Inspector Croc’s Emotion-O-Meter by Susanna Isern - ADVISABLE

Inspector Croc’s Emotion-O-Meter: Identify, Measure and Regulate your Emotions by Susanna Isern, illustrated by Monica Carretero. PICTURE BOOK. 

BUYING ADVISORY: EL (K-3) - ADVISABLE. 

AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH 

Inspector Croc experienced “crocodile tears” when he was young and this sent him on a mission to identify and understand emotions. He takes us on an in depth tour of joy, fear, envy, surprise, sadness, jealousy, shame, anger, disgust, and love. For each emotion we learn what it is, what physical responses accompany it, what the different degrees of it look like, and some tools for responding to that emotion. 

This is a long book that is broken up into different case studies and sections on tips and tricks. The length is a bit of hurdle, because it would be hard to read to kids in one sitting. This would be a better fit for students who can read or for a teacher to read one case study each day and talk about it. I think that kids need more tools to learn to identify emotions than we currently have and this book is a great tool to that end.      

Jen Wecker, HS English Teacher