Praise
What a wonderful, unique way to share feelings with young children. The illustrations are slightly whimsical, somewhat magical, and the spare text leaves room for sharing. It's a special book!
— Melissa DeMotte, The Well-Read Moose
Learning to identify emotions is a first step toward learning to manage them...this picture book operates as a kind of primer, naming emotions, moods and impulses and the behavior they may produce...Each feeling described hereโgratitude, envy, nostalgia and the likeโtakes the shape of a quirky monster. A few of the creatures resemble hedgehogs or owls; some have rounded noses and others pointed ones; most are covered with soft-looking fur; all of them are gray. We see Bliss zonked out in an oversize armchair, its frilled ears splayed wide and a beatific smile on its little gray face. Envy wears a spiteful expression as it crushes flowers underfoot: "No time to restโthere are so many beautiful things to ruin!" All these emotions live inside us...
— Meghan Cox Gurdon, Wall Street Journal
What Feelings Do When No One's Looking offers pandemic-weary children the opportunity to make sense of the complicated emotions they may be feeling and concrete examples of the feelings they wish to foster, such as joy, kindness, courage, calm, and compassion.
— Mary Ann Cappiello and Erika Thulin Dawes, Text Sets and Trade Books
