Book Buzz: Out Of A Jar
Out Of A Jar
Written and illustrated by Deborah Marcero
Ages 5-7, G.P. Putnam’s Sons an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC
Llewellyn returns with his jar collecting hobby in In A Jar with another adventure involving jars. We find him scared… well, but only of scary movies, cartoons and the like. Even though he loves scary things… he really doesn’t like to be scared! So, he tries to hide his fear anywhere he can: under his bed, in a drawer. But he just couldn’t keep fear from coming back. So, as Llewellyn is keen to do, he shoves his fear in a jar. Then he hides the jar in the basement in a closet. So, he doesn’t feel fear anymore.
Well, that seems to work just fine. Through various experiences at school and with friends, he stuffs many emotions in jars: sadness when he thinks friends are keeping secrets from him, excitement when in music class he dances uncontrollably, anger, loneliness, joy, disappointment – they all got the same treatment. In a jar in a closet in the basement.
Soon, Llewellyn doesn’t feel anything – no emotion at all.
Only when he is embarrassed with his clay art class project did he try to stuff one more emotion in that secret closet in the basement. However, it is full of all his emotions! In jars! Soon, all the jars crack open and Llewellyn’s emotions run amuck. Once the emotions get out, he feels relieved! He is actually happy to feel his emotions again. Only this time, he embraces his emotions and shares his feelings with his friends. After that, he releases his emotions.
Out Of A Jar’s metaphor of stuffing emotions inside and not embracing them, while not emotionally healthy, teaches youngsters about acknowledging that everyone has emotions and experiences them from time to time. The story is a wonderful opportunity to begin talking about emotions to children and how they can experience them in a safe and emotionally healthy way.
