Big feelings aren't merely the domain of childhood, the picture assures readers, thus normalizing a range of human emotions as 'only natural.' A clever visual coda shows a child, stripped of animal get-ups and any clothing at all, running free. Perhaps the greatest strength of the book is its concluding incorporation of adults. Milgrim's boldly outlined, digitally produced illustrations expand beyond their focuses on the children to provide context for the highlighted feelings-the child who feels 'as chicken as a chicken' is afraid of a friendly-looking dog on a leash, for example. The conceit of animal costumes as visual metaphor for emotions described in the text carries on to depict children who are feeling as 'stubborn as a mule' and 'clumsy as an ox' and 'sad as a lost kitten in the rain,' among other states. A child dressed as a lion roars the word 'FEELINGS' in the display type on the book's cover.

(Sept.A compassionate look at feelings uses animal similes to affirm universal human emotions. The minimally detailed spreads are nicely composed and uncluttered, yet there's nothing fresh about either the material or Milgrim's handling of it. Using dialogue balloons as well as straight text, Milgrim saturates each page with heavy shades of orange, royal purple, teal and blue, and works in big, bold shapes with thick black-ink outlines.

The author augments his rather thin premise by suggesting that Sneakers leads a late-night intellectual life at doggy cafes and movie houses this amounts to a good-natured swat at human slackers, but doesn't advance the plot.

Images of the smiling dog, who splashes in a pool heedless of the father yelling, ''Hey! No dogs in the pool!'', tend to support the ''genius'' theory of Sneakers as a canny canine whose feigned ignorance allows him to do exactly as he pleases. ''I think he's faking it,'' says the young narrator, whose parents haven't caught on to Sneakers' act. When told to fetch or roll over, he shrugs upon hearing the words ''You're in my chair!,'' he points to a dunce cap on his head and stares pointedly at the TV. Sneakers the dog would rather play dumb than play dead.

Wild feelings by david milgrim