Multicultural Children’s Book Day Review: B is for Breathe: The ABCs of Coping with Fussy and Frustrating Feelings

I have a 6-year-old granddaughter and two toddler grandchildren. Two of my grandchildren are multicultural. I love it when I find a book that works for all three.

Yay! The multicultural book I’m reviewing today, B Is for Breathe: The ABCS of Coping with Fussy and Frustrating Feelings, works for a variety of ages! And it’s even about mindfulness … one of my favorite topics!

I was gifted a copy of the book in English and Spanish to facilitate my review. This review is honest and my own opinion. This post contains some affiliate links (at no cost to you).

 

B is for Breathe: The ABCs of Coping with Fussy and Frustrating Feelings by Dr. Melissa Munro Boyd
Publisher: Melissa Boyd
Genre: ABC Book and Mindfulness/Relaxation
Format: Paperback
Pages: 32
Age Range: approximately 2-8
Grade Level: preschool-grade 3

The book is also available in a Spanish edition: R ES PARA RESPIRAR: El abecedario para manejar los sentimientos irritables y frustrantes 

Book Description:

“From the letter A to the letter Z, B is for Breathe celebrates the many ways children can express their feelings and develop coping skills at an early age. Fun, cute, and exciting illustrations, this colorful book teaches kids simple ways to cope with fussy and frustrating emotions. This book will inspire kids to discuss their feelings, show positive behaviors, and practice calm down strategies.“

My Review of B is for Breathe: The ABCs of Coping with Fussy and Frustrating Feelings

Even though B Is for Breathe has 26 coping skills, one for each letter of the alphabet, I don’t think of B Is for Breathe as an alphabet book. I think of it as a mindfulness book with many ideas that are helpful for a variety of ages … not just preschoolers who are learning their letters.

Here’s my 6-year-old granddaughter, Zoey, reading the book to her 2-year-old sister, Sophia. They each enjoyed the book on different levels. I love books that can grow with a child like that!

If you’re a Montessori parent or teacher, you’ll enjoy the realistic, Montessori-friendly content that encourages calmness and relaxation. There are a variety of multicultural children throughout the book, which is wonderful.

If you’re looking for a phonetic book for teaching beginning letter sounds, you’ll find that some but not all will fit. For example, “W is for WRITE about feelings. Journal to express emotions, communicate feelings, and solve problems.” Great content, but not a phonetic alphabet book.

The way I like to use the book with toddlers and preschoolers (my 22-month-old grandson, Caleb, and 25-month-old granddaughter, Sophia) is to read the second sentence on each page without the letter sentence. Or I just focus on one page, as we did  with the winter glitter calming bottle activity.

The letter G page said: “G is for create a GLITTER JAR or another craft. Use water, glitter, glue, food coloring – Make, Shake, Watch and Relax as glitter settles.” With that page, you could emphasize the phonetic sound /g/ for glitter with toddlers and preschoolers. With an older child, like Zoey, the focus is simply on creating the glitter jar as a relaxation tool.

Because we’re in the middle of a winter unit, we decided to make a winter glitter calming bottle, recycling a Voss water bottle. I had some white, snowy glitter from previous years to use. I didn’t have any clear glue, so we used white craft glue. That gave it a milkier look, but it worked for winter!

After putting glue in the bottle with distilled water, Zoey helped Sophia spoon glitter into the bottle. We just put one drop of blue food coloring in our bottle to give it a wintry feel.

Then Zoey and Sophia took turns mixing the ingredients by shaking the bottle to the song “Shake, Shake, Shake” (one of their favorites) from Nancy Kopman’s Senses album! I loved seeing the way they worked together throughout the project!

Caleb was out of town the day Zoey and Sophia were introduced to the book, but he had the chance to enjoy the glitter bottle they made the next day. He and his mom (my daughter, Christina) worked with ideas from the book. Here, they’re focusing on the glitter’s movement in the bottle after reading the page.

Then they worked with the page that said: “X is for play the XYLOPHONE and other musical instruments. Enjoy playing a musical instrument that is joyful and fun.” Their focus was simply on playing a musical instrument. They used a xylophone that day, but any musical instrument that would be fun for the child would work well.

Caleb is having fun learning Spanish, so Christina also started to introduce a couple of the Spanish words from the Spanish edition of the book. He loves to pray, so she introduced “orar” for pray. (Note: If you teach in a public school or don’t want any religion in your book, you’ll want to know that one page is “P is for PRAY. Prayer can help bring peace to your mind and body.” The picture is of a multicultural girl kneeling by her bed at night, praying. That is the only religious reference, but I really like it.)

Ideas for Displaying B Is for Breathe as Part of a Peace/Mindfulness Area

I love to have a small area on a shelf for peace/mindfulness books and materials. This is a perfect addition to our peace and mindfulness materials!

Here are some ideas of how I’ll display it at various times:

This is super simple to prepare. Children can either watch the sand in the sand timer or use the timer to time themselves as they do a short meditation or breathing activity.

I love the Montessori Mindful Breathing Boards from Montessori ReStore on Etsy. They’re a perfect complement to the book. There are different boards available, each with a card that has a breathing exercise.

I love these chimes as a combination musical instrument and meditation tool.

An, of course, here’s the book with our winter glitter calming bottle!

We’re just started our work with B is for Breathe: The ABCs of Coping with Fussy and Frustrating Feelings. There are so many other peace/mindfulness activities that can be paired with the book to inspire calmness. I love it!

Multicultural Children’s Book Day

Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2020 (1/31/20) is in its 7^th year! This non-profit children’s literacy initiative was founded by Valarie Budayr and Mia Wenjen; two diverse book-loving moms who saw a need to shine the spotlight on all of the multicultural books and authors on the market while also working to get those book into the hands of young readers and educators.

Seven years in, MCBD’s mission is to raise awareness of the ongoing need to include kids’ books that celebrate diversity in homes and school bookshelves continues.

FREE RESOURCES from Multicultural Children’s Book Day

• Free Multicultural Books for Teachers
• Our New FREE Teacher Classroom Physical and Developmental Challenges Kit http://ow.ly/kcbZ30p3QWz
• Free Empathy Classroom Kit for Homeschoolers, Organizations, Librarians, and Educators
• Free Understanding Developmental & Physical Challenges Classroom Kit

More Multicultural Resources

If you’re looking for some wonderful multicultural songs, check out my post with lots of free multicultural songs celebrating diversity and inclusion. It even includes the Multicultural Children’s Book Day #ReadYourWorld 2019 Music Video!

Here are my main multicultural posts at LivingMontessoriNow.com and here at BitsofPositivity.com:

• Montessori-Inspired Respect for Diversity
• Montessori Inspiration for Martin Luther King Day
• Free Hanukkah Songs and Rhymes for Circle Time
• Free Kwanzaa Songs and Rhymes for Circle Time
• Free Martin Luther King Day Songs and Rhymes for Circle Time
• Free Chinese New Year Songs and Rhymes for Circle Time
• Free Cinco de Mayo Songs and Rhymes for Circle Time
• Equality and Peace Resources for Parents and Teachers
• The Snowy Day Eggshell Crushing and Pin-Poking Activity
• Promote Peace with Holidays Around the World Resources
• The Best Peace Books for Kids
• Free Multicultural Songs Celebrating Diversity and Inclusion {Character Education Resources}
• Multicultural Children’s Book Day Review: If a Caterpillar Can Fly, Why Can’t I?
• Multicultural Children’s Book Day Review: Midnight Teacher: Lilly Ann Granderson and Her Secret School
• Does Your Preschooler Have This Fabulous Multicultural Children’s Book?
• Best Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes
• Anti-Racism Resources for Parents and Teachers
• Free Juneteenth Songs and Educational Videos
• Free Black History Printables and Montessori-Inspired Black History Activities
• Multicultural Children’s Book Day Review: The Switch (The Misadventures of Tarah and Darah)
• Favorite Black History Books for Kids
• Free Family Do-a-Dot Phonics Printable (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download
• Free Black Family Cutting Strips (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)
• Free Black History Songs and Educational Videos for Kids
• Multicultural Children’s Book Day Review: 10 Gulab Jamuns: Counting with an Indian Sweet Treat
• Free Colors and Diversity Printables and Montessori-Inspired Colors and Diversity Activities
• Free Multicultural Do-a-Dot Phonics Printable (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)
• Free Multicultural Cutting Strips (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)
• Multicultural Children’s Book Day Review: Kayla: A Modern-Day Princess – A Little Magic
• Multicultural Education Pinterest Board

Happy Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2020!

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