Out of a Jar

Ok, this is weird. I did not like the first book, it barely earned three stars. But I love this, and would give it a 4.49. ;) And this time the implausibility did not matter to me at all.

Maybe because it's personally relevant? Maybe because I would love to literally bottle up anxiety and frustration? Maybe because I love the solution "he mustered up the courage to feel them [*any* of the feelings of the rainbow], to share them, ... to look each feeling in the eye, give it a hug, and let it go] and hope I can apply it to my life.

Little bunny Llewellyn likes scary books and scary jokes, but he doesn't like to be scared - so he stuffs his fear into a jar and puts it in a closet in the basement. He does the same for all of his other big feelings - sadness, excitement, loneliness, anger, joy, disappointment - until he doesn't feel much of anything at all. When he tries to shove his embarrassment into a jar and into the closet, all the jars crack and all the feelings rush out, and back into Llewellyn. When he recovers, he realizes he can feel more than one feeling at a time, and he feels relieved; he also finds the courage to feel his feelings, and share them, instead of pushing them away.

Somehow, despite the obvious message, this book is not preachy in the show more slightest, but could serve as a useful SEL guide for the home or classroom.

See also: Swatch by Julia Denos, The Rabbit Listened by Cori Doerrfeld, I Feel Teal by Lauren Rille. show less

PreS-Gr 2—The sequel to In a Jar finds the hero with more emotional extremes than he knows what to do with, and
his solution—to shove every one of them into jars—is creating an arsenal of small bombs. Marcero offers a new spin
on exploring one's emotions, not locking them away, and promotes the importance of sharing them instead.

Out of a Jar is an amazing social emotional story for children! Llewellyn decided he did not like to be scared. He tried to put the feeling in different places but never got away from it. Finally, he put his feelings in a jar and put it in a closet. He no longer felt scared. During the book, Llewellyn continues to jar up and hide away more and more emotions. Until one day he slowly did not feel much of anything. He tried to suppress his emotions until they all exploded out one day. He learned that he needed to share his emotions rather than suppress them. This book is a really incredible way to teach young readers about emotions and the importance of feeling them. Each emotion has a different color (reminds me of inside out) and when show more the emotions break out, a rainbow of emotions floods Llewellyn. I would recommend this book for students from kindergarten to 2nd grade. This is a great story to demonstrate how suppressing feelings can cause you to feel worse than before. It is age appropriate and has language that young audiences can understand. I love this book! show less

What happens when you put all your emotions in a jar and shut them up tight? Eventually you're out of space and something's gotta give! A sweet look at what to do with emotions that may seem to be "too much" but really just need to be felt.

In this book Llewellyn doesn't like to feel emotions so she puts each one in a jar until she feels nothing at all. Then she let's all of her emotions out and realizes life is much better with all the colors of emotion. Ages 3-7

This book reminded me of Inside Out with emotions being represented as different colors.

Also learning to live with emotions and being okay to experience them all. Not hiding yourself away in a state of blah. Because emotions are okay!

I recommended this book to the school counselor where I partner a lot. I think it would be excellent for her collection and others as well.