Review of Sock Lobsters

[Ldpuff]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Sock Lobsters" by Michelle Bulriss.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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Sock Lobsters by Michelle Bulriss was a silly story about sock lobsters going through a series of emotions. The story begins with a loving grandma knitting socks for her granddaughter Emily. There is mention of the socks being magical! Emily receives the socks and is immediately surprised when they begin talking. There is a grumpy sock named Sebastian and a happy sock named Lola. One day, Emily decides to do her laundry at the laundromat. While she is busy visiting with the store cat, Bubbles, she loses one of her socks! Sebastian notices Lola is missing when he arrives home. He begins to cycle through many emotions while deciding what to do about the terrible situation. Meanwhile, Lola is going through emotions of her own. Eventually, the two socks come to their senses and decide on a plan. Read the book to learn if Sebastian and Lola find their way back to each other!

My favorite part of this book was the way that the author exposed the reader to a variety of emotions. She did not focus solely on positive emotions, but she included many negative emotions such as depression and anger as well. The intended audience for this book is children and I believe children should be exposed to all kinds of emotions. Far too often, children are taught to push down their negative feelings rather than to learn how to work through them. Sebastian the sock learns how to cope with his feelings and be proactive!

My least favorite part of this book was the way that the author ended the story. I felt as though there was no connection back to the beginning of the book in order for the reader to have proper closure. The grandmother was only mentioned briefly on the first few pages and then she was forgotten for the rest of the book. It would have made sense for her to make a reappearance at the end of the story.

I rate Sock Lobsters three out of four stars. I did not find any errors while reading this novel which leads me to believe it was professionally edited. While the professional quality of the book was nice, I felt as though the overall story was lacking. I would have appreciated a little more time dedicated to the emotions that the socks were feeling and less time allotted to the happenings in Emily’s life.

I would recommend this book to parents who want to discuss emotions with their children. The author does a nice job of labeling the emotions that the socks are feeling. I would also recommend this book to social workers or teachers who want to conduct social-emotional learning groups with children. This book would be a nice starting point for discussions. As a final note, the author mentioned wanting to create a series based off of this book. I would be interested in reading the other books accompanying this book.

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Sock Lobsters
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[Chigo Nwagboso]

I love seeing children's, and I'm happy to find one that would interest me as well. I like that this book will expose children to a lot emotions that they would encounter and get over with. Thanks for a great review.

[Jagiine]

I remember this book being great for educating kids on emotional processing, but I can understand your desire to see the grandma again. I really just though of her as background info rather than central to the story. Thanks for your fresh perspective!

[Josephe-Anne]

This sounds like a nice story to build a child's emotional intelligence. I like the fact that the socks were a gift from Emily's grandma, and I agree with your point that Grandma should have been brought back later in the story.

Thank you for an excellent review.

[Wesusa]

I recently did a review on this as well (though it has yet to be posted), and I do agree with all your reasoning. I did think that the story was a bit oddly paced.

[Ldpuff]

I recently did a review on this as well (though it has yet to be posted), and I do agree with all your reasoning. I did think that the story was a bit oddly paced.

Interesting that we had the same feelings about the pacing of the book. That’s a good sign that the author should consider what we have said.

[NetMassimo]

The loose storyline seems more like an excuse to show emotions enabling parents and educators to talk about them with the children who are the book's target. Thank you for your great review!

[PeterRabitt20]

Teaching about emotions to children is important. I agree with what you mentioned about children not being allowed to process their feelings. Thanks for the wonderful review!