Where Do Your Feelings Live?

Following her successes with M is for Mustache and I Promise, Catherine Hernandez’s new picture book, Where Do Your Feelings Live? explores the different difficult emotions children experience on a daily basis and how they can process them in a healthy way.

Showcasing multiple children experiencing difficult situations, such as adults fighting or experiencing unfamiliar environments, Hernandez details the emotions involved, embodying the feelings as animals (an ostrich, puppy, and more) that the children nurture, tend to, and take shelter with. By representing the emotions as animals that embrace the children, Hernandez normalizes feelings like anxiety, fear and anger, and she encourages children to experience and express them rather than burying them inside themselves.

Throughout Where Do Your Feelings Live?, readers are reminded that their emotions are all valid and deserve to be recognized and celebrated. The constant use of “your” also grounds the narrative, placing child readers in the heart of the story. Myriam Chery captures Hernandez’s inclusive atmosphere with her colourful illustrations and diverse representations of different children, family and situations.