Guess How Marion Feels product reviews

Guess How Marion Feels has been a perfect book choice for Miss Four. She will be starting school soon so she and her mother have been talking about the things that might happen and how she will deal with them. These discussions have included feelings and emotions which might affect her interactions with other children, so this book was a perfect starting point for talking about these situations.

The descriptions of Marion's body language are interesting. At the beginning of his first day at school, Marion is apprehensive. At first, while still sitting on his bed, he is smiling. But then, when his mother comes in, he remembers what is about to happen. He stands by the door and tries to melt into it; his eyes are wide, and he looks as though he is about to dive under the bed. Miss Four picked that he is anxious. On arrival at the school, Marion looks at the toys and bright colours all around him. At first, he is surprised, but then he is delighted to find that the class is going to do some art. Miss Four again correctly identified what is going on for him as he goes from worried to smiling!

Suddenly a beaker of water tips over and ruins Marion's artwork. He is starting to get disappointed and angry as he screws up his face and goes red. Luckily, another boy called Griffin offers to help. This is perfect until Griffin uses brown for a flower. But when Marion asks him to go over it in a bright colour, Griffin is kind and does so. It was clear to Miss Four that he picks up on Marion's being upset. It looks as though this is the start of a friendship between the two boys.

At the end of his first day at school, Marion and his father analyse what happened. Marion outlines various events like Griffin helping him and his drawing getting wet. He says he felt relaxed when Griffin helped. but then he got disappointed when Griffin used the wrong colour for his flower.

The story is set out as an interactive text; the reader is invited to say how Marion is feeling by looking at his face and body language in general. Miss Four coped very well with this way of showing expression. She was able to guess correctly what Marion was feeling at each stage of the story. Although she and her mother had discussed her own feelings with relation to starting school, she was now starting to look at things from the other person's point of view. This in turn led to another discussion on what should be done if you see someone else in need of encouragement or support. The ending of the book summed up all the feelings that can occur within just one school day; this was helpful for Miss Four to debrief and discuss.

The book came with a free gift - a bookmark and a paper crane - which were a lovely surprise. Books do not usually come with extras like this. It made Miss Four feel really special. The items, once admired, were put on her bedside table where she can see them each time she gets into bed. It was a small offering, but once that was appreciated and valued by the recipient.