My name is Olivia Sorrel, and I am a junior at Riverdale Country School. I am deeply passionate about the intersection of literature and emotional development, especially how stories and interactive activities can help children understand and express complex emotions. 

When I attended my first year of summer camp as a timid 10-year-old, I experienced strong separation anxiety from my parents and home and struggled to articulate what I was feeling. I vividly remember finding comfort in filling out a camp theme Mad Libs book, as filling in each blank helped me put language to emotions I did not yet know how to explain—feelings like missing home, feeling nervous, and slowly realizing I was having fun. 

That experience inspired me to create this book: a Mad Libs-style storytelling activity that helps young children build emotional vocabulary in a fun and engaging way. The book is designed to remind kids that people can experience the same situation differently; what is exciting to one child could cause another to feel anxiety. On each page, the story provides the scenario, but the child chooses the emotion that feels true to them. This Mad Libs activity offers an easy and engaging introduction to emotional literacy for early elementary students, encouraging self-awareness, empathy, and expression.