The Slow Way Home

June's best drawing tears right through the middle - June and Papa, holding hands, ripped right between them.

And the feeling that arrives is HOT. Hungry. All teeth. Grown-ups would call it angry. June calls it the hot feeling - and it wants her to stomp the whole city flat.

So Papa does not hurry her home. He takes the slow way - down the loud avenue, past the pigeons, across at the little white walking man - and shows June what to do with a feeling too big to carry:

Stomp it out. Roar with Broadway. Breathe like a pigeon - puff... and settle.

By the time they reach home, the drawing still has its tear. It always will. But June's hands are kind again, the tape goes scrrritch, and the hot feeling - small enough to carry now - falls fast asleep.

Some ways home are slow on purpose.

A warm New York City picture book about self-control for children aged 3 to 5: you cannot stop a big feeling from coming, but you can breathe until your hands are kind again. The feeling passes; what you do stays.

The Slow Way Stories, Book 1.d avenue, past the pigeons, across at the little white walking man - and shows June what to do with a feeling too big to carry:

Stomp it out. Roar with Broadway. Breathe like a pigeon - puff... and settle.

By the time they reach home, the drawing still has its tear. It always will. But June's hands are kind again, the tape goes scrrritch, and the hot feeling - small enough to carry now - falls fast asleep.

Some ways home are slow on purpose.

A warm New York City picture book about self-control for children aged 3 to 5: you cannot stop a big feeling from coming, but you can breathe until your hands are kind again. The feeling passes; what you do stays.

The Slow Way Stories, Book 1.