• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Geek Club Books

Autism Education, Awareness, Acceptance, Advocacy

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Home
  • About
    • Autism Storytelling for Hope and Change
    • Speaking
    • Creative Team & Educational Specialists
    • Advisory Board
    • Our Benefactors
    • Press
    • Privacy Policy
    • Disclaimer
  • Blog
    • All Articles and Interviews
    • Articles By Author
  • Families
    • Welcome Autism Families!
    • Autism Resources Bundle!
    • Freebies
    • Mighty League Autism Moms
  • Educators
    • Welcome Educators!
    • Autism EDU
    • Bluebee TeeVee, Autism Information Station
    • School Visits
  • Comics
    • Autism Comics Overview
    • Autism in Real Life Comic
    • Autism Spectrum Comic
    • End Awareness Comic
    • Understanding Autism Comic
    • Mighty League 1: Autistic Hero Comic
    • Mighty League 2: Autistic Hero Comic Book
  • Resources
    • How to Find Resources
    • Asking Autistics
    • Autistic Self-care
    • Amazon Autism Book Shop
    • What is Autism?
    • Books By Autistic Authors
    • What is Autism Awareness?
    • Autism Glossary
    • Autism Myths
    • Autistic or Person with Autism?
    • Speech and Language
    • Autism Business Ideas
  • Zoom Magazine
    • Issue 18: The Black Autistic Experience
    • Issue 17: Health
    • Issue 16: Travel
    • Issue 15: Powerful Women
    • Issue 14: Trailblazers
    • Issue 13: Family
  • Take Action
    • How to Advocate for Autism
      • #Activate4Autism
      • Activator Heroes
    • Make a Difference
  • Contact
  • Donate

The ABCs of Recognizing and Expressing Feelings

January 26, 2016 By Jodi Murphy Leave a Comment

Share on TwitterShare on FacebookShare on PinterestShare on LinkedInShare on RedditShare on WhatsApp

ABC Book of Feelings

Kathryn Lescroart DetzerKathryn Lescroart Detzer is a pastel artist with a background in graphic design, book editing, illustration, and calligraphy. She originally designed and illustrated this little book in 1984 as a Christmas gift for her nieces and nephews. She thought the ABC format was fun and a good way to expand her nieces and nephew’s emotional vocabulary while teaching them the letters of the alphabet.

She was working at a high school at the time and remembers asking kids to pose, “act happy or act disappointed,” and so on. She did sketches capturing their body postures and facial expressions and reworked them in ink. It wasn’t too difficult to come up with a feeling for each letter but she had to cheat on X!

After I had an illustration for each letter, I did the layout on a big (what they used to call) paste-up board. I wanted to have it printed and published so badly but it was quite expensive (before it was digitally possible). My husband had just inherited some guns and he had lost any interest in hunting and I did not want guns in the house. He ended up selling them so that we could afford to have my book printed in black and white at a small printer in Placerville, CA. I printed about 150 copies and gave them to my family and friends. I have one or two yellowed copies left on my bookshelf.

[Tweet “ABC Book of Feelings for recognizing and expressing feelings #childrensbooks”]

What inspired you to bring the book back?

Fast forward thirty years. I have two grown sons of my own now and work in a neuropsychologist’s office, in addition to having an art studio. I have become familiar with children who have pragmatic difficulties affecting their social communication. That is, they have difficulty reading social cues such as facial expressions. It occurred to me that my  little book might be the perfect way to help these children recognize the feelings of others or express their own feelings.

Teacher friends and parents of some kids on the autism spectrum shared the need for a  book about feelings and it wasn’t long before I decided to rework the entire book, updating the characters, changing some feelings (I changed GROOVY to GUILTY) and adding color. The ABC Book of Feelings (Second edition) is the result!

The ABC Book of Feelings

Who is the ideal reader and how do you see the book being used?

The ABC Book of Feelings can be read alone, or in a group. The vocabulary is very simple and even very small children will enjoy the characters and their reactions. Delightful and playful characters illustrate all the emotions, literally from A to Z, not just happy and sad.

What’s the message you want your readers to take away after reading the book?

ABC Book of Feelings illustrationI think it’s the perfect discussion starter for kids including those unable or unwilling to express what they are thinking and feeling. I hope it will inspire them to open up and express what’s on their minds.

Is there anything else you’d like to share about your book?

Great for classroom discussion, therapy or at-home interactions.

Discover more about Kathryn:

  • ABC Book of Feelings on Amazon
  • ABC Book of Feelings on Createspace
  • Kathryn’s fine art website
Share on TwitterShare on FacebookShare on PinterestShare on LinkedInShare on RedditShare on WhatsApp

Filed Under: Blog Haps, Curious Interviews Tagged With: children's author, children's book, feelings, social skills, speech and language

About Jodi Murphy

Jodi Murphy is the founder of Geek Club Books, a registered nonprofit committed to creating a world where autistic individuals are fully accepted, valued and have a voice. Her priority is bringing autistic individuals creative and leadership opportunities that are meaningful, empowering and support their advocacy. She works with a creative autistic team to produce pop culture-based autism awareness education that is innovative, engaging, positive and opens hearts and minds to a new way of thinking about autism. Sign up for Geek Club Books mailing list for free apps, resource guides, curriculum, audio stories and more: https://geekclubbooks.com/autism-bundle.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Join Our Neurodiverse Community:

Read Our Current Issue:

Search

Latest

  • My Soul is a Garden I’m Learning How to Properly Tend
  • How to Increase Your Resilience while Autistic
  • #AskingAutistics: How Do You Feel About the Puzzle Piece Symbol?
  • Why It’s So Important to Remain Open to Joy
  • Why Do People Think I Should Be Sad and Sorry about Autism?

Topics

  • 501c3 Mission (8)
  • Anxiety (8)
  • App & Product Reviews (12)
  • Autimisms (29)
  • Autism Acceptance (13)
  • Autism at Work (9)
  • Autism Entrepreneurs (17)
  • Autism Resources (6)
  • Blog Haps (550)
  • Buzz (6)
  • Classroom (15)
  • Curious Interviews (118)
  • Day in the Life (9)
  • Dorktales (4)
  • Impactful Blogs (9)
  • Labels (4)
  • Love (5)
  • Mighty League (31)
  • Neurodiversity (2)
  • Our Personal Autism Journey (28)
  • Penfriend Project Autism Columns (228)
    • Adriana's Awesome Autistic Book Lists (3)
    • Aspierations (16)
    • Autism Insider (78)
    • Autistic Speaks (27)
    • Being Brave (28)
    • Chloe Rothschild (3)
    • Fidgets and Fries (3)
    • Happy Aspie (9)
    • My Shaynanigans (8)
    • Neurodivergent Rebel (23)
    • Positively Autistic (18)
    • Proud Autistic Living (6)
    • Tud Sense (5)
  • Pop Culture (8)
  • Safety (8)
  • Self-Care (7)
  • Self-Esteem (3)
  • Self-Improvement (10)
  • Sensory Needs (10)
  • Social Skills (4)
  • Speech and Language (6)
  • Tell Us Your Story (29)
  • Zoom Autism (64)

Footer

Stay Connected

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Copyright © 2021 Geek Club Books

To improve your experience on our site we may use cookies. Find out more.