Big feelings can be difficult for children to understand. A child may feel worried, angry, sad, scared, lonely, restless, or unsure without knowing how to explain what is happening inside. For many families, these moments can feel tender and challenging. Dog, What Can I Do? by Sarah Robinson offers a warm and thoughtful way to help children recognise their emotions and learn simple steps that bring comfort.
This charming children’s book begins with a message every child needs to hear: all feelings matter. Some feelings may be hard, but they are not bad. This gentle idea gives young readers permission to feel without shame. Rather than asking children to push emotions away, the book helps them listen to their feelings and ask an important question: what can I do?
Through a cast of animal friends, Sarah Robinson introduces coping tools that children can easily remember. Dog shows how movement can help when the body feels full of restless energy. Cat offers calming sounds, such as a hum, buzz, or purr, when a child feels upset or unsure. Fish teaches the steady rhythm of counting when worries become too many. Ant reminds children that asking for help is brave. Carrier pigeon shows how drawing or writing can ease the ache of missing someone.
The book continues with gentle guidance for fear, friendship, sadness, anger, feeling stuck, and rest. Each animal brings a small, practical action that fits a child’s world. These tools are simple enough for young readers to try, yet meaningful enough to become part of daily life at home, in school, or during quiet moments before bed.
What makes Dog, What Can I Do? especially valuable is its tone. It does not speak down to children. It meets them with patience, kindness, and respect. The rhyming language gives the book a soothing rhythm, while the animal friends make emotional learning feel approachable and memorable. Children can connect a feeling with a character, then remember the action that helped.
Sarah Robinson’s background as a mental health therapist, yoga instructor, and mother shines through the book’s caring approach. Her words feel rooted in real understanding of how children process emotion. The result is a picture book that feels both comforting and useful for parents, carers, teachers, and counsellors.
The illustrations add another layer of calm. Soft scenes, expressive animals, and peaceful settings invite children into a world where emotions are safe to explore. It is the kind of book that can begin a conversation, soothe a difficult moment, or become part of a family’s regular emotional wellbeing routine.
Dog, What Can I Do? is more than a story about feelings. It is a gentle companion for children learning to understand themselves. With each page, Sarah Robinson reminds young readers that big emotions can be met with care, courage, and one small helpful step at a time.
Available now on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H1T9JWN9/
Available on Ingramspark: https://shop.ingramspark.com/b/084?params=Jw36rbKLHvbMjGyuebunjM2lTGbznIb82lMTjUvxL2m
