8 January 2019 MY HEART by Corinna Luyken, Dial Books for Young Readers, January 2019, 32p., ISBN: 978-0-7352-2793-4

“Just open your heart and it’s a start.”

-- The Moody Blues, “The Balance” (1970)

“There are days it’s a fence between me and the world,

days it’s a whisper that can barely be heard.

There are days it is broken,

but broken can mend,

and a heart that is closed

can still open again.”

MY HEART is an exquisitely-illustrated poetry picture book about feelings. The rhythm and rhyme and accompanying illustrations will be readily appreciated by kindergarteners and pre-kindergarteners at circle times. But the poet’s inspired utilization of literary devices in this satisfying read-aloud about emotions makes it equally valuable for sharing and discussing with middle graders and with tweens in a middle school language arts classroom.

MY HEART contains the use of metaphor upon metaphor: Culturally, we employ the heart--a body part--as a metaphor. Our feelings do not really stem from our heart muscles, ventricles, and aorta. Corinna Luyken builds a second layer of metaphor upon this cultural use of heart: “My heart is a window. My heart is a slide…”

Luyken’s yellow/black/graphite gray illustrations were “created with a printmaking process called monotype, using water-based inks and pencil.” The images are atmospheric and intriguing, inviting long, repeated interactions. There are no bold, red, Valentine’s hearts here. Instead, on every single spread, hidden heart shapes--some large, some tiny--lie waiting to be discovered amidst the images.

MY HEART is a real standout. I’ve added the poem to my children’s poetry box, and have begun working on memorizing it.

Richie Partington, MLIS

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