misscalije's review
5.0
There are two picture book biographies of Fred Rogers. This is the unauthorized one. I preferred this for my reading program, however, because I think it does a much better job of creative a narrative through-line, even if it is at the expense of telling the story a bit out of order.
Mister Rogers is a big role model for me and I think it represents his legacy very well.
Mister Rogers is a big role model for me and I think it represents his legacy very well.
ashleyaewert's review
4.0
This one was all about the nostalgia for me! I loved watching Mr. Rogers growing up so it was great to learn about his younger days that led him to creating his show!
jkribbit's review
5.0
A beautiful picture book about everyone’s favorite neighbor, Mr. Rogers.
My favorite quote, when describing how music helped Mr. Rogers to deal with his emotions:
“Worry fretted and fussed...and faded. Sadness wailed and whimpered...and waned. Anger crashed and clattered...and calmed.”
My favorite quote, when describing how music helped Mr. Rogers to deal with his emotions:
“Worry fretted and fussed...and faded. Sadness wailed and whimpered...and waned. Anger crashed and clattered...and calmed.”
rhodesee's review
4.0
I'm always on the look out for good non-fiction and biographies for younger audiences and this one is really wonderful. Great pictures and and I really like that the focus is on feelings because this could be recommended to someone looking for books about feelings and emotions and not just someone looking for books about Mr. Rogers.
abigailbat's review
This picture book biography illustrates the life of Fred Rogers, especially looking through the lens of the feelings that Rogers experienced since acknowledging and honor children's feelings is how Rogers built his career. When he was a child, Fred felt sad, scared, and lonely when he was bullied by other children and isolated due to his asthma. He reflected on those feelings and dedicated his life to helping children experience and manage their own feelings in order to grow up to be caring adults. With several books and films about Mr. Rogers being produced over the past few years, this is a hot topic and this picture book is a good introduction for young readers. The text and illustrations are a good match to a man whose life was so involved with emotional regulation.
choirqueer's review
5.0
I really enjoyed this book and I think Mr. Rogers would have, too. I liked how the vibrant illustrations and exuberating text made me feel like both the illustrator and the author were very excited to work on this project. The focus on hitting the major highlights of Fred Rogers's life story while illuminating different emotions that a reader might relate to seemed particularly appropriate -- in another context it might have felt overly didactic, but in this book it felt really well-considered to use this as a way to help introduce a young reader to "feelings words" and offer tools for strengthening emotional communication, which was such an important part of what Fred Rogers's mission in the world.
backonthealex's review
4.0
And what better day to look at the life and legacy of Fred Rogers A/K/A Mister Rogers. OK, it is an unconventional book for Valentines Day, but it is a day for love and we’ve heard a lot about Fred Rogers lately and all of it stressing was a caring, compassionate man he was. But who was he really and how did he become the famous man on TV that children loved for more than 50 years of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood?
Author Laura Renauld begins Fred's story by inviting the reader onto the set of the TV show with a big Hello, neighbor! just like Fred always did. But then, she switches to a behind the scenes look at who this charismatic figure was before he became Mister Rogers when "...he was Freddy Rogers, a quiet boy with big feelings."
Underweight and asthmatic, he was sad when kids didn't play with him, and scared when other kids bullied him. Asthma kept him inside the house as a boy, with made him feel lonely. And so Fred learned to express his feelings through music, but the person who really helped build his self-esteem was his grandfather McFeely, who told him "You made this day really special just by being yourself...and I happen to like you just the way you are."
Buoyed by love and an unlikely friendship in high school athlete, Fred's confidence began to soar. Eventually, Fred used his love of music to create a children's television program hoping to counter the poor quality kids' shows already on TV. He wanted it to be a place where kids would feel welcomed, loved and special. Although The Children's Corner was successful, it didn't last, but it did open the door in 1968 for Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, a show that focused on feeling, all kinds of feelings:
Click to enlarge
And what a success it was. But in 1969, Congress threatened to pull funding for public television, including Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. So Fred did what he had to do - he went to Capital Hill and explained that he just wanted to teach kids "how to express emotions constructively" and then he recited a song he had written called "What Do You Do with the Mad That You Feel?" Since his show continued for 49 more years, you know that Congress provided the funding needed for public television to stay on the air.
Fred Rogers' was all about helping kids deal with their emotions and he did it through affection, compassion and respect for the children who watched him. Most importantly, they learned that everyone has feelings and that they express them in their own special way.
Author Laura Renauld has really captured Fred's message and legacy in this thoughtful biography that is so accessible to young readers. I especially liked that throughout the book, she has italicized all the emotion words (and so did I) so that they really stand out and are readily available for generating all kinds of discussions.
Artist Brigette Barrager's illustrations compliments and harmonizes with the text on each page with her cartoon-like gouache and pencil images done in a mix of primary and secondary colors.
Fred's Big Feelings is sure to be a family and classroom favorite, especially among those who remember the shows. And kids who have never had the pleasure of watching Mister Rogers' Neighborhood will at least take away Fred's message of love and acceptance and remember that
This book is recommended for readers age 4+
This book was gratefully received from the publisher, Atheneum BFYR, an imprint of Simon & Schuster
Author Laura Renauld begins Fred's story by inviting the reader onto the set of the TV show with a big Hello, neighbor! just like Fred always did. But then, she switches to a behind the scenes look at who this charismatic figure was before he became Mister Rogers when "...he was Freddy Rogers, a quiet boy with big feelings."
Underweight and asthmatic, he was sad when kids didn't play with him, and scared when other kids bullied him. Asthma kept him inside the house as a boy, with made him feel lonely. And so Fred learned to express his feelings through music, but the person who really helped build his self-esteem was his grandfather McFeely, who told him "You made this day really special just by being yourself...and I happen to like you just the way you are."
Buoyed by love and an unlikely friendship in high school athlete, Fred's confidence began to soar. Eventually, Fred used his love of music to create a children's television program hoping to counter the poor quality kids' shows already on TV. He wanted it to be a place where kids would feel welcomed, loved and special. Although The Children's Corner was successful, it didn't last, but it did open the door in 1968 for Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, a show that focused on feeling, all kinds of feelings:
Click to enlarge
And what a success it was. But in 1969, Congress threatened to pull funding for public television, including Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. So Fred did what he had to do - he went to Capital Hill and explained that he just wanted to teach kids "how to express emotions constructively" and then he recited a song he had written called "What Do You Do with the Mad That You Feel?" Since his show continued for 49 more years, you know that Congress provided the funding needed for public television to stay on the air.
Fred Rogers' was all about helping kids deal with their emotions and he did it through affection, compassion and respect for the children who watched him. Most importantly, they learned that everyone has feelings and that they express them in their own special way.
Author Laura Renauld has really captured Fred's message and legacy in this thoughtful biography that is so accessible to young readers. I especially liked that throughout the book, she has italicized all the emotion words (and so did I) so that they really stand out and are readily available for generating all kinds of discussions.
Artist Brigette Barrager's illustrations compliments and harmonizes with the text on each page with her cartoon-like gouache and pencil images done in a mix of primary and secondary colors.
Fred's Big Feelings is sure to be a family and classroom favorite, especially among those who remember the shows. And kids who have never had the pleasure of watching Mister Rogers' Neighborhood will at least take away Fred's message of love and acceptance and remember that
This book is recommended for readers age 4+
This book was gratefully received from the publisher, Atheneum BFYR, an imprint of Simon & Schuster
calistareads's review
5.0
I love the artwork used to tell the story in this. I also love the focus on expressing ones feelings. One of the lines is: " Worry, fretted and fussed... and faded Sadness wailed and whimpered... and waned. Anger crashed and clattered... and calmed." Some those words bring up the emotions.
This is a great story. Fred was a lonely kid with asthma. His grandfather helped him with is self-esteem saying "You made this day a really special day just by being yourself... and I happen to like you just the way you are." Those are beautiful words.
Fred made a show to help kids express feelings and find positive ways to deal with them.
The pace of the show is slow as everything was back in the 70s and 80s. We tried to get the kids to watch a show we found and they were bored and wouldn't watch it. It was on Amazon and they only had his 1st season which is even slower. Daniel Tiger's show is better and they would watch that.
Things are so different now. When I was a kid, there wasn't a whole lot of programming for kids. There was saturday morning cartoons and then there was PBS Sesame Street, Mister Rogers and Electric Company. Every day I couldn't wait to see those programs. After school was a pre-teen stuff like drama, but not for kids. There were only 4 channels where I was. Cable came in the mid-80s for us and then Nickelodeon happened with kids stuff all day. Now, there are 100s of kid shows on demand anytime you feel like it waiting to be checked out. It's not just one choice, you can like any number of shows. Netflix, Amazon, they all have some great kids shows and some not so great ones, but you can see them anytime. It's such a difference and the pacing is fast and keeps your attention. How different it is now.
What I found was that I had to learn patience. My show only came on at a set time. The show forced the pacing to be slow. I didn't have a whole lot of choice at first. Niece and Nephew never waited. Just waiting for the show to cue up, they would be yelling to hurry up. It was very different and it was any time they felt like it. I don't think they learned any patience with that. I still see them have a hard time with patience and they still want everything now. They'll learn patience in other ways, true, but life is very different today than it was. It also doesn't bring a generation together. In the 50s if was Howdy Doody, or Mickey Mouse club, in my day is was the muppets and Mister Rogers and later it was Elmo and Barney. Everyone sort of knew the culture. Now, everyone watches their own stuff and it doesn't bring together a generation. There isn't one show everyone talks about, but a group of friends will talk about a show and to join a group you go and watch the show. I find it so interesting.
Anyway... This book is fabulous and gives a great history of Mister Rogers. I watched this show daily for 4 or 5 years and I loved it. I love what Fred stands for and this is a great history on the man and how he came up with his show that got him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2002. It even goes into his trip to congress and how he saved funding for PBS.
It will keep people's attention.
This is a great story. Fred was a lonely kid with asthma. His grandfather helped him with is self-esteem saying "You made this day a really special day just by being yourself... and I happen to like you just the way you are." Those are beautiful words.
Fred made a show to help kids express feelings and find positive ways to deal with them.
The pace of the show is slow as everything was back in the 70s and 80s. We tried to get the kids to watch a show we found and they were bored and wouldn't watch it. It was on Amazon and they only had his 1st season which is even slower. Daniel Tiger's show is better and they would watch that.
Things are so different now. When I was a kid, there wasn't a whole lot of programming for kids. There was saturday morning cartoons and then there was PBS Sesame Street, Mister Rogers and Electric Company. Every day I couldn't wait to see those programs. After school was a pre-teen stuff like drama, but not for kids. There were only 4 channels where I was. Cable came in the mid-80s for us and then Nickelodeon happened with kids stuff all day. Now, there are 100s of kid shows on demand anytime you feel like it waiting to be checked out. It's not just one choice, you can like any number of shows. Netflix, Amazon, they all have some great kids shows and some not so great ones, but you can see them anytime. It's such a difference and the pacing is fast and keeps your attention. How different it is now.
What I found was that I had to learn patience. My show only came on at a set time. The show forced the pacing to be slow. I didn't have a whole lot of choice at first. Niece and Nephew never waited. Just waiting for the show to cue up, they would be yelling to hurry up. It was very different and it was any time they felt like it. I don't think they learned any patience with that. I still see them have a hard time with patience and they still want everything now. They'll learn patience in other ways, true, but life is very different today than it was. It also doesn't bring a generation together. In the 50s if was Howdy Doody, or Mickey Mouse club, in my day is was the muppets and Mister Rogers and later it was Elmo and Barney. Everyone sort of knew the culture. Now, everyone watches their own stuff and it doesn't bring together a generation. There isn't one show everyone talks about, but a group of friends will talk about a show and to join a group you go and watch the show. I find it so interesting.
Anyway... This book is fabulous and gives a great history of Mister Rogers. I watched this show daily for 4 or 5 years and I loved it. I love what Fred stands for and this is a great history on the man and how he came up with his show that got him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2002. It even goes into his trip to congress and how he saved funding for PBS.
It will keep people's attention.