Felix After the Rain is a lovely story that examines feelings both bad and good and what happens when you hang on to those feelings or let them go. Felix starts carrying around a weight with him after his grandmother died. And the weight just kept getting bigger with each negative thing that happened to him. It took someone else to help him be able to let it go and feel free again.
I would love to see the conversations that come out from reading this book.

I love the idea of this book, but the execution was poor.

Using the suitcase to visually symbolize the weight of depression was clever, but it seemed like big chunks of the storyline were missing. The story would have benefitted from more explanation of the symbols, especially the second half of the book which moves through the opening of the suitcase, the tears and then the calm far too quickly.

The illustrations were visually appealing apart from Felix who looked more like an adult than a child.

This was such a beautiful story about a young boy named Felix who carries his sadness and worries with him wherever he goes. I absolutely loved the vivid and unique illustration style, and found the entire theme of this book to be portrayed with just the perfect amount of heaviness to still be a good title for younger children. I will absolutely recommend this to our local library!

2.5 I love the concept but I don’t know if it will land format and verbiage wise. It didn’t fully land for me either.

Felix has to let go of his heavy bag (cue Erykah Badu ‘Bag Lady’ song such a classic! “baaaag lady you gon’ hurt your back.. draggin all them bags like that...let it go let it goo” ok you get the point. Such a great song).

I digress.

Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Keep the social emotional books coming, publishers!

This short book could be an effective tool for children struggling with anxiety or depression. Through the metaphor of a very heavy suitcase, the author describes the burden of a child carrying around these unexpressed feelings, and the relief that comes from finally letting those feelings out, no matter how painful that seems at first.
With the help of an adult who knows the right things to ask and say, this little story shows children that feelings can sometimes be too much to hold on to.

This is a beautifully illustrated story of a boy who drags around a dark suitcase filled with his pains, not knowing what to do with it or how to get rid of it. It's filled with all of the dark things in his mind -- his grandmother's death, hurtful things his father has said to him, and so on. Then a child opens the suitcase and Felix goes through a storm of emotions as he deals with it all, after which he feels light and happy. It's a story that is easy for children to understand even with the metaphors and with the fact that it is translated into English. This will be a good book to discuss with kids afterwards, great for kids who are healing from trauma or just to understand that we must all deal with our dark feelings if we don't want to be burdened with them forever.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for the purpose of review.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. This book is about Felix's feelings and how things said to him or hurt him get tied up in a suitcase.