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by Elizabeth Rideout (Author), Elizabeth Rideout (Illustrator)
What if your biggest feelings weren't problems to fix - but messengers trying to help?
When Casey's birthday plans fall apart, disappointment hits hard. Really hard. The obstacle course is built. The clue cards are ready. The cake is waiting. And then - nothing. Everyone is sick. No one is coming. The best birthday ever just became the worst.
But under the big oak tree in the backyard, something unexpected turns up - a mysterious, glowing compass with no directions. Only questions.
Guided by the Ember Compass and a few surprising companions, Casey discovers that feelings don't show up to ruin things. Feellings show up because something important is happening inside. Even the uncomfortable ones. Especially the uncomfortable ones.
The Ember Compass is a gentle, imaginative story about big feelings, quiet courage, and finding a new way forward when things don't go as planned. Through warmth, humour, and a little magic, this first book in the Flippin' Feels series invites readers aged 6-12 to explore their emotions with curiosity instead of resistance - and discover the strength waiting on the other side.
The Flippin' Feels series is built on a simple but powerful idea: every feeling is a messenger. Not just the hard ones. Disappointment, anxiety, frustration, and anger all carry wisdom - and so do joy, contentment, and excitement. Learning to listen to all of them, rather than avoiding the difficult ones or clinging to the pleasant ones, is the practice that builds real emotional resilience.
The Ember Compass introduces children to this framework through story rather than instruction - because children learn what they live, not what they are told. Casey's adventure through disappointment and out the other side is an experience readers carry with them long after the last page.
For parents and educators, the book includes the Compass Code - a three-question practice children can use independently when any big feeling arrives. It is simple enough for a six-year-old and deep enough for an adult.
The Flippin' Feels series follows Casey and the Ember Compass through the full emotional landscape of childhood. Book 2, The Ember Compass and the Storm of Ideas, introduces the feeling of Anxiety and explores what happens when worried thoughts arrive fast and loud and just won't stop. Each book in the series addresses a different feeling, builds a different skill, and adds a new companion to Casey's growing collection of emotional guides. The series is designed to grow with its readers - meeting children where they are, one feeling at a time, for as long as they need it.
Perfect for readers aged 6-12, classroom read-alouds, family reading, school and public library collections, and any child navigating the emotional landscape of growing up.
Because feelings don't happen to us. They happen for us.
Elizabeth Rideout, PhD is the author and illustrator of The Ember Compass. She holds a doctorate in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of New Brunswick, with research focused on experiential and embodied approaches to emotional development. The Flippin' Feels series draws on more than fifteen years of framework development, research, and real life experience as the mother of three deeply feeling boys.
Perfect for readers who loved Inside Out and The Wild Robot - and for every family navigating big feelings together.
