Author: Keith Negley

Illustrator: Keith Negley

Publisher and year: Flying Eye Books 2015

Number of pages: 24

Genre: Fiction

 Tough Guys (Have Feeling Too) is a picture narrative book that talks about how its not always easy being the tough guy and sometimes the guys want people to know that their feelings get hurt too. I believe that this book would be considered a mirror for boys and a window for girls. For boys they see that they aren’t the only ones that get their feelings hurt and that they do not need to be tough all the time. For girls since this book is titled Tough Guys it might be hard for them to connect. Instead they might better relate to a book that talks about how girls are tough too and not always emotional. In the illustrations different races and cultures are represented. Every picture has a male in it and the book does a good job at having them be all different races. There are also different aspects of culture in the illustrations. For example there is a picture of a man in a Lucha Libre uniform which is a type of wrestling that is very popular in Mexican culture. There is also an image of a two men in Tae Kwon Do uniforms, which is a popular and historical Korean activity. Another example is a cowboy and his horseback riding which is a popular American activity. The book shows many different cultures allowing many different people the ability to connect with the text. The images in the text are always going towards the right, which shows that the characters are not as secure, this makes sense that they are all facing the right because all the men feel insecure for having feelings. On the last page there is an image of a father and son and they are facing forward. I took this, as they are content with being able to admit they do have feelings. Since there is minimal text within the book the images make the story interesting and comical but still have a purpose that teaches the lesson that it is okay to show feelings even if you are a tough guy and that you shouldn’t make fun of someone for having feeling. The images are very colorful even when a picture is meant to take place at night, which adds to the lightness of the text. I am unsure if I would use this book in my classroom since only the males in the class would be able to connect due to the lack of females. I wish this text was simply called Everyone Has Feelings and that they showed it is okay for everyone to have feelings to get rid of the negative stereotype that only girls are able to show their emotions.