This is a beautifully written and eye-catching book that deals with a very real issue of being a "hot head" and saying you're sorry. Both my girls (aged 18 months and 5 years) love this book and want me to read it over and over! I often substitute their names for "Maddie" when they are acting like her! Perfect for teaching little ones to think before they act and to consider other's feelings.

This book is scary. I thought it was for my daughter, but when I read it, I discovered it had lessons for me. What a terrific story and teaching tool.

Any parent would benefit from having this wonderful book in their children's library. The art work is adorable and intriguing, but the story is compelling and stimulating. I hope other parents find this book as encouraging and comforting as I did.

This is a great model for other teaching stories that can help parents teach important attitudes and behaviors to our children. Thank you Stacie.

We have 7 grandchildren and they all are a handful. This book was an instant hit and now they are saying they are sorry, but not feeling any shame. The story opened up a whole new world of communication with them. Thanks for a great gift.

I would suggest that this book be assigned to all entering college students. The white male patriarchal agenda of hatred has made it essential that the incredible variety of writings produced by women take center stage. Let's finally say goodbye to "Western Civ", which white males have perpetrated for far too long. Jane Marcus is brilliant and courageous, and I want to read more of her books.

White males are living a lie if they don't read Jane Marcus's heroic efforts to portray women's responses to literature as substantially different and independent of males' responses. The anger that women feel when they are continually told that women's literature is worthless, is stupid, and unimportant is displayed with devestating clarity in this work. It seems that women read more empathically, are better able to identify with characters' feelings, and are more able to experience rage at the injustices inherent in a fictional work; males, on the other hand, seem to desire books that contain violence, explicit sexism, and patriarchal systems of networks which exclude women from power structures. This book is a must read for women who wish to show that what they read is not "trivial" or "stupid" because a woman wrote it, it is trivial and stupid sexism that posits that what women have to say is not worth hearing.

A remarkably well-written book - a MUST for everyone's library. It is a book about all of us, and on how to understand and manage *love* - this most important aspect of each of our lives. It is a more than worthy successor to such classics as Erich Fromm's "The Art of Loving," Thomas Harris's "I'm OK, You're OK," and M. Scott Peck's "The Road Less Traveled." If you should have the even the *slightest* reason to do so, I would strongly urge you to *read* this book!

William Antonio Boyle, 14 December 1998

For me this book helped me see beyond the Holliwood vision of relationships. It gave me a framework for understanding them as they really are; lots of hard work and occasional pain.

As a mother of two, and child psychologist, I highly recommend this book. My 3 year old daughter loves it. The first time I read it to her, she laughed uproariously while also seeming somewhat shocked. Basically, the book normalizes the experience of a kid's anger, making it safe, o.k., and offering a positive way to picture calming down. I think my daughter feels less guilty about getting angry, and realizes other kids feel the same way sometimes. Now she reads the book outloud (having basically memorized it) and uses lots of animated voices and gestures.
A total hit for us!

I read this book to my 4-year-old son who was absolutely riveted by it. He asked me to read it to him time and again. It's the first book he learned to "read" (the way 4-year-olds read -- he memorized it and then read it aloud). He then brought it to nursery school and read it to his class.

This book was at best mediocre. I would not recommend it to anyone who is looking for genuine help with anger. Some sections were decent, but overall I would not purchase this book. There were too many weak sections that sounded like mumbo jumbo.

As a cab driver I found this very illuminating, I understand my self as well as my passangers much better. I understand my rage and predjudices.

Fun and colorful illustrations, flowing and fun rhyming text, and a storyline that will no doubt give cause for discussion. The little girl Melanie Jane throws a tantrum like no other when her mother is unable to paint the sky red. The parents try to bribe her, coddle her, and plead with her to stop her tantrum. Although I know the storyline is exaggerated and over-the-top, I was still a little concerned my daughter might think bribing and letting a child's tantrum rule the parents is acceptable and normal. But as it's all in fun, as well as being fun to read, I recommend it with only minor reservations.