I somewhat slough off a lot of Peanuts books aimed at children. I can appreciate that the people making them are doing good work, but at the same time feel that a properly formatted book of the actual comic strips would actually serve the kid better. But then, I’m a big believer in Peanuts-the-comic-strip.

But I’m going to make an exception for Goodness and Good Grief!, written by Natalie Shaw and drawn by Robert Pope. The first half of this short book is dedicated to discussing the types of situation where one might say “Good Grief!” (they always capitalize and punctuate it like that.) It covers being frustrated, afraid, angry. bored, or any of several other negative emotions that might elicit such a statement.  Then it tells you that you can get beyond that emotion, that expressing the emotion is a good step, and that you can follow up by choosing to go do or focus on something else.

Is this deep? No. This is self-help 101. This is Baby’s First Book of Coping. It’s direct and simple, and I think it could do a lot of kids some good. My Peanutsy self is satisfied with appropriate Peanuts references and Pope’s always-on-the-mark renditions of Schulz, but this book isn’t for me. I no longer have kids of the age that this would be on the mark for, but I think it would make a nice gift for the early readers in your life. It won’t cure all things, but it might improve their tools for dealing with the realities of life.

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