A girl learns to identify her feelings and improve her outlook in Deana Plaskon’s insightful picture book Bella and Bird Explore Sadness.

Molly is feeling sad, and Bella the horse and Bird want to help. They tell Molly that everyone gets sad sometimes and the best response isn’t to just ignore it. Molly then reveals that her other friends excluded her from a soccer game, because they had enough players and they didn’t think Molly would be good, regardless.

Molly feels like she has no friends, but with empathy and encouragement, Bella and Bird help Molly see that she has other friends who might be better matches for her, like Hazel, who she plays with at recess and Olive at swim class. Bella and Bird also show Molly how to communicate her emotions by drawing a picture and by finding words that specifically describe her sadness. This leads to solutions, and by book’s end, Molly is feeling better and more optimistic about the future.

The author, a licensed clinical therapist, offers many useful suggestions on how to handle sadness, delivered in ways children can easily understand. For example, Bella tells Molly, “If you want to feel better, you need to think better,” and shows her how to analyze the situation rationally. Bella and Bird also demonstrate a calming and relaxation technique called “feather breathing”—inhaling through the nose and breathing out through the mouth while focusing on a feather held in front of one’s face—as well as the practice of using an emotion wheel to pinpoint one’s exact feelings.

The art is colorful, expressive and polished, offering graceful illustrations of Molly and others. Molly’s own drawing is presented in an appealing and convincing kid’s style. The art also provides clarity through visual references, such as examples of an emotion wheel and its components.

In sum, Bella and Bird Explore Sadness is a sweet, helpful guide for children to better manage feelings of sadness.