What Feelings Do When No One’s Looking by Tina Oziewicz and Aleksandra Zając is a glorious picture book that deeply contemplates 31 feelings in the most evocative and mesmerising way. In this book the feelings vividly come to life through endearing, furry, round, plump creatures that are depicted with the most expressive facial expressions and body language. These whimsical creatures embody each emotion and the resultant behaviour that may come about as a result of experiencing each feeling.
Each feeling is addressed over a two-page spread containing (mostly) one reflective, relatable sentence that deftly describes the actions of the feeling; what they would do if they were human. For example, some of my favourites are: “Imagination wanders down an unbeaten path” and “delight runs to show a friend a newly discovered book” (you can’t help but smile when you see the heart-warming and joyous illustration that accompanies these words).
The illustrations, brimming with charming details, employ a subtle and restricted colour palette with some pops of soft muted tones. Within each illustration there is so much to unpack, stories within stories. This is a book where you want to linger on each page – soak in the words, look at the details in the illustrations and with this you begin to ponder – what are the creatures thinking? What has evoked this feeling for them? It takes the reader back to a time when they experienced a similar feeling and stirs the emotions. It inspires conversations about the gamut of emotions we all experience and the impact they may have and importantly why.
The book is beautifully resolved on the last page and could not have been a more perfect ending for the reader. This book deserves to be in every library collection and I suspect will quickly become a favourite.