Everyone feels sad sometimes, even this book! But how do we deal with our feelings of sadness and discover new positives?

With the book itself taking the form of the main character, The Sad Book navigates this topic in an interactive way with both gentle humour and sensitivity.

The pairing of Howard Pearlstein’s text with the creative and dynamic illustrations of James Munro informs and inspires young readers as they deal with the challenges of new situations and emotions.

Howard Pearlstein is the author of nine picture books. His upcoming titles in 2024 and 2025 include This Book Is Not For You and The Bad Book for Good Kids, both published by Familius. Howard is based in the US.

James Munro has been drawing since he could grasp a pencil. Since then, everything in his path has fallen prey to his doodles, from books and magazines to films and animations. He lives and works in a pile of pencil shavings and spilled ink in Liverpool.

In Pearlstein and Munro’s latest metafictive outing, misery does in fact want company.

Everyone wants a happy ending. But our narrator—a picture book—is literally and metaphorically blue, too upset even to tell us a story. A double-page spread of woeful images follow: a dog in the rain, a dropped ice cream cone, parents arguing as a child looks on. The book suggests that readers leave—and when that doesn’t work, that we stop breathing so loudly. With surprise, our narrator acknowledges that the breaths are somehow a bit soothing. What’s wrong? This book admits it wants to be the popular happily-ever-after type, but “we can’t always get what we want.” Realizing that talking has helped, the book shifts its ambitions to being a good listener. So, reader, “is there anything that makes you feel SAD?” The book offers practical suggestions about what to do with those feelings. On the penultimate page the very same initial situations (the dog, ice cream cone, and feuding parents) reappear, all addressed in some way. And the sad book has an amended title that reflects human struggles with feelings: “The Sometimes Sad Book.” Once more, Pearlstein and Munro distill complex emotions into picture-book format; the protagonist narrates with a mix of hilariously dramatic whininess and real vulnerability, while the scribbly, droll line drawings are a distraction from the depths of depression.

Doles out guidance for navigating distress with wit and empathy. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Review