Everyone is feeling something. Even the ones who look fine.
Eleven busy places. A shop that is too loud. A school carpet. A party. A waiting room. A park. A swimming pool. A kitchen in the morning. A queue. A playground. A big hall. A house at bedtime. Hundreds of beans, and every one of them feeling something.
On every page there are two things to look for.
The first one has an answer. One bean is holding a blue jar. One bean has both feet off the ground. One bean has its eyes shut tight, because it has had enough. It is somewhere on the page, and it can be found. There is a picture of it on the card, so a child who cannot read yet can still look.
The second one does not have an answer. It asks which bean is you today. That one changes. It can be a different bean on every page, or the same one all the way through, or one bean today and another tomorrow.
Twenty ways a body can be - sleepy, heavy, proud, shy, curious, listening, too much, not sure - learned by looking rather than by being taught. The opening spread names all twenty, so the words are there when a child wants them. There is no lesson attached to any of them, and no bean on any page is the one to aim for.
Big Bean is on every page too. Always somewhere. Always near. A child who finds Big Bean eleven times has been told something without being told anything.
Nothing here has to be read aloud. It takes as long as it takes, and it holds up to being opened again, because the second question has a different answer each time.
FOR GROWN-UPS
A child who can name a state can ask for what it needs. Naming comes before asking, and looking comes before naming. That is all this book is: a long, unhurried look at twenty ways a body can be.
The left-hand question can be got right. The right-hand question cannot be got wrong. Children who are used to being asked how they feel, and getting it wrong, will often go for the left one first. Let them. The other one waits.
A child who will not answer "how was school" can often put a finger on a bean. This is not a feelings chart with five faces and a demand to choose one. It is a busy room with thirty beans in it and no demand at all.
Expect the answer to change. A child who was the sleepy bean in March may be the too-much bean in June, and both are accurate.
There is a note for parents, teachers and SENCOs at the back. This book supports everyday emotional awareness. It is not a screening tool and it is not a substitute for professional guidance.
From the Little Signals world: quiet stories and tools that help small humans notice their signals and find their way back to steady. No quick fixes. No hype. Regulation before optimisation.
