“What Does Happy Look Like?” If you asked me, I”d agree that sunshine yellow is a good match for this emotion: but a school bus would not be on my list of images that articulate happiness. If you painted a prison transport bus with bright sunshine yellow paint, you would more closely approximate what school buses represent to me.
I offer this observation in response to a book, “What Does Happy Look Like?” by Joseph and Silvana Karim. It”s a picture book that pairs a color or image with an emotion that a child may find difficult to identify or articulate.
The book is presented through the point of view of a child named Joey who is learning about emotions. By offering concrete visualizations of what may otherwise be abstract, the book helps children to identify common childhood emotions: happy, sad, angry, afraid and love.
Parents are encouraged to interact with their children while they are reading this book. “As you read the book and look at each illustration, ask the child what she is feeling. Have her comment on Joey”s words and then ask her to describe the picture in her own words, with as much detail as possible.”
Speaking as a former child, and as an adult who continues to use colors and objects to explain abstract concepts like feelings, some of the authors” choices seem very appropriate to me. I agree: sad does feel dark blue and cold. I think “lonely” does too. Angry feels hot and bright red.
But I have a strong objection to that school bus as a representation of happy.
The school bus brought me to a place where, every day, I was taunted and shunned by my classmates. The ride itself was punctuated by the noisiness of the other children on board. Every rut in the road caused a jolt, plus the bus smelled bad. There was nothing happy about it.
(No offense to the bus driver, by the way; she was one of the ride”s few highlights. The other highlight was being able to see the world reflected back at me in the windows of the bus. I called it the “Land of Backwards.”)
If the bus brought me late to school, my entire day would cascade downhill from there. I”d report to the school office to ask for a late pass but if the late bell had not yet rung, office staff would refuse me a pass. So I”d continue on to class, knowing that the late bell would ring while I was en route and I would have no pass when I got there. Sure enough; the late bell would ring, I would straggle into class and I”d be given detention. After school, while in detention, my presence would be the subject of whispering and nudges among the other students. So much stress and anxiety directly caused by that bright yellow bus!
But, you know … that”s just me. Maybe there are children who are genuinely thrilled to ride a bus to school each morning because school, to them, is a wonderful place that they look forward to every day.
So while I would encourage parents and teachers to make use of this book, my advice to them would be to expect the unexpected. Don”t be surprised if any of the images, like the bright yellow bus, elicit a reaction from your child that is different from what the book”s authors anticipated. Your child may have a different idea of what “happy” or another emotion looks like.
“What Does Happy Look Like?” is available from Autism Asperger Publishing Co., www.asperger.net.
Cynthia Parkhill is the editor of Northshore News, South County News and the Clear Lake Observer American, as well as focus pages editor for the Lake County Record-Bee. You can reach her at 263-5636, ext. 39 or e-mail ObserverAmerican@gmail.com.
