Inside Out had an incredible opening weekend at the box office, becoming the highest grossing weekend for an original film ever, beating out James Cameron’s Avatar. With impressive critical acclaim and an A Cinemascore, the story about these five emotions is quickly on its way to becoming another Pixar classic. And there will be no shortage of tie-in products, but one of the best ways to relive the magic of the movies is through books.
I grew up reading Disney books on tape. Not only did they allow me to have a story read to me anytime without having to wait for my parents, but they also helped strengthen my reading skills by helping me follow along. Well, tapes may be gone, but this genre isn’t and the newest entry is the Inside Out Read-Along Storybook and CD. This glossy book retells the story of the film with new illustrations. Cindy Robinson serves as the narrator and the CD uses real dialogue from the film with the original voice cast. It’s a great way for children to relive the story (and it even manages to capture some of the more emotional parts of the film).
Those looking to expand beyond the story from the film will love Sadly Ever After?, an original story that takes place before Riley’s move to San Francisco. In an effort to understand and cheer up Sadness, Joy recalls several happy memories. Each of the emotions finds a way to make them represent their own namesake, but Joy eventually finds one that they all seem to agree is a happy memory… until sadness reminds them why it’s sad. It’s a short story that uses color coding in the text to make it clear which emotion is speaking. This story is written by Elise Allen with illustrations by Daniel Holland, who is an Art Director at Pixar who worked on the sets for the film.
To add a little more incentive to add Sadly Ever After? to your child’s book collection, it comes with a code for an eBook of the Pixar short that accompanies Inside Out in theaters, Lava. The book works exclusively on Disney’s Story Central app where you have the option to read it on your own or have it sung to you. That’s right, the song from the film becomes the narrator. All of the artwork consists of stills from the short, but it’s still an enjoyable bonus.
Both of these books are geared towards ages 6 to 8. There are two other movie tie-ins available that target different age groups. For parents of younger ones, theres the Box of Mixed Emotions, which features five small storybooks on with sturdy pages, each book based on a different emotion. For preteens, theres also Driven by Emotions, a chapter book that tells the story of the film but with a twist: each chapter is told from the point of view of a different emotion.