Hazel Is All That

K-Gr 2–Hazel—pink skin, brown hair, clad in a bright-pink jacket and oversized yellow glasses—is confident and clear-eyed as she enters the dog park. She knows exactly what to expect and how to react to everything she experiences, that is, until her ice cream cone drops. What follows is a whirlwind of emotions: surprise, anger, sadness, embarrassment, happiness. When Hazel gets a new cone, she comes to a gentle realization that it’s okay to feel all those things, and that everyone experiences their own special mix of these of emotions. The story’s straightforward message that “we are more than just one thing” is quietly delivered, relying heavily on watercolor and pencil illustrations to carry the narrative; children who have seen the movie, Inside Out, might feel a similar kinship to this child. Hazel’s exaggerated facial expressions do much of the storytelling, offering young readers a visual guide to navigating big feelings. The plot itself is minimal, and the story is not particularly distinctive, but this book could be used in classroom settings to facilitate discussion.