Terrance the Hothead: A book to help children manage big feelings

by Lisa Cloherty

Terrance is a hot headed teapot who’s always blowin’ his lid over small problems. But nothing ever feels small to Terrance, it feels big and raging hot. Terrance’s big feeling make it hard to know if Lanie Cup is teasing him or just wants to be his friend. If Terrance can calm himself down it just might be the start of a brew-tea-ful friendship.

The book can be used by parents, speech-language pathologists, and educators to teach children to express how they feel, understand how others feel, keep calm, and build friendships. The story is supplemented with discussion materials, including developmental milestones, parent/educator worksheets and educational prompts.

“Cloherty adapts real-world techniques that encourage balanced emotional responses to a pun-filled story…This engaging tale may help young readers grappling with big feelings keep their cool.” Read the full review here .
– Kirkus Review

Genres: Picture Books

32 pages, Hardcover

First published March 30, 2022

About the author

Lisa is an author of children's books and a pediatric speech-language pathologist. Her debut picture book, Katie Spector the Art Collector was released in September 2021 with Charming Books Press followed by Terrance the Hothead by the American Speech Language and Hearing Association in March 2022.

Most of Lisa's stories revolve around community, family and self-acceptance.

Lisa lives in Connecticut with her husband, two kids and her dog Crouton.

Reviews

[Valerie Bolling · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the perfect book to read to kids and have a discussion about controlling their temper. Not only does Terrance learn techniques for calming himself, but he makes a friend in the process. I especially love the tea word play, and Alex’s illustrations of Terrance are wonderfully matched to Lisa’s descriptions of him.

[Heather Stigall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrance Teapot tends to blow his lid over seemingly small problems, but they don’t seem small to Terrance. This story is about how Terrance works to understand his emotions and regulate his reactions to situations throughout a typical day, and how he becomes closer to making a new friend. Readers will enjoy the bright and engaging illustrations, clever tea puns, and relatable storyline. Caregivers will appreciate the book’s themes that are conveyed in an entertaining way, as well as the extensive back matter which includes key terms, questions to “help children relate to the emotional development of the characters” in the story, activity worksheet, and more. If you’re looking for a fun book that addresses emotional identification and regulation, this is the one for you!

[Shirin Shamsi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun book with a deeper social and emotional lesson, and great learning tools. The cute, colorful illustrations complement this fun story about a teapot who can’t control his temper.

“Things never felt small to Terrance. They always felt big and hot.”

Cloherty uses language that will capture a child’s interest and help them pause and think about their feelings.

A powerful story with an important lesson on how to understand and control one’s emotions. This will help empower children. It will help educators and therapists in doing the best to help children with social and emotional challenges.

[Caroline Coleman · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent, amusing and clever book to help teach children how to regulate their emotions. Terrance is a teapot who tends to "boil" over too quickly. His teachers and friends work with him on the sports field and in the classroom to help him "simmer" down. The author had me at: "Terrance rattled with excitement." I felt badly for poor Terrance and was glad when he calmed down. There's a helpful reader's guide and activities to encourage children to discuss and regulate their own emotions. Wonderful.

[Kelly Crull · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sorting through strong feelings is hard enough, even for grown-ups. It's even more challenging to know what to do with them! This book does a great job of providing a simple and easy-to-remember tool for kids to assess their anger. Am I at a simmer, a steam, or a boil? The story of Terrance and his new friend Lanie gives kids (and parents) some concrete examples of what we can do when we're feeling angry and about to explode. The jokes and puns throughout the book were my 9-year-old's favorite part of the book. They kept the story light and fun. I was delighted to discover all of the practical information at the end of the book (7 pages!) to take social emotional learning to the next level.

[Sherry Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

This fun, rumpus of a story will be great for children. I could not stop reading until the end. I think it will lead to many discussions of feelings and anger management for children throughout the reading. The characters and the continuation of language are tea-mendous. The illustrators did a perfect job of telling the stories of these characters. The colors are rich throughout.

For anyone looking for a fun read with a lesson, this one fits that to a tea. Lisa has a great book with wonderful back matter that provides extended learning for all. This is a must-have for parents, teachers, and counselors.

[Natalia Paruzel-Gibson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrance's overblown reactions to problems cause him much upset and discomfort. Young readers around the globe will identify with Terrance's emotions both within the context of the school environment as well as in everyday life at home.

Cloherty does an excellent job of providing children with the tools needed for social-emotional regulation! The story itself is a delightfully wrapped up gift filled with clever and playful language to engage budding minds. The helpful discussion starters in the reader's guide are bound to continue a fruitful and open dialogue about identifying and controlling one's emotions. A must-have addition to your child's bookshelf!

[Marilyn Wolpin · Rating 5 out of 5]

TERRANCE THE HOTHEAD is a child-friendly, brightly illustrated tale of a teapot who always blows his top. The story is filled with tea puns and jokes and uses just the right words to help Terrance and readers not only identify their feelings but also regulate them. Studies have shown that when children do exercises that build emotional understanding, their social interactions are improved. After reading about Terrance’s troubles, parents can use the questions and hypothetical situations in the backmatter, to help their children identify and regulate their big feelings. A fun and educational read.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved "Terrance the Hothead"! It deals with an extremely important topic--how to deal with anger, and it suggests strategies and includes a wonderful "emotions practice" exercise at the end. Many problems in our world would be solved if more of us knew and followed these ways of dealing with anger--the history books and news headlines would be very different! Terrance is a tea kettle with a habit of "blowing his lid" over little things. (The puns in this book are wondrous.) But his speech therapist, his coach, and Lady Gray (who seems to be the principal) encourage him to ask, when his feelings are big, if he's at a simmer, a steam, or a ball. Another delightful character is Lanie Teacup, who clearly wants to be his friend but tells teapot jokes, which Terrance doesn't like. In the wonderful back matter, there's a question: What's the difference between laughing at you and laughing with you? But I love this book most of all because it's such fun--the puns and the pictures of Terrance and Lanie will keep kids laughing and engrossed. I have family members who are social workers, and I'm going to let them know about this book.

[Nikki Bergstresser · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrance the Hothead will capture children's attention with the playful vocabulary and provide opportunities for valuable discussions on emotional self regulation. Terrance is working on managing his big feelings to avoid blowing his lid throughout the day. Terms such as "rattled with excitement" and "simmer, steam or boil" provide terminology for children to identify rising emotions. Illustrations are colorful and characters are relatable in this "tea"-riffic story as it is "steeped" with valuable insights!

Cloherty incorporates self regulation strategies that are woven throughout the story with Terrance, the fun characters and humorous word play. Added to the end of the story is resourceful back matter of terminology, questions, examples and social emotional milestones to further enhance the story experience. This is a must have on the bookshelves for families, caregivers, preschools and teachers.

[Cindy Schrauben · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrance the Hothead is a delightful look at little ones and their big feelings. Identifying emotional struggles in others, like Cloherty's main character, allows children to more easily see these characteristics in themselves and makes these challenges more manageable. The actionable steps that Terrance takes to deal with his 'hot head' are humorous yet helpful. The expertly written back matter will equip adults with the tools necessary to empower kids while dealing with their own big feelings. A must read!

[Berrie Torgan-randall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrance the Teapot keeps blowing his lid during his daily activities and tries to use his tools taught to him by his grandmother, coach, and teachers. After Laney the teacup tells him a joke about a Teapot. Terrance takes offense at the joke and his emotions boil over. Terrance realizes that if he wants to be friends with Laney he needs to learn how control his temper. This adorable book gives great resources for parents, children, and their care givers a great visual way to learn how to control their temper.

[Ilona E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lisa Cloherty takes true-to-life emotions of children and fits them into an entertaining fictitious world of teapots and puns. Kids will love the characters, lively illustrations, and jokes. Without even knowing it they can simultaneously learn how to deal with their feelings that sometimes boil over. Self-regulation is a lifelong challenge and here children are given strategies to cool themselves down. The back matter is informative and provides tools and actionable steps to help kids keep their feelings under control.

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrance has a short boil - in no time at all he goes form simmer and bubble to full blown Blast. With some help he learns to see situations for what they are and think before he boils.
We all know That Kid - everyone walks eggshells around him hoping not to set off the blast of steam continually brewing underneath. Whether your child is a Terrance, or you are the friend trying to help this book is a humorous reminder with a great memorable "cool down" reminder!

[Songju Daemicke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrance the Hothead is a delightful and clever book to help children deal with emotional problems. Cloherty’s fun engaging text is paired with lively and colorful illustrations. Young readers will enjoy this entertaining book and learn to identify and regulate one’s emotions along the way. Extensive back matter provides parents/teachers practical tools to deal with children’s emotional situations. High recommended.

[P · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read TERRANCE THE HOTHEAD for the fun of it! Read TERRANCE as a discussion starter about feelings and how to handle them! Read TERRANCE if you enjoy punny jokes! Whatever you do, just read TERRANCE - This is a book that children and adults will both enjoy, as well as use when trying to handle those big feelings that we all have.

[Erica Lyons · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrance the Hothead is a wonderful way to help children learn to self-regulate their emotions. While it is an incredible tool for social emotional learning, it is also a story that children will love. The story is filled with clever puns that capture Terrance’s explosive reactions and also a cast of fun characters. I highly recommend this book.

[Brooke Bellask Horn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a great book to read with my kids and super helpful for children in this current environment of navigating many different emotions and feelings. The book is light, the graphics are great so its a book that I can continue to read over and over.