Jenny Mei Is Sad
A Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Book
A Book Riot Best Book
With this educational and entertaining picture book, learn how to approach difficult emotions with compassion and understanding—and be the best friend you can be.
Jenny Mei still smiles a lot. She makes everyone laugh. And she still likes blue Popsicles the best. But, her friend knows that Jenny Mei is sad, and does her best to be there to support her.
This beautifully illustrated book is perfect for introducing kids to the complexity of sadness, and to show them that the best way to be a good friend, especially to someone sad, is by being there for the fun, the not-fun, and everything in between.
Praise
"Intelligently and sympathetically demonstrates that children have complex emotional lives too."
—Kirkus
"A sensitive, gracefully wrought portrait of compassion."
—Publishers Weekly
“A child’s consciousness of impending loss hums beneath the surface of Tracy Subisak’s gentle picture book “Jenny Mei Is Sad.”…In the colorful illustrations, we see Jenny Mei in school, smiling and playing the clown and then suddenly, inexplicably, tearing up a classmate’s drawing. Those who are sad, Ms. Subisak shows with kindness, don’t always behave as we imagine they should. Sad people may lash out in their misery and, indeed, feel swept away by loneliness and sorrow.
—The Wall Street Journal
"Subisak’s illustrations, rendered in India ink, Japanese watercolor, pastel, and colored pencil, are bold in color yet delicate in detail. The text is simple yet thoughtful, painting our narrator as the empathetic friend she is."
—Horn Book
"Subisak sweetly shows, in word and art, how friends are supposed to stick together, even during the not-so-fun times."
—Booklist
"A complex book with a beautiful, timely message.”
—Book Riot
