Aurélie Chien Chow Chine Books

Often young children find it difficult to put big emotions into words and even more difficult to know what to do to help themselves. Little Unicorn is Angry is part of a new series that explores emotional literacy through the character of a unicorn with a mane that changes colour with his different feelings. The illustrated stories are appealing, colourful and well-pitched for children in early years classrooms.

Little Unicorn loves playing with his toys but sometimes things make him bubble up with anger, like when it is time to stop playing and get in (or out of) the bath or when Daddy refuses to carry him all the way to school and expects him to walk. Little Unicorn feels like a big, black stormcloud has landed inside him. In response, Little Unicorn learns to try a calming breathing exercise and encourages young readers to join in too.

My own young children found Little Unicorn very easy to identify with (the bathtime scene is all too familiar) and loved listening to his stories. The calming breathing exercises are a great tool to learn but even more powerful is the way different emotions are named and defined using a combination of story context, different colours and weather clouds.

This is a promising new series and an excellent tool for developing emotional literacy. Also currently available in the series is Little Unicorn is Sad.