Allie All Along

Written by Sarah Lynne Reul

A girl's fury erupts. Can her brother help her find calm beneath the storm?

4.4/7 Bookroo experts·4.3/5 Goodreads · 528 ratings

40 pages· 189 words· Est. 2 min read-aloud

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Bookroo's summary

Allie's crayon breaks, unleashing a storm of fury. Her emotions explode, leaving her stomping and smashing in a fit of rage. But beneath the anger, is there a sweet girl waiting to be found? With her big brother's gentle guidance, Allie learns to navigate her overwhelming feelings and find her way back to calm. Vivid illustrations capture the intensity of emotions that words often fail to express. Discover how Allie transforms her anger into peace, one step at a time, in this heartfelt tale of sibling support and emotional growth.

From the publisher

Poor Allie! She’s in a rage, stomping and smashing, throwing a tantrum, and having a fit. Is there a sweet little girl hiding somewhere under all the angry layers? With the help of her understanding big brother, she’s able to calm down, bit by bit, and become herself again. The illustrations’ varying hues and vibrant colors capture the powerful feelings that young children can’t always express in words.

At a glance

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 40
Words: 189
Reading age: 4–7
Audience: Picture
Lexile: 490L

Themes & topics

Books about anger Books about feelings and emotions Books about colors Books about helping others Books about siblings

Good to know

Stories behind the story

Where did you originally get the idea for this book?

When my girls were toddler, they would get so incredibly full of feelings that they would just explode into sobbing tantrums. Sometimes it seemed ridiculous, the things they would cry over (the blue cup is in the dishwasher! You wouldn’t let me play with the electrical cords! I can’t take my fingers off!)… But when you are so little and it’s hard to communicate, this stuff is as real as it gets. When my youngest was a toddler, and in the middle of a fit, it often seemed like there was nothing I could do except wait for it to blow over – any attempt I made to talk with her just made it worse. However, her sister (4 years older), would often step in to help, and when she spoke, the little one would pause, sniff, and listen. That break from crying was sometimes enough of a distraction to let us in to help her find ways to calm herself, so that we could deal with the crux of the problem, whatever it was … and that’s what sparked the idea for ALLIE ALL ALONG

What part of creating Allie All Along did you most enjoy?

One thing that made ALLIE ALL ALONG super fun to create was that I was working in color almost from the beginning! You can see my rough thumbnail/storyboard drawings for the layout of the book above. Usually I start my projects with just plain old regular pencil and leave decisions about color for much later in the process, but for this story, the color scheme was integral all of the shedding layers.

What readers & critics say

Reviews

4.4

out of 7

4.0

“I love the overall idea of this book—it walks you through some of the stages of anger a young girl has when her crayon breaks as her older brother tries to help her calm down. However, I'm not a fan of all of the methods they suggest to help her get less angry (punching a pillow, squeezing something really tight). I did like the steps to count down from ten and take deep breaths, but I think this could have had better tips to learn emotional regulation (like talking through the emotion). I also don't love that when the girl gets mad she "stomped, smashed, crashed, and threw a tantrum, a fuss, and a fit." I felt like that page condoned those behaviors when you're mad.”

B is for Bookworm

Trusted reviewer

5.5

“This is a great book for giving a glimpse at some different techniques for coping with and working through anger in productive ways that are accessible to children and don't condone being angry or lashing out at other people! Watching the little "monster" transition colors and work through the rainbow from red back to cooler colors and finally back to being just a little girl is a fun way to see Allie's progress through her emotions.”

Marmee

Trusted reviewer

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