In My Heart

Why It's On Our Shelf

The die-cut heart on each page is a simple but effective design choice that helps kids physically locate where feelings might be. The language is poetic without being confusing - happiness is bright, sadness is heavy, anger is hot. Each emotion gets its own description and its own feeling, which helps kids understand that different emotions have different qualities. The illustrations by Christine Roussey use color and shape to reinforce the emotional content. What works is that it presents emotions as normal parts of being human, something everyone has, not something to fix or avoid.