Im Happy-Sad Today: Making Sense of Mixed-Together Feelings

This friendly picture book helps young children make sense of mixed-up emotions.

Happy, and also sad. Excited, but nervous too. Feeling friendly, with a little shyness mixed in. Mixed feelings are natural, but they can be confusing. There are different kinds of happy—the quiet kind and the “noisy, giggly, jump and run” kind. And there are conflicting feelings, like proud and jealous, frustrated and determined. With gentle messaging and charming illustrations, a little girl talks about her many layered feelings, ultimately concluding, “When I have more than one feeling inside me, I don’t have to choose just one. I know that all my feelings are okay at the same time.” A special section for adults presents ideas for helping children explore their emotions, build a vocabulary of feeling words, know what to do if they feel overwhelmed, and more.

Lory Britain, Ph.D., has more than forty years of experience working with children, teachers, and families.

Her background includes time in the classroom as a preschool teacher; helping found therapeutic child and family programs; teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in early childhood education; and presenting at state, national, and international conferences for professionals who work with young children. In addition to this work, Dr. Britain has written many children’s books that help kids stay safe and express their feelings and ideas.

She also takes her therapy dog, Puppet, to visit children in hospitals and schools.

Lory lives in Eugene, Oregon.

Matthew Rivera earned his bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the University of Arizona.

After many years of being an art director for corporations and toy makers, he now writes and draws pictures for a living. He lives in Portland, OR, where he loves listening to the rain tap on his rooftop, and is known to dance around in the occasional thunderstorm.