I Remember My Breath: Mindful Breathing for All My Feelings
by Lynn Rummel (Author) Karen Bunting (Illustrator)
Visualization and mindful breathing for kids helps children recognize and manage their feelings.
Young children have so many feelings. Without accessible emotional self-regulation strategies, children may communicate their big feelings with negative behaviors, bullying, or withdrawing. I Remember My Breath provides an introduction to visualization and mindful breathing for kids as an emotional self-regulation strategy.
Mindful breathing focuses on breathing and how emotions feel in the body. I Remember My Breath guides young children to identify the emotion they're feeling and use visualization and breathing to calm themselves and manage their feelings. Teaching mindful breathing for kids as an emotional self-regulation strategy also helps children build emotional literacy and body awareness.
With its imaginative, vivid imagery and rhythmic writing style that mimics the breath, I Remember My Breath is a book that children who are experiencing big emotions can turn--and return--to for support and comfort. A special section for adults provides additional information and activities to reinforce the book's message.
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Publishers Weekly
As two children confront a barrage of emotions, mindful breathing helps them to feel grounded in Rummel and Bunting's earnest picture book. Through first-person narration, the figures, one portrayed with brown skin and one shown as pale, describe their alternating experiences of worry, excitement, sadness, nervousness, anger, and embarrassment ("I feel sad./ A heavy feeling/ weighs me down.../ down... down"). Accompanying the titular refrain "I remember my breath," metaphor offers a helpful aid for emotional self-regulation. The breath is "the wind" amid worries, "a paintbrush" around excitement, and an "umbrella" for sadness. Lightly washed illustrations depict common childhood scenarios (a tumble, a birthday, a move), amplifying the text's relatability for effectiveness. A "Guide for Caring Adults" provides contextual background and activities. Ages 4-8. (Jan.)
Copyright 2022 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.School Library Journal
PreS-Gr 2--Two children, one presenting white and the other with tan skin, demonstrate simple mindful breathing techniques and imagery to help calm and center themselves. When a child feels worried, they remember their breath and imagine the wind blowing the "what-ifs" away. A nervous child remembers their breath and imagines a net to catch the butterflies in their stomach and set them free. The pacing of the text is excellent, with the spreads detailing emotions moving quickly, while those describing breath read more slowly, subtly inviting readers to breathe along and imagine their breath as well. An afterword "for caring adults" explains how the book came about and emphasizes the benefits of mindfulness. The author also includes activities adults may want to share with children to help identify their feelings and how they choose to act on them. VERDICT For story hours or classroom use, this is a calming and reassuring read that demonstrates mindful breathing in a way that will resonate for many children. Recommended where books on mindfulness and social emotional learning are in demand.--Heather Webb
Copyright 2023 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.Review quotes
Lynn Rummel is a licensed speech-language pathologist and certified professional school counselor.
While working as an elementary school counselor for nine years, she taught mindfulness and breath awareness strategies to many of her students. Currently, Lynn operates a pediatric speech and language therapy private practice in South Florida, where she lives with her husband, two children, and pug. She specializes in articulation, literacy, and social and emotional skills.
Children's picture books are among her favorite therapy materials for all ages.
Karen Bunting is an illustrator currently based in Bristol, UK.
She lives with her partner and two cheeky cats, she loves to travel, and she has also lived in Tokyo and Seville.
Karen enjoys expressing the quirky side of life in her illustrations, inspired by vintage children's books.
JNF053160 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Social Topics | Self-Esteem & Self-Reliance
JNF024130 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Health & Daily Living | Mindfulness & Meditation
Mindfulness (Psychology)
Breathing exercises
