This is such a cute book with engaging illustrations. I love the tips on how to handle big feelings! This would be a great discussion starter with your kiddos.

This Children’s book was really cute and one of the things that I noticed right away was the colors and how they all seem to be a nice medium; nothing was too dull or over saturated.
The book follows Felix as he deals with his emotions throughout the day. Even though Felix is a young kid he deals with a lot of complex emotions. A vast range is covered such as- Embarrasment, Anger, Anxiety, Confusion, and Boredom. Felix is also shown dealing with these emotions in intense situations. For example, crowded hallways, gym class, and during a fire drill.
The representation is awesome in this book; everything from Felix’s coping skills and self regulations, to the new friend that he makes at the very end (she uses a communication device to converse with Felix). Everything was very refreshing to see.
I enjoyed seeing how we handle emotions broken down into processes. It was a really creative to portray emotions to young children. Though, I am worried by the fire drill scene because in a real fire alarm drill (or a real emergency) Felix wouldn’t be able to be given the time to pause right in the moment. I wish that that would have been shown as well because it could help kids deal with similar stressful real time moments within their own lives.
The art for this book was really cute. I recommend this book to anyone with kids, or if you want to better understand how coping skills actually work. Thank you NetGalley for the early review copy of this book.

I love the mix of formulas with mental health for children who think more straight forward. It can be difficult for them to let go and relax. I highly recommend this book for anyone who has children in their life- to help learn to manage emotions (big or small)

Thank you NetGalley and National Center for Youth Issues for accepting my request to read and review Felix and the Feelings Formulas.

Author: Kate Bartlein
Published: 09/22/22
Genre: Children's Fiction

Yes, at my age, I enjoyed this book. I would have loved the techniques when I was growing up.

The story centers around Felix and his emotions during different situations. He is being taught how to handle his feelings calmly. The author has three steps she recommends at the end of the story. She also goes on to explain why.

I found the illustrations and the story to work seamlessly.

While a child without guidance may have trouble understanding what they are seeing, it is my hope they come across someone who will explain the simple, life-changing techniques.

I would gift this to parents, grandparents, caregivers and mature babysitters.

My kids chose this book purely due to the fact that the protagonist shares a name with a family member. I am so glad they did, because this book is fantastic and presented many learning opportunities for us.

Felix encounters many feelings throughout his day and turns to his feelings formula in his notebook to navigate how to react. Each formula is composed of naming the emotion and utilizing movement, an action, and a simple affirmation to help him manage his feelings. I love how Felix uses these mechanisms to handle these very natural emotions rather than letting them control him in the moment. The message ia great for children and really gives them the foundation for creating their own formulas that work individually for them.

We spent much longer reading the book and talking about it than I had initially anticipated and they really enjoyed mimicking Felix's formulas. Afterwards, they had fun creating their own formulas.

This book may appeal to a range of ages, though it seems especially well suited for early elementary. The graphics are great and really held our attention.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Felix and the Feelings Formulas is a great introduction to how to handle hardships with calming measures. There are several situations that have good solutions for kids who struggle with social situations. The illustrations are eye catching and help the story.
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book for my honest opinion.

Felix and the Feelings Formula shows how Felix uses a notebook of formulas to tell himself how to deal with various situations to help control his emotions. This could be a good SEL text.

This was a great read! The photos being part of the action really sealed the deal for me to love it! Felix has a lot of feelings! The students I teach also have a lot of feelings. Those feelings can be really hard to capture and share exactly what you are feeling inside at any moment throughout the school day. This book will really help my students grasp that understanding themselves is a process ... we all working on it every day! Thanks for the early access to such a wonderful book!

I really enjoyed this book. As a mom of a deeply feeling child who often struggles with what to do with his emotions, the idea of having formulas of what to do when you feel a certain way is very helpful to me and helpful to him- as he’s a very logical thinker. I liked how this book included situations that children often experience to make feelings concrete and feel Normal for the children reading the book. ,

I love the idea of kids learning to express her feelings. It is such an important concept that I don’t think many of us are taught. I loved the graphics. They were adorable. I really appreciated that there were formulas for a whole bunch of different feelings. I thought it was great though there was and I just don’t know section where readers can try creating their own feeling formulas and put what they read to the test.

I really loved this story. Felix has formulas for everything...feeling sad...feeling brave...feeling nervous. Such a great spring board to help kids manage their emotions.

4.5 Stars
Felix always carries his toy rat Hank and his Feelings Formula book everywhere. He uses the formulae he created to deal with issues like anger, sadness, pain, doubt, fear, bullying, excitement, etc. The book shows his day at school and how the feelings formulas help him deal with anxiety and uncertainties.
The book is for kiddos and adults who feel overwhelmed with daily life and activities. We know how stressful things can be when the schedule changes at random or things don’t go as planned.
Feelings Formula book is all about telling yourself to take a deep breath and calm down to deal with the issue in your own style. It also shows the importance of having a grown-up person help kids when things feel beyond their control and push them into a panic attack.
The illustrations are the highlight of the book. Each page is so lively, vibrant, and colorful! The detailing is in the expressions of the toy rat and pages of Felix’s book. The kids have such wonderful hair, and I can’t help but envy them, lol. The best part is the unsaid diversity and inclusivity in the book. Why spell things out when you can use a story and illustrations! I love how beautifully the book portrays Mila.
To summarize, Felix and the Feelings Formulas is a lovely book for anyone who wishes to have more control over their anxiety and overwhelming emotions and channel them the right way. There are affirmations and notes at the end to help you.
I received an ARC from NetGalley, National Center for Youth Issues, and Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' Titles and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Amazing. Such a fun way to talk about feelings and coping skills! It is a bit wordy for younger kids - but can be adapted and skills used. It’s wonderful, I love the practical ideas for coping skills and realistic examples for situations.

Thanks to Netgalley and National Center for Youth Issues for a free digital copy.

Full of formulas Felix uses to deal with his emotions throughout the day, this book gives kids tools on how to deal with those big feelings that can be hard to manage.

Felix and the Feelings Formulas is a fun and creative way to help kids handle strong emotions and feelings. It is very entertaining and the illustrations were so cute and colorful.

I love this. It names feelings that most people would think about frustration and techniques on how to get over the frustration is literally one of the first feelings he has that was amazing I like when kids are able to name their feelings like frustrated.

I often have parents come in and ask for books about how kids deal with different emotions and things that happen in their day to day lives. This book offers a unique perspective on how kids can learn to face different situations and to interpret their emotions.

A fantastic story with strong themes of social-emotional learning and mental health.

Felix is a budding young scientist who is trying to figure out how to manage his strong emotions. With his rat, Hank, and his handy dandy notebook of mixtures and formulas, he goes through life trying to work through emotions that normally can challenge us and how we act/react.

From his Calm Down Cure when he feels frustrated, to his Courage Creator when he is nervous, or the Self-Esteem Solution when his feelings get hurt, Felix finds many ways to use his special potions to handle the biggest feelings like anger, fear and sadness. Felix uses these formulas to solve his problems and calm down.

This story was both entertaining and educational, which can be a tricky balance to maintain in a children’s book, and I will be suggesting it to teachers whenever possible. Incorporating social-emotional skills and topics such as this into children's picture books is a tried and true way to teach an important life skill in a way that is fun. This would be an amazing addition for classroom libraries, counselling offices and more.

Cute take on having kids find safe ways to deal with strong emotions. Instead of negative reactions, they can follow a "formula" and calm down in better ways. This would be a good early elementary book.