring as it could be. Also feels rather sudden and convenient in the way the appearance of the Big, Bad, Angry Beasts happens.

The illustrations are nice, with some excellent double-page spreads, and good use of the inside front and back pages. The story as a whole would be a good one to bring up ways of coping with anger and frustration for children.