Emotion and Anger

Where the Wild Things Are is an excellent book to use when discussing emotions with children, and, although the theme is a little abstract, the author still does an exceptional job of developing the theme of dealing with anger and not letting it separate us from those we love – or from those who “love us best”. When Max is sent to his room without supper for causing mischief, he becomes angry. His wild journey becomes a metaphor for his journey through anger - the process of allowing his anger free reign, then coming to terms with it and actually processing the emotion. The forest grows in his room – just as his anger grows while he is sitting there stewing. The long journey “through the night and a day and in and out of weeks and almost over a year” show the separation that anger can cause between a person and their loved ones. The monsters become the manifestation of his anger, “roar[ing] their terrible roars and gnash[ing] their terrible teeth […] and show[ing] their terrible claws”. He takes control of his anger when he becomes their king, and he allows the anger to take over as they throw their “wild rumpus” party. In the end, Max realizes the enjoyment of his anger isn’t worth being separated from his mom – the one who “loved him best of all.”
I remember reading this book when I was little, but I don’t remember making the connection between Max’s emotions and what was actually happening in the story, though the connection is very evident; if a child didn’t make the connection themselves, it would be easily visible with some discussion. Every student could easily make text to self connections once the theme of the story had been discussed. Every child has felt as Max feels and some don’t know what to do with the emotions. Learning the lesson through Max’s story is a great way of incorporating school health into the curriculum and teaching children healthy ways of dealing with their