My Heart

by Corinna Luyken

My heart is a window. My heart is a slide. My heart can be closed...or opened up wide.

Some days your heart is a puddle or a fence to keep the world out. But some days it is wide open to the love that surrounds you.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Poetry, Emotion, Love, Fiction, Storytime

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 15, 2017

About the author

Corinna Luyken is the author-illustrator of the New York Times Best Seller, MY HEART, as well as THE ARGUERS (Spring 2025); ABC AND YOU AND ME (A Dolly Parton Imagination Library selection); THE TREE IN ME (an NCTE Notable Poetry Book and Indie Bestseller); and THE BOOK OF MISTAKES (which The Wall Street Journal called “sublime”). She is also the illustrator of many award winning picture books including IN THE DARK (A Marginalian Best Book of 2023) written by Kate Hoefler; PATCHWORK (A New York Times and Kirkus Best Picture Book of 2022), written by Matt de la Peña; and ADRIAN SIMCOX DOES NOT HAVE A HORSE (A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard and Comstock-Gag Read Aloud Book Award) written by Marcy Campbell.

She was raised in Oregon, California, and Hawaii; and studied dance improvisation, poetry, and printmaking at Middlebury College in Vermont. Her work is rooted in improvisation and explores themes of connection, perception, and misperception.

She lives in Western Washington, near the Salish Sea, where she also likes to dig in the dirt, surf, and read with a cat (or two) on her lap. You can see more of her work at www.corinnaluyken.com

Reviews

[Dream.M · Rating 4 out of 5]

این اولین کتاب ۱۴۰۳ من هستش. لابد اینم یه نشونه اس که قراره کتاب کودک بیشتر بخونم و بیشتر بهم خوش بگذره :)

[Calista · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very simple book that is hefty and powerful. This is a simple rhyme for all ages, young to old. The artwork is so delicate and amazing. It uses shadows and shapes hidden all over the place with a black, white and yellow palate. As we were reading this, the kids would point out all the hearts they could find on the page.

This is about knowing you have control over your heart. Some days its open and some its closed, it can be small and it can grow.

The niece really enjoyed this story and she gave it 5 stars while the nephew wasn’t too keen and he gave it 3 stars.

[Robert Khorsand · Rating 2 out of 5]

قلب من یک سایه است، یک نور و راه را می‌داند.
باز باشد یا بسته این منم تصمیم می‌گیرم.

یک کتاب کودک...
صبر کنید یه لحظه تا پاک‌کن بردارم، آها پاک شد.
خب یک کتاب مثلا کودک، با کلی نقاشی دوست‌داشتنی مخصوص ما آدم‌بزرگ‌ها برای اینکه برای چند دقیقه هم که شده یک حالی به کودک درونمون بدیم و چشم‌هامون قلب قلبی بشه و گرنه برای بچه‌ها از این کتاب داستان در نمیاد!
دروغ چرا؟ متنش هم به هیچ‌ درد بچه‌ها نمی‌خوره!
البته شاید من اگر بچه بودم با یه ذره‌بین می‌رفتم تو حیاط تا با نور خورشید کاغذش رو سوراخ سوراخ کنم و کلی ذوق کنم و گرنه حقیقتا کاربردی نداره!

کارنامه
بابت نقاشی‌های کم‌نظیر و دوست‌داشتنی کتاب یک ستاره و برای اینکه کیفم را کوک کرد یک ستاره‌ی دیگر، نهایتا دو ستاره برای کتاب منظور می‌کنم و گرنه کتاب هیچ‌ ارزش دیگری ندارد، مگر‌‌ آنکه ۲۹۰۰۰۰ ریال وجه رایج مملکت اضافه داشته باشید و صدالبته قصد به آتش کشیدنش را داشته باشید.

[Shaghayegh · Rating 1 out of 5]

به گمونم برای ما کتابخون ها انتظار طاقت فرسا نیست. مثلا همین الان که تو ماشینم و لابد باید منتظر بمونم، یه کتاب رو باز کردم و خوندم تا گذر زمان رو حس نکنم.
البته که این کتاب مناسب بچه ها نیست. چون داستانی نداره. متشکل از صفحاتی هست که به ندرت یه جمله درش میبینی اما شاید تصاویرش برای اون بچه ی بینوا زیبا باشه. وگرنه قصه ای نداره. بیشتر به درد بزرگسال ها میخوره اما در این باره هم بارها مشابه جملاتش رو دیدیم. قلبی که میشکنه، التیام پیدا میکنه و می روید.

[sAmAnE · Rating 4 out of 5]

کتابی که با کلمات ساده و جملات کوتاه میخواهد تغییر حس، غم و شادی، خوشحالی و ناراحتی، بخشندگی، سیاهی و اندوه را آموزش دهد. نیاز هست خواننده این کتاب را بیشتر توضیح دهد و‌توجه بچه‌ها را به تصاویر و تفسیر آن‌ها بیشتر جلب کند.

[Lisa Vegan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely illustrations!

I wasn’t as enamored of the story/text. It left me a bit cold.

Perhaps for me it’s like the A Friend is Someone Who Likes You book, one that is best read at the right age and/or the right time to fully appreciate it.

three and a half stars

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

“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.”

Corinna Luyken's Book of Mistakes was one of my favorite picture books of 2017--I just love the art and I liked the message about the importance of mistakes--so I was eager to read this, and it is wonderfully sweet and typically beautifully illustrated, with delicately etched black and white and colored pencils, subtle, wispy pastels, lots of space for reflection. And the writing is wonderful and wise about experience and feelings.

I don't really think it is a kid book, really. Most of the lines seem to refer to issues adults experience, and complex metaphors about making choices to keep hearts open or closed. Hearts as windows or slides. But once I got over that--adults can talk to kids about these issues, after all, and maybe more with older kids--I just relaxed and loved it both for the writing and illustration. You know, maybe that title makes it clear: It really is a book for all ages about Luyken's own heart.

[Nastaran · Rating 3 out of 5]

زیبا بود :)
نقاشیاشو بیشتر از شعرش دوست داشتم.
دوست داشتم طولانی تر باشه.

[Chadi Raheb · Rating 5 out of 5]

My heart is a graveyard.
What about yours?

[معصومه توکلی · Rating 3 out of 5]

نقاشی‌هایش خیلی ناز بود ولی مثل خیلی کتاب‌های بی‌داستان دیگر قلاب بچه بهش گیر نکرد!

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

My heart is like a child, still untouched by the world and lacking in knowledge.

+I enjoyed the artwork.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

"There are days it is broken,
but broken can mend,
and a heart that is closed
can still open again."

Popular culture likes to perpetuate the narrative that our hearts are fragile. But really, our hearts are resilient. And Corinna Luyken helps us remember how strong we are because of our hearts.

[La Coccinelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautiful little book about... well, the metaphorical heart. It's about love and heartbreak, empathy and kindness, and all the other wonderful (and not-so-wonderful) emotions that come with being human.

The illustrations, done in a limited colour palette, are really quite striking and help highlight the gentle sentiments of the book. There's no plot, really, other than the story of feeling and being human.

I'd recommend this one for the pictures alone. The text is beautiful, but without the illustrations, it wouldn't have the same impact.

Quotable moment:

[Reading_ Tamishly · Rating 5 out of 5]

If ever I need to gift the most precious book with the most dreamy beautiful angelic book to my daughter, this is the one.

It's melancholic. Wordless. Yet hauntingly mesmerizing.

[Erika · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, I really like Luyken's work. I just think, in this book, she used imagery that a young child wouldn't really be able to unpack. If the book was billed for an older audience, the imagery would be really beautiful way of conceiving of the stirring of our hearts

[mara · Rating 3 out of 5]

me 🤝 collecting books for my child -who will be here in the very far future

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

The immensely talented Corinna Luyken, who in 2017 made her picture-book debut with the beautiful The Book of Mistakes , and who has also recently illustrated Marcy Campbell's Adrian Simcox Does NOT Have a Horse , returns in this lovely third title. A poetic meditation on the heart, and our choice to keep it open or closed, it pairs a simple but thought-provoking text with gorgeous monotype print artwork.

My Heart is a book which rewards careful and repeated reading. I have a colleague who dismissed it at first, only to return to it and change his mind. There is a quiet, contemplative charm here, a sense of depth and mystery that, like the human heart, can unfold in unexpected ways. I appreciated Luyken's use of the window and the slide as metaphors - "My heart is a window, / my heart is a slide. / My heart can be closed / or opened up wide" - as I think they really work to communicate the changeable nature of our hearts. The artwork, which features a lovely yellow quite prominently, is beautiful and expressive. The two-page spread in which the text speaks of the heart sometimes being a fence between oneself and the world, is one of the few to contain no yellow, which feels entirely appropriate. Luyken is a picture-book creator with a deft touch, and I look forward to seeing what she does in the future. As for this one, well, appropriately enough given the title, it speaks to the heart.

[Shabnam_wr · Rating 3 out of 5]

برای خوندن این کتاب فقط کافیه ۵ دقیقه وقت بذارید . بعضی تصویر های کتاب واضح منظور رو بیان میکنند و تصویر سازی قشنگی هم داره البته.
محتواش هم گاهی قابل درک و تامل هست ولی اگه قراره برای یه کودک خونده بشه ،لازمه که یه بزرگتر براش جمله هارو باز کنه و توضیح بده ،چون این خلاصه گویی ، باعث میشه برای بچه گنگ به نظر برسه کتاب و خیلی چیزی متوجه نشه.

[A.M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

positively beautiful

[Ms. B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Find the hearts in the illustrations in this story about the feelings of the heart.

[Roseby Valencia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A heart that is closed
can still open again

[Neda · Rating 2 out of 5]

تصویرهای کتاب خیلی بهتر از همان چهار خطی بود که در کتاب بود. بنظرم برای بزرگترها بود تا کودکان.

[m ✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

The illustrations are so beautiful.

"Some days your heart is a puddle or a fence to keep the world out. But some days it is wide open to the love that surrounds you."

[Os Livros da Lena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tradução de Susana Cardoso Ferreira
Revisão de Catarina Magalhães
Composição de Raquel Silva

“O meu coração é uma janela,
é um escorrega para eu deslizar.
Tanto pode estar fechado
como aberto de par em par.
Alguns dias é uma poça.
Noutros um borrão.
Às vezes está carregado,
e é chuva, vento e trovão.
Há dias em que é pequenino,
mas o que é pequenino pode crescer…
e crescer…
e crescer.
Outros dias é uma barreira que me separa do mundo,
ou então um segredo contado num sussurro.
Às vezes o meu coração parte-se,
mas o que se parte tem remendo.
E um coração fechado abre-se a qualquer momento.
O meu coração é uma sombra,
e uma luz que trago comigo.
Aberto ou fechado…
sou eu que decido.”💛

[Richale · Rating 5 out of 5]

"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 a shadow, a light, and a guide. Closed or open, I get to decide."

[Melissa Eddington · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful book about hearts...open hearts, closed hearts, broken hearts and more!

[trestitia ⵊⵊⵊ deamorski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Murat'ın yolladığı birdakikaotuzdokuzsaniye lik bir video ile okudum sayılır.
çizim, teknik ve palet seçimi çok güzel.
gerisi klasik pozitif çocuk kitabı.

[Farjaneh_ · Rating 2 out of 5]

(هو النور)
تصاویر قشنگی داشت به خصوص اگر مثل من رنگ زرد رو دوست داشته باشید، متنش موزون بود و دلنشین اما داستان نداشت، کوتاه و ساده بود، بدون هیجان، فکر نمیکنم جذابیت زیادی برای بچه‌ها داشته باشه

[Murat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mükemmel.

[Mohi · Rating 2 out of 5]

تصاویرش برای بچه‌ها قشنگه
اما
جملاتش بیشتر برای بزرگترها قابل درکه و یه کودک شاید نتونه درکی ازش داشته باشه