The Penguin Who Lost Her Cool: A Story About Controlling Your Anger by Marla Sobel

Illustrated by Denise Gilgannon. 59 p., Childswork/Childsplay, 2000.

Penelope Penguin, an elementary school student, gets so angry - justifiably - when Splashy taunts her about her diving skills that she loses her concentration and dives poorly. Her friend Snow empathizes with her anger, and teaches her to take deep breaths and count to ten when she's angry to help her calm down, so that she doesn't do anything impulsive. But Penelope continues to react angrily to several provocations. Unfortunately, time out is used as a punishment rather than as a self-control technique, as she ends up in the "Chill Out" room, with the threat that if she loses her temper again, she won't be allowed to compete in tomorrow's diving contest. At the contest, Splashy again taunts Penelope about her diving skills. But this time Penelope remembers what to do. She breathes deeply, counts to ten, and performs a perfect dive. Splashy tries to provoke Penelope again, but Penelope is having none of it. She enjoys her successes at both diving and controlling her anger. An introduction for adults explains issues around anger control in children. Illustrated with black-and-white drawings. Children who struggle with anger will find empathy in Penelope's experiences, as well as a good role model for going from uncontrolled to controlled anger.

Ages: 5-10
Cultural Context: non-human