My Body Is a Rainbow: The Color of My Feelings

by Mallika Chopra, Izzy Burton (Illustrator)

Overview

Wellness expert Mallika Chopra speaks to a younger audience in this new picture book about feeling emotions in your body through color.

Did you know that your body is absolutely amazing? It can do so many things at the same time, explore the world both inside and outside, and help you feel the feelings deep down inside. When you start to feel big feelings, it's helpful to use colors, words, and breath to explore your body and to make yourself calmer and more at peace.

In wellness expert Mallika Chopra's debut picture book, she helps children imagine a rainbow of colors radiating from their body and combines this color connection with breathing exercises to help them relieve stress, tension, fears, and sadness and to feel happier and more at peace. My Body Is a Rainbow, adapted from her middle grade guidebook Just Feel, is sure to be a go-to resource for parents, caregivers, and educators to help preschool-aged children feel safe, creative, strong, loved, unique, wise, and perfect just the way they are.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780762499045
Publisher:	Running Press Book Publishers
Publication date:	07/20/2021
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	278,684
Product dimensions:	9.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Mallika Chopra is a mom, media entrepreneur, public speaker and published author. She is the author of Just Breathe: Meditation, Mindfulness, Movement and More,Just Feel: How to be Stronger, Healthier, Happier and More, and the forthcoming Just Be You. Mallika has taught meditation to thousands of people, and enjoys speaking to audiences around the world about intention, balance and living a life of purpose.

Izzy Burton is a full-time illustrator and award-winning animator. After considering a career in Zoology, Izzy took her love not only for art and storytelling, but also for math, and studied animation at Bournemouth University. Izzy makes short films, children's books and advertisements, and she is known for her use of color, poetic storytelling, and whimsical ideas.

Editorial Reviews

06/07/2021

Adapted from wellness expert Chopra’s middle grade guide Just Feel, this nonfiction picture book debut teaches children to connect colors with their feelings, intending to increase physical and emotional awareness. In instructive prose, Chopra leads readers through each color of the rainbow, offering a directed meditation with corresponding actions, including deep breathing and placing a hand on each relevant body part while speaking affirmations: “Imagine the color green surrounding your heart,/ holding it with kindness./ Breathe in and out./ Say, ‘I am loved.’ ” Burton’s vivid digital illustrations feature a cast of children with varying skin tones, a different child demonstrating each action against a calming monotone background. An accessible picture book that offers fresh, age-appropriate methods for centering oneself. Ages 4–8. (July)

Publishers Weekly

"This visual treat could be surprisingly successful for self-soothing."

 —Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

2021-05-19
Feelings link with colors in conjunction with meditation techniques.

Children are enjoying a meadow. They’re chasing butterflies, examining ladybugs, eating ice cream, feeling the breeze, reclining on the grass. The racially diverse kids seem simultaneously peaceful and energized. Chopra connects physical sensations with emotions: “Have you ever felt butterflies in your stomach when you are scared…?” (The notion that butterflies might also indicate excitement is missing, though tingling hands could be such an indicator.) Asserting that “when you know how your body reacts to your feelings, you can control your reactions and feel powerful,” the text assigns a color for each feeling and a suggestion for control. Breath awareness is yellow. Red wafts through the scene about groundedness: “Feel your bottom resting under you. Do you feel how the chair or floor is strong and stable?” Readers who don't know their chakras may find some surprises. Coding safety as red is nonstandard in the U.S. (doesn’t red signal danger or stop?), as is, arguably, coding the heart-based feelings of happiness and sadness as green; these striking hue associations could be difficult to jump into—or they could be the hook. There’s some murkiness and irregularity in the connections among metaphor, physical sensations, and emotional feelings. However, Burton’s illustrations of swirling colors, keen-edged characters, just enough rainbows, and gently enchanting backgrounds—bananas and pie float through yellow’s “I am strong” spread—really do bring a sense of wonder and power.

Despite some vagueness and inconsistency, this visual treat could be surprisingly successful for self-soothing. (Picture book. 4-9)

Kirkus Reviews