My Quiet Place

A youth describes methods for handling sound-based sensory overload in a down-to-earth picture book that’s bookended by breathwork models. Plain-spoken narration readily acknowledges, “It can feel overwhelming when your day is filled with sounds of action,” before proposing a manageable-feeling solution: retreating to a “quiet place.” At home, that looks like “the tiny, tucked-away space behind the couch” or a cozy closet corner. During a day out, too, the protagonist finds ways to self-regulate (“Sometimes my quiet place isn’t a place at all,” the speaker suggests, encouraging a focus on sensations including a “steady hand to hold” or “something peaceful to watch”). Pattern-filled digital artwork aptly indicates stimuli with reverberating red lines, while the brown-skinned protagonist’s facial expressions and body language communicate moments of discomfort. By contrast, the subject’s mouth takes on a gentle upturn in the aftermath of soothing activities, which, the book’s end emphasizes, can be shared with others. At once logistical and sensitive, Mikai’s account empowers with emulatable tools. Ages 5–8. (Aug.)