Cry hard Chucky by Andrew Kelly and Emma Stuart

Cry Hard Chucky is a book to put into the homes of all those adults who were told to stop crying when they were upset as children. It's a poignant reminder of how adult responses to children showing emotion can have a big impact on their emotional development. 

On each page a young boy named Chucky does something wrong, hurts himself or feels sad or scared. On each occasion his dad recites the same refrain: 'Cry hard, Chucky, it'll do you good'. And it does. The illustrations do a lot of the heavy lifting here, showing great emotional facial features and body language from both Chucky and his family. They also show Chucky afterwards, not always happy but always having another go, lifting himself up from his sorrow or his hurt and moving forward. 

Beautiful watercolour illustrations portray wonderfully common family spaces, maintaining realistic and relatable settings and events for young Aussie kids (family bathtime, the safety of hiding in a kitchen corner, school sports days, saying goodbye to family pets and trips to the hospital). This is a lovely reminder for everyone that it's always best (and okay!) to let our emotions out and accept comfort and gives a nice line for adults to try with their own children (cry hard, it'll do you good). 

Themes: Emotions, Family, Emotional Support, Rhyming Books.

Nicole Nelson