One of my current interests is finding books that help us process and promote mental wellnesss. In My Heart – A Book of Feelings by Jo Witek lets readers explore a wide range of feelings; brave, happy, mad, broken, hopeful, afraid, and silly to name a few. The book begins by exploring a feeling per page and what that might feel like. Some of the descriptions also include a simile which helps the reader anchor the emotion to something concrete. This is one I enjoyed reading, “My heart grows tall, like a plant reaching toward the sky.” Another highlight for readers is while we have different feelings on different days our heart doesn’t always stay in one feeling.
The illustrations in this book are set against a bright white background and each page has a heart cut out that decreases in size as the story progresses. The heart cut out is also surrounded by an image that goes with an image enhancing the text. One on page cool is an emotion identified and readers are encouraged to visualize a balloon on a string bobbing along. The book ends asking readers how does their heart feel?
We’ve been in school for four days and the ending of this book is perfect for helping guide reader reactions. “How does your heart feel?”
Student”s Thoughts –
“My heart flip flops when I’m nervous.”
“Sometimes I yell too when I get angry. I don’t like it when my baby brother plays with my things.”
“My heart is strong when I try new things at dance class.”
I hope you discover this book and feel silly. Silly fosters fun and it sounds likes giggles and looks like wiggles. This book does lend it self to naturally talking about what emotions feel and sound like. These are good things to help our students learn to identify emotions and accept they are part of our days.
