Allie All Along

Due to requests from teachers and librarians asking for a read-alouds to share with students while they’re at home, I’ve created a storytime playlist on my YouTube channel, which will remain up at least through June 30th, 2021 – please feel free to share the link with your students. If you have further questions about online sharing of my books, please see the statement from my literary agent on my Info page. Thank you!

“What appears to be a simple story upon first glance actually offers uncomplicated yet practical remedies for helping a child deal with a strong emotion.” – Booklist (Starred Review)

ALLIE ALL ALONG, Sterling Publishing

“‘Allie’s crayon broke.   I blinked.
She was suddenly . . . furious, fuming, frustrated and so, so SO ANGRY!”
Poor Allie! She’s in a rage, throwing a tantrum, a fuss and a fit.   Is there a little girl hiding under all those angry layers? And can her big brother find a way to make things all right again? 

Allie All Along

ACTIVITIES for ALLIE ALL ALONG: 

Printable activity sheet:

ALLIE_handoutDownload

Many thanks to Lori Hill of Barrows Elementary School in Reading, MA, for creating the initial version of this activity!

Here are some beautiful examples of student work created at the Barrows School and at the Wood End school, just before an author visit:

If you’re looking for non-worksheet options, Joanne Toh (@theplayjournals on Instagram) has created two wonderful activities related to ALLIE that can be used at home or in the classroom! Check out these lovely ideas (as well as all of her wonderful other posts!):

This angry-layers activity has two images – click the arrow in the photo below:

View this post on Instagram

ALLIE ALL ALONG This was the PERFECT read for Mr 3, whose anger knows no bounds (we are still a work in progress 😅). It's a good one to help all kids with big emotions learn how to ease their anger before they reach a meltdown. 😥 Not only were simple and practical self-calming strategies suggested, it leaves an important message for us parents too – that no matter how much their anger-related behaviour can make them seem like a total brat, they are but only our little child hidden beneath the angry layers. ❤ Love and patience is all we need. To help Mr 3 remember the strategies, I wrapped his favourite Spiderman toy (who got really "angry" for having been neglected!) in different recycled materials and had him calm Spiderman in different ways before peeling off his angry layers one by one. 👉🏻 Swipe to see the transition. Then we practised the strategies again on ourselves. . ✔ Vocabulary – Lots of synonyms for 'angry' were used, which can help provide the language to describe their exact feelings, e.g. How angry are you? ✔ Visuals – Different coloured layers of Allie help depict the stages of anger we sometimes go through. ALLIE ALL ALONG | Written and illustrated by Sarah Lynne Reul, published by @sterlingbooks. . . . #theplayjournals_kidlit

A post shared by Joanne | everyday language (@theplayjournals) on

The calm-down basket she put together here incorporates lots more coping mechanisms to help little ones with big feelings:

View this post on Instagram

CALM DOWN BASKET We've been working really hard to support Mr 3.5 in using different coping mechanisms whenever he feels overwhelmed. This calm down basket is now his go-to for big feelings and he knows how to use everything independently to feel better. We repurposed a picnic basket because it's portable and has a small twist lock. Which means Mr 3.5 can easily carry it to any quiet space in the house and Miss 20m can't access it normally. What's inside: 🌟 Beach sensory bottle (swipe to see) 🌟 Small sheets of bubble wrap to pop 🌟 TP roll breathers 🌟 Stress balloon filled with flour 🌟 Notepad and paper 🌟 Fave stuffed toy 🌟 Calm-down books for kids . This is still a work in progress and we'll add more as we go along. Do you have a calm down basket/corner? I'd love to know what other items you include! . . . (Inspired by @2mamas4kids, @childrenlovetoplay and @popsicles_play) . #mindfulnessforkids #calmdownbasket #mindfulness #amindfulmotherhood #emotionaldevelopment #mindfulparenting #sensorybottle #calmdownstrategies #angermanagement #sensoryplay #bigfeelings #mymagicbreath #allieallalong

A post shared by Joanne | everyday language (@theplayjournals) on

MORE REVIEWS & PRESS FOR ALLIE ALL ALONG:

“…The artistic rendering of Allie as a color-changing monster is a multidimensional way of visually representing anger to young children while giving them skills to cope and eventually learn to calm themselves.  Reul uses language economically, making this ideal for the audience but still powerful enough for discussing emotions at any age.  VERDICT: A solid addition to the canon of books helping young children address social and emotional learning.” – School Library Journal

“Sarah Lynne Reul’s illustrations are brilliantly evocative of each mood as Allie cools down, and the language she uses provides readers with a veritable thesaurus of vocabulary words for angry feelings: “ferocious,” “fierce,” irritable.” … Children who are still trying to find words for their own powerful feelings will love seeing Allie’s moods reflected in colors and should even pick up a few anger management tips from her wise, loving older brother.” – Shelf Awareness

“Wow! What can you say about a book that perfectly describes what it feels like when you’re so, so angry!” Review on Literacious blog 

“…I could continue to laud different aspects of Reul’s book, like the loving relationship portrayed between siblings, but I will just say that it is worth reading to kids who get angry. And what kid doesn’t?” – Review on Glass of Wine, Glass of Milk blog 

ALLIE ALL ALONG is available for purchase at: