If you’ve ever had a two year old, the words, “Take a deep breath,” probably come out of your mouth at least 10 times a day. We are knee-deep in a parenting season that is full of big emotions and I’m always looking for tools to help us teach our kiddos how to navigate those feelings. Our book spotlight today is on My Magic Breath by Nick Ortner and Alison Taylor, and illustrated by Michelle Polizzi. It’s a brand new interactive picture book that teaches the important technique of mindful breathing to help with processing big feelings, good or bad.
What I loved about this book is that even though it isn’t so much a story, it enters into a dialogue with the reader and really engages them in learning in a way that is fun and not just didactic. The book asks simple questions designed to get readers thinking about their emotions, good and bad. When we read this book at night these questions really unlock a conversation about what happened during the day that made my girls happy, sad, frustrated or mad – things they might not have talked about otherwise. It opens a door for us to really talk about their day, and then with some book-lead breathing we get to let all of those big feelings out.
The watercolor illustrations are diverse and beautiful, and I love the age-appropriate explanation of things like worry, nerves, or fear. Bonnie especially loves the interactive breathing prompts like, “Can you blow that sad thought right off the page?” Her favorite page is the one where she pretends to blow the seeds off the dandelion in the illustration. And even when we put the book away, in hard situations like explosive meltdowns or hurt feelings (totally rare….), we’ve been able to apply what we learned with a simple, “Ok. Let’s try and remember our magic breath!” That’s all it takes to remind my daughters that calm is just on the other side of a deep, intentional breath – such a good tool for your parenting toolbox!
If you’d like to order a copy of My Magic Breath, you can find it from our local indie bookstore Starline Books here, or from IndieBound here (affiliate link). Thank you to the publisher Harper Collins for providing us a free review copy in exchange for an honest review.
