The person behind the book

My name is Maddie Naswell and I am the author and illustrator of Bottled Up. 

I am a teacher on beautiful Vancouver Island and am working towards getting my Masters in Speech and Language Pathology. I have always loved working and being around children and sometimes feel like I connect with them more. I am a kid at heart, and I never want to lose that. 

I have a very strong passion for teaching social-emotional skills to children. Children experience very big emotions that are real, valid and can be scary. It is important that we validate their feelings and not shame them for acting out on their emotions. Instead we must give them the tools to navigate their feelings and deal with them in a healthy way.

I wrote Bottled Up as a way to visually show children what can happen when we ignore our feelings. As adults in childrens lives we need to provide a safe environment where children can be vulnerable to share their emotions. This means not dismissing or minimizing a child's feelings and being a role model to show healthy ways to deal with emotions. 

If you want to know more about me and my journey to becoming a teacher, I have linked my digital portfolio below. 
Maddie Naswell Digital Portfolio.