Sometimes I Feel Sunny

by Gillian Shields

Part of the My First Picture Book series: perfect for every toddler to help build language, understanding and enjoyment. These books are a bridge between board books and picture books; printed on sturdy card with rounded corners.

Follow four loveable friends through their day, and explore the emotions that naturally occur in every young child's life. A brilliant way to soothe a bad mood and to explain that everyone feels strong emotions sometimes.

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books, Fiction

24 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2012

About the author

Gillian Shields was born and brought up in Yorkshire, in the north of England. As she grew up, she had two passions:books and theater. Gillian’s love of books led her to read English at St. Catharine's College, Cambridge. After university she studied acting in London. She then taught in a drama school, the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts, for several years, becoming Vice Principal. She recently taught English and Drama at Beechwood Sacred Heart, a girls’ boarding school.

Having children gave Gillian an excuse to carry on reading children’s books, as well as a motivation to write them. She has a son and a daughter, and is married to Brian, who works for the New York Times Media Group.


Hobbies, Interests, and Enthusiasms
I am currently learning Italian (or trying to!) and have a secret fantasy about going to live on the beautiful island of Sicily one day, and having a little stone house with a lemon tree in the garden, and a view of the blue, blue sea! I am lucky, though, because I do live in a fantastic part of England, full of soft green fields and rolling hills and cottages that date back four hundred years.

I like to go for long walks and see the changes that the seasons bring, and I try to imagine how it all must have been years and years ago, and how the people lived. I was brought up in the north of England which is much more rugged and wild—the backdrop to Immortal.

I also enjoy being in the city—although I wouldn't want to live there all the time, it's fun to go window shopping or to big new exhibitions or shows, or just hang out in a coffee shop with a cappuccino and a notebook and watch the busy world go by.

Something I enjoy is painting. I have taken quite a few art classes and find it very creative to work with paint and charcoal and images instead of words, though somehow I can't help adding bits of poetry and scraps of words into my paintings, too… When I was at school, I was completely obsessed by the Pre-Raphaelites, and I love the way their art is so intertwined with poetry and stories. My best friend is an artist and she is incredibly inspiring to me.

I hate cooking but love the idea of being a good cook and welcoming all my friends and family to delicious meals. So I have lots of beautiful cookery books but I never get past the first couple of recipes. Every so often I get madly enthusiastic all over again, but it doesn't last.

When I am writing, I can't listen to music—I find it too distracting, but I love to listen to the radio when I am driving. I listen to pop music in the morning and classical music in the afternoon. That just seems right somehow. My son is really into music, so I enjoy sharing his enthusiasms. At the moment we are listening to Eminem, Akon, NDubz, Chipmunk, Kanye West, plus Greenday, Michael Jackson…the list goes on. My current absolute favorite is Paolo Nutini.

Another interest I have is this amazing charity called The Smile Train which carries out operations for disadvantaged children born with harelip/cleft palate. Sometimes I feel I don't realize how lucky I am, and so it's good to try and do something to help a child on the other side of the world who isn't so lucky. My family also tries to support Sightsavers International, who do simple cataract operations to restore the sight of hundreds of people in the developing world.

On a more self-indulgent note, I love to get to the theater whenever I can, and to the ballet, which I adore. In another fantasy life I would definitely be a ballerina!

I can't imagine getting through a day without reading or writing. I know it sounds a complete cliche, but there it is. I go to a writers' workshop once a week to meet other writers and exchange ideas and read work in progress, and that is hugely important to me. And every spare minute of the time at home I am reading, reading, reading…What would we do without stories?
Education
St Catharine's College, Cambridge University (MA in Englis

Reviews

[Alex Ferron · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book about children's feelings, this is a lovely book that explores all the different emotions that young children feel. Celebrating happy times as well as acknowledging "scratchy, grumpy and yucky days."

This book is great for EYFS it broadens children's vocabulary and also gets them to think about their emotions and lets them know its ok to not always feel happy, we all have bad days sometimes. You can get children involved in the book by getting them to do actions for the different emotions also getting children to look at the pictures and asking them what emotion they think the child in the book is feeling.

It is great to read as a whole class, as a small group or one to one, I haven't came across a child yet who hasn't enjoyed this book, I would highly recommend.

[Jennie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this story in a nursery class whilst on my second PGCE placement. It is a lovely story that allows children to explore different emotions and realise that they are part of life. We used this during a circle time and it gave the opportunity for children to reflect on how they were feeling. The children really responded well to it.
Its a lovely story with beautiful illustrations. I would say you could use this with 2-5 year olds.

[Srujan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simple and uncomplicated way of introducing feelings to toddlers. We took our time and slowly went through the various pages, stopping at each page to remember when was the last time we experienced / felt that particular feeling or emotion. You would be surprised the hear the things that come out of their tiny mouths on these occasions. We really enjoyed reading it! ❤️

[Set · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book teaches children about feelings and emotions. I love the first page with the sunny morning. The illustrations are cute, there are no girls with brown hair. Moral is that not every day will be a bright sunny day and that's okay because the sun will always come back.

[DrLuvnica Verma · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a good book which tells different feelings in s cute way. My child loves this book.

[Claire Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book dealing with feelings. Giving names to emotions and encouraging children to talk about feeling.

[Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this book because I feel that it is important for students to understand their feelings and learn to express them in healthy ways.