1-2-3 A Calmer Me: Helping Children Cope When Emotions Get Out of Control

An African-American girl explains that when she feels angry and frustrated—such as when she lets go of her balloon in the park—she turns to a rhyming mantra a friend shared with her: “1-2-3 a calmer me/ 1-2-3 I hug me/ 1-2-3 relax and b-r-e-a-t-h-e/ 1-2-3 a calmer me.” The rhyme itself reappears several times, as the girl uses it to calm herself down during conflicts with family and friends, schoolwork troubles, and sports losses. That very repetitiveness, while useful for readers attempting to memorize the mantra, causes the story to drag, and the girl is more a vehicle for demonstrating feelings and behavior than a fully-fledged character. But Keay capably captures the girl’s changing emotions in her understated watercolor cartoons. Ages 4–8. (Sept.)