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.“

You can look inside the book on Amazon.

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.

Reading the Multicultural Children’s Book B Is for Breathe to Her Sister

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.

Helping Her Sister Put Glitter in the Winter Glitter Calming Bottle

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.

Taking Turns Shaking the Winter Glitter Calming Bottle

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!

Watching the Glitter in the Winter Glitter Calming Bottle with B Is for Breathe Book

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.

Working with the X is for play the xylophone page in the B Is for Breathe Book

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:

B Is for Breathe Book with Sand Timer

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.

B Is for Breathe Book with Star Mindful Breathing Board and Card

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.

B Is for Breathe Book with Chimes

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

B Is for Breathe Book with Winter Glitter Calming Bottle

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.

MCBD 2020 is honored to have the following Medallion Sponsors on board

Super Platinum

Make A Way Media/ Deirdre “DeeDee” Cummings,

Platinum

Language Lizard, Pack-N-Go Girls,

Gold

Audrey Press, Lerner Publishing Group, KidLit TV, ABDO BOOKS: A Family of Educational Publishers, PragmaticMom & Sumo Jo, Candlewick Press,

Silver

Author Charlotte Riggle, Capstone Publishing, Guba Publishing, Melissa Munro Boyd & B is for Breathe,

Bronze

Author Carole P. Roman, Snowflake Stories/Jill Barletti, Vivian Kirkfield & Making Their Voices Heard. Barnes Brothers Books, TimTimTom, Wisdom Tales Press, Lee & Low Books, Charlesbridge Publishing, Barefoot Books Talegari Tales

Author Sponsor Link Cloud

Jerry Craft, A.R. Bey and Adventures in Boogieland, Eugina Chu & Brandon goes to Beijing, Kenneth Braswell & Fathers Incorporated, Maritza M. Mejia & Luz del mes_Mejia, Kathleen Burkinshaw & The Last Cherry Blossom, SISSY GOES TINY by Rebecca Flansburg and B.A. Norrgard, Josh Funk and HOW TO CODE A ROLLERCOASTER, Maya/Neel Adventures with Culture Groove, Lauren Ranalli, The Little Green Monster: Cancer Magic! By Dr. Sharon Chappell, Phe Lang and Me On The Page, Afsaneh Moradian and Jamie is Jamie, Valerie Williams-Sanchez and Valorena Publishing, TUMBLE CREEK PRESS, Nancy Tupper Ling, Author Gwen Jackson, Angeliki Pedersen & The Secrets Hidden Beneath the Palm Tree, Author Kimberly Gordon Biddle, BEST #OWNVOICES CHILDREN’S BOOKS: My Favorite Diversity Books for Kids Ages 1-12 by Mia Wenjen, Susan Schaefer Bernardo & Illustrator Courtenay Fletcher (Founders of Inner Flower Child Books), Ann Morris & Do It Again!/¡Otra Vez!, Janet Balletta and Mermaids on a Mission to Save the Ocean, Evelyn Sanchez-Toledo & Bruna Bailando por el Mundo\ Dancing Around the World, Shoumi Sen & From The Toddler Diaries, Sarah Jamila Stevenson, Tonya Duncan and the Sophie Washington Book Series, Teresa Robeson & The Queen of Physics , Nadishka Aloysius and Roo The Little Red TukTuk, Girlfriends Book Club Baltimore & Stories by the Girlfriends Book Club, Finding My Way Books , Diana Huang & Intrepids, Five Enchanted Mermaids, Elizabeth Godley and Ribbon’s Traveling Castle, Anna Olswanger and Greenhorn, Danielle Wallace & My Big Brother Troy , Jocelyn Francisco and Little Yellow Jeepney, Mariana Llanos & Kutu, the Tiny Inca Princess/La Ñusta Diminuta, Sara Arnold & The Big Buna Bash, Roddie Simmons & Race 2 Rio, DuEwa Frazier & Alice’s Musical Debut, Veronica Appleton & the Journey to Appleville book series Green Kids Club, Inc.

We’d like to also give a shout-out to MCBD’s impressive CoHost Team who not only hosts the book review link-up on celebration day, but who also works tirelessly to spread the word of this event. View our CoHosts HERE.

Co-Hosts and Global Co-Hosts

A Crafty Arab, Afsaneh Moradian, Agatha Rodi Books, All Done Monkey, Barefoot Mommy, Bethany Edward & Biracial Bookworms, Michelle Goetzl & Books My Kids Read, Crafty Moms Share, Colours of Us, Discovering the World Through My Son’s Eyes, Educators Spin on it, Shauna Hibbitts-creator of eNannylink, Growing Book by Book, Here Wee Read, Joel Leonidas & Descendant of Poseidon Reads {Philippines}, Imagination Soup, Kid World Citizen, Kristi’s Book Nook, The Logonauts, Mama Smiles, Miss Panda Chinese, Multicultural Kid Blogs, Serge Smagarinsky {Australia}, Shoumi Sen, Jennifer Brunk & Spanish Playground, Katie Meadows and Youth Lit Reviews

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

TWITTER PARTY! Register here!

Hashtag: Don’t forget to connect with us on social media and be sure and look for/use our official hashtag #ReadYourWorld.

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:

Happy Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2020!

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