Feeling Your Feelings: The Head-to-Toe Science of Emotions

Gr 3-7–What do chakras, intestines, emo, and neuroplasticity have in common? They’re all related to how information turns into feelings as humans react to the world around them. With a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure format, readers can select how to follow the details via text boxes on each spread. The playful, tongue-in-cheek-style couches genuine facts that are fascinating, because the subject is us! From anger to fear, to sadness, to excitement, and more, the gamut of emotions is explored via history, physical manifestations, classic reactions, and studies past and present. Nicholls’s cartoon illustrations appear on every page, enhancing the message and the humor. Common jargon about emotions, such as “butterflies, nail-biters, and crybabies,” gains new meaning as their connection to actual phenomena is explained. One example describes how game designers make animated characters realistic by mapping human expressions on their faces. Another explains how you can say the same five words but impart different feelings because of “prosody”: a descriptor for intonation, rhythm, and volume. From science fiction to reality, the connections between brains, bodies, and feelings seem endless. A glossary, sources, and suggested books are appended.