Emotional intelligence is a skill that can be difficult to learn, but is vital to daily life. Angry Octopus: A Relaxation Story helps teach young readers how to relax through progressive muscular relaxation.

We meet an Octopus who lives on the ocean floor. He has a fairly typical day of waking up when the sun rises and taking a peek out at the beautiful ocean. Unfortunately, one day the exterior of his home has been completely destroyed! This makes him mad (and honestly, wouldn't we all be a little mad at that?), but he lets him emotions take over him. He loses his temper and flares with anger and frustration. Lucky for him, a sea child happens to swim by and offers him help him learn how to calm down.

She teaches him how to be the boss of his own anger through deep breathing, muscular tensing and relaxation, and a dash of friendship.

These tools are fantastic. Through years of counselling and education, I have learned this can be a great tool for anger and anxiety. It's one of many tools that can help you regain your ground again. Using this book as an education tool is a great way to teach young readers how to maintain control of themselves when their feelings get too big.

This book is full of beautiful illustrations from under the sea which pairs perfectly with this relaxing, educational tale. I highly recommend picking up this book for our kids, classes, or family to enjoy as a fun but educational read.

Four out of five stars!

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. ( )

With adorable and bright seascapes and an octopus to want to hug, this read takes a look at anger while offering suggestions on how to fight it before it explodes.

The octopus is so proud of his seashell collection, and he's laid it out perfectly outside his door, but when it's torn apart by some careless creatures, anger starts bubbling up inside. He knows it's not a huge deal, but every second his fury mounts. Finally, he explodes and makes a huge ink cloud, which blocks everything from view and doesn't make him feel an ounce better about anything. Luckily, a little sea-child swims by and wants to help.

I'm extremely particular about books, which want to assist kids in learning to deal with emotions and such. So, I always hit these with a mountain of scrutiny. But this octopus did win me over. It's so cute to watch him grow angrier and angrier, and when he explodes, it hard not to understand exactly how he feels and wish to help. The sea-child is sweet enough and comes in with natural flow. While she does offer advice, it doesn't feel preachy, but rather creates a nice read-aloud.

Obviously, this is a book with a mission. The sea-child goes through an entire regiment of exercises the octopus can do to ease his anger, when he feels it flaring up. These are written in smooth fashion. Each step is explained with the same story telling flow and does invite readers to join in, not directly but they will want to. It is directed toward the octopus, and the illustrations of the octopus trying each one are dusted with a light sense of humor...which makes readers want to try it themselves even more.

I did find this one quite cute and helpful. The exercises did draw out a bit too long, making me fight not to skip over the last 2 or 3. But in general, I found it well done and can see this especially great for a group reading, since it will have listeners stretching and scrunching and everything right along with the adorable octopus. I received a complimentary copy and found this read nicely done. ( )

A story to teach muscular relaxation. This engaging story will help children to calm down and relieve anxiety and anger. An ideal bedtime story for children with autism.