“Gilly and the Garden” is Dr. Donna Housman’s debut book for children ages 3 through 8. This book is intended to help them learn to cope with loss and death. As the first in the book series The ECSELent Adventures of Hemmy and Shemmy, it has been selected by the Children’s Book Council for their Hot off the Press List and was selected as one of 48 best gifts for 4-year-olds by experts and reported on in the New York Post.
Managing big emotions is fundamental to learning and thriving. Hemmy and Shemmy will show children how to become the boss of their own feelings, both big and small.
“Gilly and the Garden” contains tips for readers when talking about grief, loss, and death with young children and over 20 guiding questions for emotional learning.
“Gilly and the Garden” is the first in the book series The ECSELent Adventures of Hemmy and Shemmy.
Psychologist – Early Childhood Education
Dr. Donna Housman has spent her professional career in the world of early childhood development and education. Believing that it is far easier to prevent than repair, Dr. Housman founded Housman Institute, along with its lab school and early childhood development center, based on emotional foundations of learning and cognition and informed by research in neuroscience, child development, and early education. Seizing the opportunity to inform the architecture of the brain in the earliest years, her Emotional, Cognitive, and Social Early Learning (ECSEL) approach promotes healthy brain development and a positive sense of self by fostering the building blocks of emotional intelligence starting from birth.
Dr. Housman has trained thousands of early childhood educators, children, and families in her ECSEL approach while being a consistent source of vital counsel and guidance for families and educators on young children’s social and emotional development.
