Emotions play an important role in our everyday life. The ability to understand and navigate one’s own emotions is imperative for a healthy and happy life. It is linked to success in personal and professional life in the future. Children and adults who are emotionally competent tend to have more successful, social, and independent lives.
AdiDev Press understands the importance of helping a child navigate their emotions. Their upcoming title, Are your emotions like mine? explores the myriad emotions that a young child deals with, sometimes during the course of a single day. “Sometimes angry, sometimes sad, mostly excited, often glad, so nervous and scared, however ready to dare!” A young girl and her lion friend are the protagonists in this book about feelings. After experiencing a range of emotions, the two friends learn that the best way to deal with them is to FIRST take a deep, deep breath!
The simple text enables a child to identify, understand and accept emotions in an easy and fun-filled manner. Magical illustrations, simple text, and a universal theme, make this book perfect to read aloud to toddlers (2+ years) and an excellent addition to your picture book collection. Though plenty of books on emotional development exist in the international market, it is the first time an Indian publishing house has created a book on emotions, of this calibre.
Author, Chitwan Mittal, has done a phenomenal job. This book sparks conversations about emotional well-being for a child and offers a simple solution to stay happy. “Emotional development is an important aspect of development which is rarely spoken about for toddlers, especially in South Asian cultures. It can be difficult for children to understand and deal with their ever-changing emotions. Picture books about emotions can have a huge impact in simplifying this journey for a child. I wanted to create a book that will enable this understanding for children and help them communicate what they feel,” said author, Chitwan Mittal, who is also a mother of two young boys and a passionate reader herself.
Illustrator, Shruti Hemani, beautifully showcases each emotion in the book as the little girl explores and encounters different situations. Shruti’s wonderful style of illustration is influenced by indigenous, tribal, and other traditional art forms. Her artwork depicting the city of Jodhpur, as seen from Mehrangarh Fort, is a marvel. Including a local, small town in an international quality picture book is unique as most international books naturally choose to depict a big city. “We believe in diverse books and make every effort to create text and illustrations that represent diversity better,” says Chitwan.
The book achieves its goal of enabling children to identify and make sense of different emotions. The joy of having a conversation about how they are feeling without any judgment and hesitation, whilst ensuring emotional growth is what we experience in words and illustrations. The book is a great step towards educating children and adults about emotions. Reading this will result in well-adjusted and emotionally evolved children.
International praise for Are your emotions like mine?
“This book helps the child in naming, understanding, and appreciating emotions of any kind. This book leaves both you and the kid seeking your inner light, feeling happy and believing the world is beautiful and bright!”
https://youtu.be/Az6pxtUSLes
– Helena Thuneberg, Special Educator, Adjunct Professor, University of Helsinki
“With imaginative flair, this story captures the spectrum of human emotions, from anger to joy, from fear to bravery. This colorful book can serve as a powerful learning aid.”
– Anna Musser, Educational Researcher MIT
This delightful and beautifully illustrated book helps children name their emotions and navigate them in a healthy way—two skills that can help build happy lives!
– Vicki Zakrzewski, Ph.D., Education Director, Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley