“There’s A Monster in My Cupboard” by Susannah Nilsen

• 01/26/2023
• 1 comment

There’s A Monster In My Cupboard

Susannah Nilsen
Floribunda Publishing (2022)
ISBN: 978-0645629118
Reviewed by Lily Andrews for Reader Views (10/2023)

Emotions are part of our everyday lives, but at times it feels like they are controlling how we think and act to the point where we feel like we’re not in control anymore. “There’s A Monster in My Cupboard: Emotions: our brain, our body, and our feelings” by Susannah Nilsen is a profound text for young readers that explores different moods and feelings and how the human mind processes and generates them, based on sensory data and experiences.

The author uses beautiful and detailed watercolor illustrations to give a fulfilling and enlightening expository about the different parts of the human brain and their functions. According to Nilsen, these parts of the brain coordinate and interpret messages in a harmonized and coordinated manner before issuing orders and instructions to the other parts of the body on the action to take. The nervous system is a complex network of neurons specialized to carry messages, and the author has managed to break down this complex wisdom in a way that makes it palatable for very young minds. 

Nilsen admirably asserts that experiencing emotions for many people remains mysterious, confusing, and difficult to express constructively, and this brings her to offer a much-needed exposure and incentive expressed through a beautiful poem that encourages one to express themselves in ways that are conducive to building healthy lives. The poetic entry appears in free verse and further accentuates the information that she discusses across the chapters. It points to a myriad of sentiments such as anxiety, rejection, lack of confidence, and sorrow, which the author feels are normal though not easy for anyone, but the results are completely worth it.

“There’s A Monster in My Cupboard: Emotions: our brain, our body, and our feelings” is a five-star children’s guidebook that urges its audience to stay authentic in expressing their feelings, motivated by an inner conviction that vulnerability doesn’t show weakness. It is a read that is bound to help young minds start paying attention to how they feel and how to respond to those emotions, in a bid to ensure that they won’t have behavioral problems in the future but will be of a great influence on their mental health, self-confidence, and self-esteem.