Everyone has bad days, as adults we know for the most part why we’re feeling this way and how to handle those emotions. Self-regulation 101! Children though, sometimes don’t have all the tools to turn that frown upside down, and that’s where Crankenstein comes in. I recently read this story to a couple of my kindergarteners and found them laughing, inching closer to look at the hilarious illustrations and reading along with the repetitive dialog.
Crankenstein is a story that walks through a day in the life of a child who has clearly woken up in a cranky mood. As we go through the situations that we would find frustrating (standing in long lines, melting popsicles, being woken up too soon) the children related to them. When reading I had a lot of children calling out “I HATE long lines!” or “My popsicle always melts onto my hands!”
Towards the end of the story Crankenstein changes to a regular boy who is having fun, which was a really fun reveal for the children and abled them to realise that there is a Crankenstein living in all of us. The book lead to a great opportunity to have a open discussion about emotions and base self-regulation activities on it.