Zola and The Red Zone - Gaby Hayes - Bog

This is a story about an alien, Zola. Zola and her family have just moved to planet earth and it is Zola's first time experiencing school with humans. Zola starts school and begins to enjoy her lessons and this new adventure on earth. However, later, Zola struggles coping with new and unfamiliar feelings on her first day at school as she experiences some unkindness from her peers. These children from her class tease Zola for being and looking different from the other children in their school. At first, Zola does not understand why they are teasing her and feelings she has never felt before begin to surface. Zola meets some friends who teach her the correct and safe way to manage these feelings without causing any further upset. The school grown-ups offer her the support she needs to regulate her emotions and coping techniques she can use to continue to enjoy her school day. Throughout the day, she learns about 'the red zone' and how to manage these angry, uncomfortable feelings caused by the unkind behaviour from those peers and how to still remain kind and calm. This story will be beneficial for all children between the ages of 3 and 9 years old to teach them that it is okay to have angry feelings when someone is being unkind. The book acknowledges that all feelings are acceptable and teaches children different methods they can use to recognise and manage their feelings safely. Anger being represented as 'the red zone' is a simple way in which children can recognise and match this feeling to a colour.