Why Do We Cry?

我們為什麼會哭呢？哭就代表不勇敢嗎？還是，其實哭根本沒什麼呢？

有一天，Mario問媽媽：「我們為什麼會哭呢？」媽媽想了一下後，說了很多可能的原因。可能是因為在我們內心的悲傷已經大到必須逃出身體了。或是眼淚其實是在幫助我們更了解這個世界。但有沒有可能是，當我們無法表達自己時，眼淚就成了全宇宙共通的語言呢？但不管怎樣，最重要的是，流淚並不是一件不好的事情，也不一定代表一個人不開心。

透過講解各種我們哭泣的原因，這本來自Fran Pintadera的作品讓大家更了解自己。哭泣本身就是沒問題的，每個人都有權利哭。這甚至是一種可以讓自身舒壓的好方式，幫助我們穩定情緒並成長。Ana Sender在書中精美又觸動人心的插圖，更是讓整個故事讀起來更加的溫馨，透過Mario與母親的對談間，讀者們不僅能夠學到對哭這件事正確的解讀方式，也能培養同理心及情緒控管的技巧。大人小孩都非常適合閱讀的一本書！

This sensitive, poetic picture book uses metaphors and beautiful imagery to explain the reasons for our tears, making it clear that everyone is allowed to cry, and that everyone does.

In a soft voice, Mario asks, “Mother, why do we cry?” His mother thinks for a moment, and then begins to tell him about the many reasons for our tears. We cry because our sadness is so huge it must escape from our bodies. Because we don’t understand the world, and our tears go in search of an answer. Because we can’t find the right words, and our tears speak a universal language. Most important, she tells him, we cry because we feel like crying. And, as she shows him then, sometimes we feel like crying for joy.

By exploring the causes of our tears, Fran Pintadera’s thoughtful, poetic picture book story defends the right to cry and reinforces crying’s importance as a way to release our pain, to calm us and to help us grow. Though the question is asked by the boy, the illustrations of his mother’s answers feature her as a child, adding a layer of empathy to her message. Ana Sender’s artwork uses color and symbolic images along with facial expressions and body language to beautifully capture the mood and emotion being described on each spread. This warm, reassuring hug of a book provides just the response every adult would want to have to the central question. Supporting social-emotional learning, it makes an excellent choice for discussions about feelings and crying. To extend the concepts in the story, back matter describes the physical aspects and benefits of tears and provides two activities.