How Great Is This Children’s Book About Feelings?

When I received a copy of the children’s book Mixed Feelings, by New Yorker cartoonist Liana Finck, couldn’t wait to dig deeper. Start with the question “How do I feel?” and then describes emotions that can be difficult for children to name, such as the specific boredom that arises when “there are so many things to do, but none of them are what I want to do.”

When we read the book together, my six-year-old son asked, “Why is the boy yelling NOT TIRED?” But then he falls asleep?!” To which I responded, with just a bit of a sideways glance, “Hmm. Because you think?”

I’m excited to share a few pages from the book, plus a Q&A with Liana…

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Kaitlyn: How did you choose the title, Mixed Feelings?
Liana: I remember having very strong feelings as a child and not even imagining that there could be a way to describe them. In reality, many were a mix of feelings, such as shyness, as well as confusion about feeling shy. Some of the feelings in the book were inspired by my three-year-old son, but everything about shyness was inspired by my own childhood.

Are there other characters based on your childhood?
The boy who pretends to be a horse. I got kicked out of daycare for pretending to be a dog, and I was a very nice dog, not rowdy, barking, biting, or anything like that! But the teachers didn’t like it. What was so mortifying at the time is that I couldn’t explain why I did what I did. Looking back, I’m sure it was because I was shy and trying to connect with the other kids in this fun way.

I read that you identify as neurodivergent. How has that shaped your relationship with your feelings?
Yes, I have very strong senses and I often feel overwhelmed by noises, and that can make me act strangely. With neurodivergence, there are years when it becomes the most important thing to me. It’s like I have this drawer: it’s always there, but sometimes it takes me a year to go through everything in it. I’m just coming out of one of those years.

What do you want children to learn from the book?
I hope children learn not to judge their feelings by people’s reactions to them. Children can feel a lot of shame, especially when other people don’t understand them. I know I did and I think my son did too. I wish I had learned sooner to honor my feelings.

Me too! As a parent, I also felt seen in the book’s descriptions of caregiving.
There is a page in which a girl points out a bird but fails to get her mother’s attention. I hope adult readers see that the mom is also taking care of a baby and a dog, it’s raining, and she’s put everyone in their rain gear and headed out the door. She looks like she can barely hold herself together. I have been that girl and I have been that mother.

Do you like doing children’s book events?
Yes, I love asking children questions; It’s so fun to hear what they have to say. Children are much more different from each other than adults are from each other. Furthermore, there is always one child who talks and another who is shy but really wants to say something.

Your parenting comics are popular on Instagram. Is there a reader favorite?
My New YorkerJapanese style cartoons take the form of a double whammy, like a joke, but my Instagram cartoons are just a single whammy. People liked the one that shows a mother and baby thinking in the same thought bubble, which says, “Mine.” They belong to each other.

What are some of his Favorite children’s books?
I grew up reading Tell Me a Mitzi. Also, Arnold Lobel’s Mr. Owl at Home, which is just as wonderful but not as well-known as the Frog and Toad series, and George and Martha, because their friendship is so warm and comfortable.

Congratulations, Liana, for your beautiful book!

PS: Hot dads in children’s books and stylish moms in children’s books.

(Photo of Liana Finck by Annette Hornischer).