Every year around Valentine’s Day I get asked by my younger elementary children what my read for the week is going to be. Valentine’s Day also happens to be Library Lovers Day and it offers the perfect opportunity to do something around the library.
This year we’ve been tied up with moving our library to a new space within the school and while chatting with a fellow Library Educator, I was reminded about ‘My Heart’ by Corinna Luyken. I had this at the back of my mind when I found myself in the midst of the heart-filled week. So, with the recommendation still fresh in my mind, I decided that this was the book I was going to read.
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The children were eager to see what the book was about and we began by talking about the heart and what it does for the body. A few children shared that sometimes it makes them ‘feel’. Taking a few deep breaths with our eyes closed, we held our hands over our hearts…the group quietened, there was a stillness and the children were mesmerised with feeling their hearts beat against their palms. I realised that this is something so simple, yet I guess we don’t do it often enough. This seemed to center the children and they listened to the first reading.
We took time to look at the jacket and peek underneath to the illustration on the hard cover. Moving onto the endpapers, we looked at both the front and the back #endpapers , coming back to them after the reading.
I had briefed them that as I read each sentence, they needed to just listen and connect the words with the picture, and I would read it again.
On the second reading we discussed every page, the words, the images and as happens ever so often, the children notice so much more than I do and their connections are ever so meaningful.
One of the pages that they particularly connected with was ‘My heart is a shadow, a light and a guide’...there was much discussion around these words and there was deep sharing by those who identified with these metaphors.
At the end of the reading just sat quietly, thinking about the words they had just heard. Then one voice goes, that was a really good book.
Books that have just statements or metaphors are not the easiest to read in a mixed-aged group class, but by offering the children the time to look at the illustrations and connect the text to the images, they were able to process and understand the in a way that seemed to move them deeply.
The children then shared in writing or through art, what made their hearts small and what made it grow. However, their sharing was so open, that I changed the plan to share them on the display boards as I usually do.
Such an impactful book to help children process, honor, and understand their feelings, leaving them with the advice and open or closed, they get to decide what they should do with it.
WOW. For so few words, and minimal colour, this book has elicited quite a huge response! Great way to introduce the story. Thanks for the unconventional Valentines Day story.