YOGA BUNNY

The popularity of yoga for kids guarantees a market for this lesson book, based on the author’s website of the same name.

The premise is simple, but it’s also a bit didactic. Like first-time author Russo, Bunny wants to share the joy of yoga with his friends. Alas, Lizard is too angry and tired, Fox is too busy, and Bird has the hiccups. None will try yoga. Sadly, Bunny tells himself that “doing yoga alone is better than not doing yoga at all.” Two little mice imitate Bunny's warrior pose, which inexplicably prompts a change of heart for Bird and Fox. Even Lizard joins them for the resting pose. Russo's animals are drawn with spare simplicity but lack expression. The uncluttered white pages with just a hint of grass and little pink flowers under each animal's feet ground the images and mirror Bunny's inner calm. The 32 illustrations that decorate the endpapers show Bunny in rather un-rabbitlike postures. Though they are undeniably cute, it’s peculiar to think of a rabbit doing “happy baby” or “butterfly,” much less a “bound side angle.” The chubbiness of the rabbit makes that last pose and others very difficult to parse visually. Russo also calls the plank posture a “pushup,” which implies effort—which is counter to yoga philosophy.

This may inspire little yogis, but for accurate examples of the asanas, consult an actual instruction book.