Puppy in My Head: A Book About Mindfulness by Elise Gravel
Wonderful author and illustrator Elise Gravel cleverly uses a puppy metaphor to teach young children how to identify and cope with anxiety. Mindfulness is the practice of being self aware of your emotional and physical state. Learning mindfulness is important for all ages, including adults. The practice involves breathing methods, guided imagery, and other useful tools that lead the practitioner reduces stress, relax and have a better sense of self at any given moment.
In the book, the reader is introduced to the puppy of the main character who lives in her head. This puppy manifestation runs around and is essentially all over the place as one can expect from a puppy, gets into mischief, and can sometimes get scared. However, there are some ways to help the main character helps guide the puppy when things get out of hand. Perhaps the reader can also relate to having a puppy in their head.
This delightful book, decorated in comic-style format, includes bright adorable images. The metaphor is simple enough for young children to understand the basic idea of what is being discussed without having to have a full cognition of anxiety making it a great teaching tool.
Request at your local library!
Bibliography
Gravel, E. (2021). Puppy in My Head: A Book About Mindfulness (Illustrated ed.). HarperCollins.
Link to Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Puppy-My-Head-About-Mindfulness/dp/1789561191
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