If You Cry like a Fountain

by Noemi Vola

A quirky and surprisingly funny picture book about the many practical uses for tears, for fans of Big Feelings .

In an attempt to cheer up a sad-looking worm, a narrator makes things worse by causing the worm to cry. But in the process of trying to make the sobbing worm feel better, the narrator starts to think of the various ways tears can be used productively.

For example, if you’re sad around lunchtime, cry until you fill a pot with your tears and boil pasta — you won’t even need to season with salt! Crying can be used to dilute paint, and with paint, you can make beautiful art. Crying also serves lots of different purposes. Without tears, the rivers would dry up. Clouds would keep getting bigger and bigger. And crying also helps the pears to grow, and with pears, you can make jam. Jam makes people happy, and can help staunch the flow of tears . . . at least until the jam runs out!

Join a tearful worm and a bungling narrator as they explore the many uses for tears in this hilarious and quirky picture book by up-and-coming author-illustrator Noemi Vola.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Mental Health

48 pages, Hardcover

Published August 9, 2022

About the author

Noemi Vola has a degree in comics and illustration from the Cademy of Fine Arts in Bologna. She lives in Italy.

Reviews

[Blaine DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like children's books, and enjoy reading them to see what they are teaching and how they are entertaining children. Unfortunately this book really did little for me. I am not exactly sure what it is about and the only thing it seems to teach is to learn how to cry better! Not every book has to be educational, but if you wanted to be silly there are better ways than telling kids then should cry better and longer. Sure all this is fanciful but it is just no more than a mediocre read for me. Tundra Books have a lot of really good books, books that I have given high marks to, but this is not one of those. Sorry. The only thing that helped the rating was to have the narrator being a worm!

[Natalie all_books_great_and_small · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

If you cry like a fountain is a quirky book for children about the positive side of crying. This book will possibly make children giggle at the silly things crying can be useful such as for cooking pasta.
This was a fun inventive for a children's book. I just feel there was something missing but I can't put my finger on what it was.
The illustrations are lovely and eye catching throughout this book.

[Chandra Sundeep · Rating 3 out of 5]

If You Cry like a Fountain is a delightful picture book for early readers, highlighting the practical uses of tears. Vola sends across the message that it is ok to cry if one is upset.

I was a little confused at the beginning with the way the story started. It looked like the tearful worm was being shamed for crying, but the author soon started narrating the benefits of crying in a quirky manner and tied the story together to send across a positive message.

The creative and witty narrator tells what happens when one ‘cries better!’ And, oh! The colourful illustrations made by the author herself are very interesting. I am sure kids would enjoy looking at them and spotting the different crying animals and objects.

I liked how the author included silly instances like using tears for making a fountain, or for boiling pasta (of course, no salt needed!) or making pear jam! Now imagine only if tears could be put to practical uses!

Parents/teachers can use this book as a resource for discussing feelings and emotions.

If You Cry like a Fountain is a funny and imaginative book which children in the age group of 3-7 years are sure to enjoy.

Thanks to Tundra Books via NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC of this novel. All opinions expressed are my own.

[Reading_ Tamishly · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story and the art are a simple, fun, easy read. However, everything seems a bit lazy and it's a little depressing to just see everything in a storybook with tears and tears.

Thank you, author/artist and the publisher, for the advance reading copy.

[Jochen · Rating 5 out of 5]

HILARISCH prentenboek! Over waarom huilen niet zinloos is en wat je met je tranen kan doen (pasta koken, branden blussen, op schaatsen tijdens de winterperiode...). Heerlijke illustraties ook; beetje naïeve stijl, maar erg passend bij het verhaal. Fan!

[Jonathan Bécotte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magnifique.

[Ana Calabresi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting and fun premise. I can see kids really laughing about how to use tears in different and unusual ways. The illustrations are cute! I missed more on the emotional aspect of crying though.

Thanks Netgalley for the advanced reader copy.

[Dawn Michelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

**NOTE** THIS is an outlier review. Even if I like the story, I believe in giving a full and honest review about how I view a book and whether I would buy it or read it to the littles in my life, EVEN if it goes against every other review out there. I am used to being unpopular, so I'd rather be honest than win a popularity contest or impress someone.

This is a [mostly] lovely book. I initially really like the story [it teaches kids {and the adults reading it} that crying isn't only okay, it is often much-needed. This part of the book is a fantastic lesson for everyone], but I did find the story to be a bit convoluted in its delivery and that because I am myself a crier, I am reading more into it than most people would I think] and most of the illustrations are colorful and fun - they will make you laugh.

Unfortunately, the illustrations are also very problematic - or at least one of them is [having worked with kids since I was 11 and started babysitting, I have read a huge amount of children's books. The illustration in the book floored me - I even checked in with the bestie AND my 74 year old mother who is mostly clueless about things and they both 100% agreed with me on this]. The story opens with a crying worm. That doesn't look like a worm [it does later in the book when it is lying flat on the crocodile], it looks exactly like a penis [and does through out the book, in some cases more than other times]. I was shocked [hence me seeking out others advice, thinking I must be seeing things. The bestie {who is a Professor and worked in the developmental sector of child welfare and knows her kids books as well actually asked me if this was a "real book". ] and it was extremely disconcerting [and you just know that some kid will yell out "IT IS A PEE PEE" when someone opens this book] and to be honest, rather upsetting. It ruins an otherwise completely lovey book.

Because of this and the extremely abrupt way this ends [there is no feel good ending here and it seems so off from the story overall], I cannot recommend this book to anyone. I am so disappointed.

Thank you to NetGalley, Noemi Vola, and Penguin Random House Canada/Tundra Books for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Tiff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Received a copy of this book through NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada.

What an adorable read about emotional intelligence. This is a fun, quirky book about feelings I could see my class absolutely loving.

I also really loved the art!

[Aimee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley for e-copy! I absolutely adored this book. At first, I was concerned that the tone was a bit blame-tainted but the illustrations and humour is quirky and refreshing. This would make an excellent talking point for any child learning about emotions, and that it is okay and useful to cry and let our your emotions. I loved this so much. Fantastic.

[Tonya Sudiono · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gekocht vanwege de heldere leuke illustraties en om huilen bespreekbaar en begrijpelijk te maken. Aanrader.

[Kellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 8 year old and I were laughing hysterically at this book. Highly recommend

[meli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leslie me lo mostró mientras íbamos pasando por los stands de la FIL y yo amé. Es gracioso los muchos usos que se le pueden dar a las lágrimas y yo tengo muchas de esas... Si algún día quieren un caldito de pollo, llámenme, yo les pongo el agua 😭

[Theediscerning · Rating 2 out of 5]

Erm... I think this is supposed to be an absurdist guide to crying, and to show tears in such silly situations the laughter dries them out, all while we get a lesson in 'hey, little one, it's OK to feel things, OK?' stuff (or something else along those lines that can only sound plausible if spoken in a Neil-from-The-Young-Ones voice). Either way, I can't really see it being a success. A generous two stars.

[Guilherme Semionato · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dg3rI...

[Raquel · Rating 4 out of 5]

In If You Cry like a Fountain, the author and illustrator Noemi Vola highlights the practical benefits of crying with quirky and surprisingly fun examples, like crying around lunchtime so we can use our salty tears to boil pasta. Yeah, you can laugh? I did too! And, as a big crier myself (for real, I even have a t-shirt saying 'I'm pretty cool, but I cry a lot'), I found this picture book for early readers genuinely delightful.

The book begins with a sad and tearful worm and an unseen narrator, who shares various ways to 'cry better'. The ideas are sometimes silly but always creative, and I smiled a lot while reading. The colourful illustrations are full of humour and greatly enrich the message. Everyone cries, and that's okay.

The book will be a good-hearted resource for discussing feelings and emotions and help develop young kids' emotional self-regulation. And I do know it would have to help me when I was a kid. The only downside is that it's too short. The story could be better told with a few more pages. For example, in the beginning, I felt like crying wasn't okay, in the 'keep your chin up' way, which seems dissonant with the themes of the rest of the book. Besides that, I would love it if, in the future, there's a Portuguese version so I can buy that for my younger cousins ​​and goddaughter.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Storywraps · Rating 5 out of 5]

This humorous book, written from the point of view from an unseen narrator, highlights the practical uses for tears.

A very sad and tearful worm opens the story and when the narrator tries to cheer him up, the flood gates open wide and tears flow everywhere. Oh my! The narrator while trying to comfort and calm down the worm thinks of various ways that tears can actually be prolific. Really? His creative mind kicks into gear and he comes up with some wild scenarios in which the overflow of tears can be useful. The ideas are creative, successful and sometimes silly!

The occurances that the storyteller spins will bring smile to faces I'm sure. He ponders such things as: filling a pot with tears and then boiling up pasta ( no added salt needed please ), diluting paint then creating exquisite artwork from the mixture, and filling up rivers so they don't run dry, just to point out a few.

The quirky illustrations are delightful. They are full of humour and emotion which greatly enrich the text. I love a story that is imaginative and inspires readers to kick-start their own imaginations as well. I look forward to more books by Noemi Vola and I recommend this book.

[Angela Rohde · Rating 3 out of 5]

“If you Cry like a Fountain” is an odd and funny picture book focusing on a very sad, crying worm. In the book, the worm is very sad and the narrator expresses all of the different ways in which tears can be used. These ways include things like filling a pot to boil pasta in, helping things grow, shining floors and more ways in which tears can be “useful”.

I feel like the book may possibly cheer up a crying child if you were to pull it out at that exact time, but I feel like it misses its mark overall.

In my opinion, tears don’t always have to be used for something to be useful, but are an expression of sadness that helps us relieve grief. Crying “better” as expressed in the book, is a weird concept. The book also expresses that there is no use in crying, which I don’t believe.

For that reason, I couldn’t recommend this to my classes, even though I found the illustrations very endearing and well done.

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada and NetGelley for an advanced copy of the book for my honest review.

[Stephanie Tournas · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sad pink worm is trying valiantly to hold back tears on the opening pages of this quirky picture book. Their eyes get fuller and fuller until tears burst forth. Initially, the narrator tells the weeping worm that there’s no use in crying, but then clarifies: “What I meant is that there are so many reasons for crying, but you have to cry better.” They go on to give examples: crying like a fountain pleases the pigeons; crying in the spring waters the flowers; and crying can even put our small fires!

The advice is entertainingly interpreted by Vola’s whimsical naive-style art, which shows animals, people, superheroes, peas, and even rocks and an alien weeping. In fact, “There’s really no downside to crying: it’s a universal language…” By the last pages, the worm and his friend are basking in a swimming pool helpfully filled by a crying bug. This book is the lighthearted antidote to a bad day.

[Tai Ellis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Starting this book, I thought it would be about crying and a wholesome "it's okay to feel and it's okay to cry,' and I didn't get that. The closest was that everybody cries, even kings, superheroes, and rocks. The author had a lot of creative ways to use tears and explain why things cry like clouds to rain on plants and frogs so they don't explode, and that was all cute, but it fell a little short for me because we never got into why to cry, but just that you can. There was no warming "it'll be alright" feeling at the end, and it seemed to lack a bit of substance to make this a real connective story to youth. It's not bad, but I can't see myself recommending this to a parent who has a child who cries a lot.

Thank you NetGalley and TundraBooks for the ARC. I will look into this author and read some other materials to see if they hit the mark for me.

[MookNana · Rating 3 out of 5]

This didn't quite hit the mark for me. It starts with seeming to shame or discourage a character for crying, then they're supposed to "cry. better" and led through a bunch of silly scenarios where tears could be useful, and then, abruptly, everyone cries and it's a good thing? I don't think kids young enough to benefit from this book will quite grasp the message.

It might work to help distract an upset child and get them giggling at some of the absurdist uses for tears, and I did like the illustration showing that even people we think of as invincible (police officers, superheroes, etc.) cry, but I would have liked a message of "everyone cries and it's OK and healthy" to have been clearer right from the start.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

At first I wasn't fully sure where this book was going with its message. It started off causing the worm to cry more, and then goes on to explain all the ways you could use your tears in a fun way. I really loved when it all started to tie together and explain how everyone cries and that its okay to cry. I feel like kids and even adults need to hear that it is okay to have emotions and sometimes we just need to cry to release them. The illustrations are fun and different, and would definitely help keep a kids attention on the pages as they look at everything happening. Overall it has a great message that I feel like we all need to hear sometimes. Great book at school or home to bring acceptance to crying.

[Kayla Phaneuf · Rating 2 out of 5]

ARC received through Netgalley

I loved the art style and thought some of the illustrations were very cute. I think my favorite was of the lemon tree! However, I did not like the story of the book at all. I did not understand the beginning and didn't like the idea of the narrator accidentally making the worm cry and then proceeding to come up with jokes to try to rectify the moral of the story. I think it would be better suited for children to simply have the narrator jump into the aspects of the story that "everyone cries." Validating children's feelings and emotions at this age is so important, so it was disappointing to read mixed messages about crying. I don't think I would read this one to my preschool class.

[Elles_shelves · Rating 3 out of 5]

If You Cry Like a Fountain is a story that begins with a sad worm who starts crying. The worm is told that there's no use to cry and if it cries, it should learn to cry better. The book then goes on to tell some ridiculous uses for tears, such as using tears to clean or to cry in a pot to make lunch. Perhaps the situations are supposed to be humorous for younger children. The book does say that everyone cries and that crying is a universal language. It says that crying helps everything and goes on to give additional absurd reasons for crying. I wish that the book's message was more useful for children, such as saying that crying is normal and that many people cry when feeling sad without being so silly.

[Carlee Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book. While I think this book had the best of intentions, I think it falls short of its goal in its current state. The beginning of the book could be confusing to an early reader. I love that this is a book meant to bring awareness to mental health to younger ages, but I have read other books that have been more successful. I think there is potential and the illustrations that are in this iteration of the book are very well done. However, the message of the book and the way that is expressed, particularly to young readers who may have limited familiarity and understanding of this topic, could be improved and made clearer.

[Shannon O’Neil · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a Kindergarten teacher I had high hopes for this book but feel it misses the mark. On a practical level, it would be a stretch trying to fit this into an actual lesson around social emotional learning. The second half some brought humor to the useful aspects crying though. The illustrations were wonderful throughout the story. Ultimately, it's a sweet story to read and enjoyable to look at.., it just lacked in the plot for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Random House Canada, and Tundra Books for providing me an advance copy (ARC) of this book in exchange for an honest review. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to read this book.

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an electronic ARC from Penguin Random House Canada through NetGalley.
In some ways, it feels like reading two books. At the start, the narrator appears to shame the worm for crying and I was not sure where that message was going to go. Then the author does a turn and readers see joyful and humorous ways to use tears. The illustrations work well and clearly show how tears are being used in practical and absurd ways. The overall story does not feel connected. It reads like a bunch of ideas that sort of fit but don't always work together cohesively. I can see younger readers laughing as this one is read, and it will lead to more discussion on sharing emotions.

[Elisa Morse · Rating 3 out of 5]

In an attempt to cheer up a sad-looking worm, a narrator makes things worse by causing the worm to cry. But in the process of trying to make the sobbing worm feel better, the narrator starts to think of the various ways tears can be used productively.

A cute and imaginative story about emotions and being upset. The author has used colourful and engaging illustrations to demonstrate that crying is useful in a variety of ways. Although I enjoyed looking at the illustrations, I found the authors underlying message somewhat confusing. Is it OK to cry for emotional release? Or is it only useful if fulfilling another purpose?

[Ana Lana · Rating 2 out of 5]

(I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.)

This is a picture book for children. It shows some practical uses that tears can have, teaching that crying is not all bad and that it is a kind of universal language.
I wanted to like this more that I did, but it is what it is... It's a nice book and I can picture it being great for some kids. Nevertheless, I feel like it could have been much better and more captivating if it went deeper into the characters. Either that, or make the reader have a stronger connection to the story somehow. The illustrations are very interesenting and enjoyable, though :)

[Nette · Rating 5 out of 5]

If You Cry like a Fountain by Noemi Vola is a clever read for young children. A good-hearted, silly way to think about emotions and feelings, teaching the reader that everyone cries and silly things that happen if you can't stop crying or if you don't cry at all. Making it okay to have emotions I think that is very important for children to learn about at an early age, this book paves the way to have a healthy conversation with your young ones. The illustrations were colorful and engaging while you read the story, which is an added bonus.