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, I couldn’t wait to dig in. It opens with the question “How do I feel?” and then depicts emotions that can be hard for kids to name, like the specific boredom that arises when “there are so many things to do, but none of them is what I want to do.”

When we read the book together, my six-year-old asked, “Why does the kid shout NOT TIRED! but then falls right to sleep?!” To which, I replied, with only a bit of side-eye, “Hmm. Why do 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 really strong feelings as a kid and not even fathoming that there could be a way to describe them. Many were actually mixtures of feelings, like shyness, plus confusion about feeling shy. Some of the feelings in the book were inspired by my three-year-old, but anything about shyness was inspired by my own childhood.

Are any other characters based on your childhood?
The kid who pretends to be a horse. I got expelled from nursery school for pretending to be a dog — and I was a very nice dog, not rowdy or barking or biting or anything! But the teachers did not 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 that it came from being shy and trying to connect with the other kids in this funny way.

I read that you identify as neurodivergent. How has that shaped your relationship to your feelings?
Yes, I have very strong senses and am often overwhelmed by noises, and that can make me act weird. With neurodivergence, there are years where it becomes the biggest thing for me. It’s like I have this drawer — it’s always there, but sometimes I’ll take a year to just examine everything in it. I’m just coming out of one of those years.

What’s something you want kids to take from the book?
I hope kids learn not to judge their feelings by people’s reactions to them. Kids can feel so much shame, especially when other people don’t understand them. I know I did, and I think my son does, too. I wish I’d learned sooner how to honor my feelings.

Me, too! As a parent, I also felt seen in the book’s portrayals of caregiving.
There’s a page where a little girl is pointing out a bird but can’t get her mom’s attention. I hope adult readers see that the mom is also taking care of an infant and a dog, and it’s raining, and she’s gotten everyone into their rain gear and out the door. She looks like she’s barely holding it together. I’ve been that little girl, and I’ve been that mom.

Do you enjoy doing book events for kids?
Yes, I love to ask kids questions — it’s so much fun to hear what they have to say. Kids are so much more different from each other than adults are from each other. Plus, there’s always one kid who is a talker and another who’s shy but really wants to say something.

Your parenting comics are popular on Instagram. Is there a reader favorite?
My New Yorker-style cartoons take the form of a one-two punch, like a stand-up joke, but my Instagram cartoons are just a single punch. People liked the one with a mother and baby both thinking the same thought bubble, which says, ‘Mine.’ They belong to each other.

What are a few of your favorite children’s books?
I grew up reading Tell Me a Mitzi. Plus, 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.

Huge congratulations, Liana, on your beautiful book!

P.S. Hot dads in children’s books, and chic moms in children’s books.

(Photo of Liana Finck by Annette Hornischer.)