Cute young readers book about dealing with emotions and anger and learning coping mechanisms so as not to lash out when angered. Text and illustrations harken back to a 90s-early 2000s style of picture book. The anger emotions can be relatable for any younger reader who deals with getting riled up.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* woah! great, useful kids book! hard to believe i have never come across a book like this but happy i have now, a must have kids book imo!

How to Crack Your Peanut was a book I appreciated as a parent because it made me better understand what my son goes through when he can't control his impulses. I wish I read it four years ago! I appreciated the story was about how normal it was to feel overwhelmed, how important it is to make choices to calm yourself down, and how it focused on three behaviors that can change the way a person deals with impulsive behavior and relates to others. I feel like my son can remember these things and relate to Diego. I went out and bought the book to make sure my son had a copy and will recommend it to others. I received an Advance Review Copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

How to Crack Your Peanut uses a social story to illustrate what happens to your brain when you get anxious and/or angry and what kids can to do gain control of the emotions and make better decisions. The boy in the story, Diego, has several incidents that prompt his parents to send him to a counselor who explains why he makes what he feels like are poor decisions when he is emotional and also what he can do to control his feeling and actions. Anger is explained in an interesting way that is atypical of these types of social stories, but this would resonate well with children. Recommended for school and public libraries as well as for a social group setting where social stories are used.

Excellent book. Students will engage with this story and follow it quite easily It will be an excellent way for teachers to teach theme. I would highly recommend this title for the classroom

I love the concept of this book, and I LOVE seeing therapy normalized in a picture book! I teach kindergarten, and the way the amygdala and the effect of mindfulness on the brain are described is so developmentally appropriate, but the text is far too wordy for this age range audience. I could see this being extremely beneficial to 1-3rd grade audience in particular.

As someone who works in healthcare, I understand how confusing the brain can be, but it's so important to know about our body and how it works! I think getting kids interested and excited to learn about how their body can affect their emotions is super important. This book does a wonderful job at explaining complex systems in easy to understand and relatable examples. The illustrations are also very well done! Thank you NetGalley for providing a free copy of this book in return for an honest review.

An excellent, effective guide for self-regulation for younger elementary kids. This is told in very accessible, kid-friendly language and makes sure to reinforce the point multiple times that kids who may have issues with being overwhelmed, feeling anxious, or having intense flashes of anger aren't "bad" or "damaged". They're experiencing a normal physiological phenomenon that can often be managed with simple calming or grounding techniques.

The illustrations are bright and engaging and the examples used in the book will be very relatable to young children. This could be a very helpful tool to help kids learn how their brain and emotions work and how they can work to control their actions and reactions the way they want. This would be a good addition to elementary classroom and school libraries as well as a school psychologist's bookshelf.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!

My daughter loves learning about the human body and the brain is such a complex thing to teach! This really breaks it down and explains how the brain works, and how it manages emotions,