Maria’s Heart Book
A true story about how kids feel before their surgery, written by a real kid!
by Maria & Natalie Bergman
This is an illustrated children’s book that a little girl called Maria and her Mom wrote to help children who will have surgery to feel more prepared.
Once upon a time, there was a little girl called Maria, whose beautiful heart was full of love.
Maria’s parents loved her very much, and she was a very happy child. Her Mom was a child psychologist and since this is a true story, you might recognize Maria from our Kids Reconnect website, as she is one of our real-life child Supermodels at Kids Reconnect!
One day, Maria heard some scary news about her heart. She had to go to the hospital to have heart surgery.
Maria’s Mom looked for children’s books with true stories of kids who had to have surgery, to help Maria prepare for surgery and figure out her feelings.
They couldn’t find any books like that, so they wrote a book together. Maria and Natalie hope this book will help kids who are going to have surgery to overcome their scary, tricky Big Feelings before they go to the hospital to have surgery.
Their book is called Maria’s Heart Book.
Are you a kid who is going to have surgery?
That sounds like a really big thing. Are you feeling okay about it?
Maria and her Mom hope this book will help you manage the tricky feelings that might come up for you before and after your surgery. They wish you a fast recovery, with all their hearts!
What do we mean when we say “big feelings”?
Psychologists use special clinical names, such as “adverse childhood experiences”, “childhood trauma”, or “anxiety” to refer to children’s struggles.
In EmPOWERland at Kids Reconnect, we use words like “ugly ughs”, “big feelings”, or “tricky feelings”. These are feelings that children might experience when something big has happened in their life, or when they are anticipating something that feels overwhelming to them, like an upcoming surgery or moving to a new school. We use these simpler words because they are easier for kids to understand and they can land more softly in kids’ and parents’ hearts.
