SMART IN MY HEART

A bird advises a child on emotional intelligence in Greco’s debut picture book.

“Where should I go and what can I do… / When the world’s topsy turvy, and inside out too?” a redheaded child wonders as they dangle from a swingset, their feet toward the sky. Rhyming verse describes responses that will be familiar to both adults and children enduring stress, loss, and fear: “my heartbeats feel mad / my tummy is tingling; it’s hungry and sad.” A cardinal, flying upside down, offers unexpected wisdom: “Be mad and be sad; touch your heart with your hand. / That feeling inside? Others understand.” Other children, the bird says, are playing indoors, suffering boredom and the stress of parents who are distant, distracted, or “weeping.” The avian’s intelligence and authority are unexplained, and Greco’s text leans toward the Seussian (“one-million-times-two”). However, cogent truths abound: Children feel “all alone in the spaces [they] know,” stressed adults “stomp and shout”; and comfort can be found in punching pillows, wrapping oneself in blankets, or seeking help from others. Aftermatter offers more useful ideas about “big feelings,” the “locus of control,” and “self-soothing strategies.” Leigh’s art is basic, with flat colors and mittenlike hands, but effectively scaffolds the deep conversations the text encourages.

A worthwhile reflection on the long emotional aftermath of recent troubled times.