Storm Goliath is a great picture book exploring anger and how to deal with it in a healthy way.
Everyone gets angry sometimes, but Goliath seems to storm into a rage faster than any of the other animals in the jungle - whether it's a tree branch in his way, or a birthday party interrupting his nap, Goliath tends to explode first, think later. But when he ruins Marvin the monkey's birthday, Goliath starts to realise that the way he deals with his anger isn't fair on his friends, and it isn't making him feel any better either. Perhaps there's another way to deal with his feelings.
I think this story will resonate with a lot of toddlers and young children. It shows that getting angry at situations (especially when you're tired or hungry) is completely normal, but that doesn't mean that it's okay to lash out at others. Goliath has to learn a new way to respond to his anger if he wants to be kind to his friends.
Shuttlewood's illustrations are filled with colour and detail. I love the eye-catching red on the cover - which so clearly reflects the theme of this book! The animal's reactions, often captured in tiny snippets of text, are very clever too and help to prompt conversations about what's happening on the page and why it is or isn't okay.
The back pages teases the next book in this series devoted to dealing with feelings, which sounds just as exciting.
Thank you New Frontier Publishing for sending me a copy to review
Storm Goliath is written by James Sellick and illsutrated by Craig Shuttlewood