Pistes d'exploration

Before reading, discuss the title and examine the cut-out hearts in the cover. Make predictions about the content of the story. What do you think the expression “in my heart” means?

As you read, make connections to the experiences of the little girl and to her feelings. What makes you happy, scared or brave?

Notice the descriptive words the author uses to tell about her heart. Make a list of these adjectives.

Make your own page for the book. Describe a feeling and illustrate it (include a heart cut-out). Assemble your pages into a class book.

Discuss feelings that you already know. What words and situations can you associate with these feelings?

With a partner, take turns role playing and guessing different feelings.

Make a class list of feelings. Include those from the book and those you already know. Sort them in a graphic organizer to show links and gradations between the various emotions (e.g. happy words, sad words, angry words).

Make your own page for the book. Describe a feeling and illustrate it (include a heart cut-out). Assemble your pages into a class book.

Mots-clés

Picture book , emotions , feelings , imagery , poetic language , self-expression

Commentaire descriptif

Cardboard pages with a gradient heart-shaped die-cut make this book fun for little hands. The multi-coloured, multi-faceted heart provides an apt symbol for the spectrum of emotions we all feel. Readers can actually reach into this heart, turn to any page, and read about the emotion within. Child-centred language describes emotions using imaginative metaphors and images: “My heart is yelling, hot and loud. This is when my heart is mad.” Clever pencil illustrations include touches of colour for an effect that is both artful and sweet. In one spread, the die-cut heart is embedded in a red cross. The nurse-narrator wraps bandages around one ‘arm’ of the cross (“Mean words hurt my feelings . . . this is when my heart is broken”). In another, the heart lies in the centre of a blue Earth, while the narrator leans out of her hot-air balloon, circling the planet (“This is when my heart is brave”). Happy, sad, silly, shy. Fear, hope, calm—these feelings all provide talking points for readers’ own emotions. An enchanting final spread depicts the narrator perched in a whimsical garden of imaginary plants. “Today my heart is proud. How does your heart feel?”