About this book

Katie Honors is a really brave kid. She can go to bed with just one small night light. She can hold her tears in when it’s time to say goodbye to her mom at school. But sometimes Katie isn’t ready to say goodbye and doesn’t feel brave at all. When this happens, she Kaplooms! She refuses to let go of her mom, and everything is flurried as she begins to cry. Her emotions feel frightening. It’s not the Katie Honors she wants to be. But her mother assures Katie that she can be both brave and sad, brave and crying, brave and scared.

Sometimes I Kaploom masterfully explores how hard it can be for children when they’re nervous or scared and have to transition to new places and faces when they just don’t feel quite ready. In another poignant, honest, and insightful story, readers learn along with Katie that bravery and fear are not mutually exclusive.

Reviews

Praise for Sometimes I Kaploom:

* "Vail and Yum have here created a helpful book for parents and children dealing with separation anxiety." -- Booklist, starred review

"Vail ensures big feelings are thoroughly acknowledged; Yum's art assures Vail's words get empathically recognized." -- Shelf Awareness

Praise for Sometimes I Grumblesquinch:

* "Sensitive and emotionally true, a comforting portrayal of big emotions." -- Kirkus Reviews, starred review

Praise for Sometimes I'm Bombaloo:

"Emotions bubble over in this wise picture book about how a child deals with anger. Heo's (Father's Rubber Shoes) highly patterned rnixed-media illustrations, alternately warm and perky, use vibrant backgrounds, blocks of color, and carefully chosen images to depict Katie's emotional tornado." -- Publishers Weekly

* "A keen-eyed view on the evolution and eruption of a child's tantrum and its aftermath... An honest and understanding appraisal of tantrums from the child's perspective." -- Kirkus Reviews, starred review

* "Vail gets right inside a kid's psyche, and Heo's inventive artwork catches the kaleidoscope of emotions found there in a book that is both realistic and funny. Kudos to Vail and Heo for making a scary subject manageable." -- Booklist, starred review

"Anger is the subject of this wonderfully illustrated and beautifully designed picture book. The subject and age of the character in this title bear a very close resemblance to those in Molly Bang's When Sophie Gets Angry -- Really, Really Angry (Scholastic, 1999), yet they are different enough in voice and mode of resolution that most collections will want both." -- School Library Journal