Because there are only a few books available that specifically feature a parent who lives with a chronic illness, we’re branching out to books that focus on other types of illness, books that focus on children with illness, and books that talk about feelings. Hopefully these reviews will help you determine whether any of these books might be helpful for your family as you continue your discussions about having a parent with a chronic illness.
In My Heart: A Book of Feelings
by Jo Witek
Learning to understand, identify, and process different types of feelings is an important skill for any child – but it can be especially important for children whose parents live with chronic illness. These children may need to learn to process more serious feelings (for example: sadness, disappointment, or frustration) at an earlier age than their peers. One of the best ways to help children process these feelings is to help them find words and images to identify and explain each type of feeling.
In My Heart: A Book of Feelings by Jo Witek is the perfect book to start discussing different types of feelings with your child – particularly if you have toddlers or smaller children who may still be used to board books. The book features stiff cardboard pages and enticing, colorful illustrations. Each page you turn has an increasingly smaller heart cutout in bright colors, as well as a corresponding image that makes each feeling easier to conceptualize and understand.
For example, when the little girl in the book feels sad, she says her heart “feels as heavy as an elephant.” The heart cutout is surrounded by a big gray elephant who seems to be blowing sadness out his trunk to surround the little girl. But when the little girl’s heart is happy, she says it feels “like a big yellow star, shiny and bright,” and the cutout is surrounded by a big, bold yellow star.
The book doesn’t place any judgment on any of the feelings, it simply provides words and images to understand and talk about each one. The little girl in this book is capable of feeling all the different types of feelings (happy, strong, angry, calm, broken, sad, hopefully, afraid, silly, shy, and proud). The transition from one page to the next also shows that your feelings in your heart can change over time.
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