Bab El Wijdan: giving every emotion a face, a story, and a name
Bab El Wijdan is a collection of books that gives every emotion a face, a story, and a name, so that children, and even the adults who accompany them, learn to recognize emotions, welcome them, and live with them rather than against them. An emotion we can name is an emotion we can finally tame. The goal is to support children, from the very youngest age, in developing their emotional intelligence: identifying what they feel, understanding what others feel, and responding with sensitivity rather than being overwhelmed. It is a skill built early that stays with them for life, in the family, at school, and then in adult life.
For children aged 6 months and up, and for the parents, teachers, and adults who accompany them.
They learn to tell anger from frustration, sadness from disappointment, and fear from worry, so they can express their inner world instead of suffering it in silence. Through characters that Moroccan children can identify with, they discover that feeling a strong emotion is neither a weakness nor a shame, but a universal human experience that can be lived through and shared. The shared reading moment also recreates a space for conversation, a pause and a dialogue between child and adult, at a time when screens and the pace of modern life leave less and less room for it.
The collection moves forward in two complementary formats. On one side, albums of immediate recognition, such as Mrs Boowa’s Colorful Emotions: a chameleon that changes color according to what it feels, to introduce the five core emotions (fear, sadness, anger, surprise, and happiness). Suitable from age 2 through adulthood, it comes with Mrs Boowa’s Workshop, an activity book that explores the secondary emotions hidden behind each core emotion: anger, for example, may hide stress, anxiety, or frustration. On the other side, classic narrative tales, in which a character goes through a real story to tame what they feel. In A Journey to the End of the Dream, Azalaïs and Mehdi explore fear: a little girl and her friend go into a dream to face a terrifying dragon, only to discover that it was just a vacuum cleaner.
Whether through color, activity, or story, every title pursues the same goal: turning an abstract emotion into something we can see, name, and therefore tame. The books speak to the child and the adult alike, because emotional intelligence is built together.
Mrs Boowa’s Colorful Emotions. A chameleon that changes color to explain the five core emotions. Push open the door and give your emotions a name.
