Simple and accessible techniques for breathing your way through the alphabet.
Each letter of the alphabet offers an opportunity for mindful breathing.
Much like Teresa Power and Kathleen Rietz’s The ABCs of Yoga for Kids (2009), this text offers instruction in lieu of narrative. Each fully illustrated page presents a letter, the name of a breath that begins with that letter, and a very brief instruction for how to practice the breath. “A [is for] Alligator Breath / Open your arms wide like alligator jaws on the in-breath. Snap them shut on the out-breath.” Most breaths use imagery that draws on familiar animals and everyday experiences most children will recognize, such as blowing out a candle or riding in an elevator. Some are less universal in terms of the background knowledge they draw from, such as “Oatmeal Breath” and “Redwood Breath.” Illustrations are soft and gentle, including kids of varied skin tones. Minus the unfortunate cultural appropriation with the inclusion of “Ninja Breath,” no indicators of children’s ethnicity or culture are present. The book lacks any information or guidance about mindfulness or how to use the specific breaths, which may limit its utility for casual readers. However, for educators and other adults searching for simple, age-appropriate breathing techniques to share with young children, this resource is a treasure trove.
Simple and accessible techniques for breathing your way through the alphabet. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: May 28, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-68364-197-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sounds True
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A clever but disjointed take, with no Jack and no beanstalk.
This latest in the Worldwide Stories series is a culturally eclectic remix of the “Jack and the Beanstalk” tale from the pair who looked at Creation tales in First Light, First Life (2016) and the Cinderella story in Glass Slipper, Gold Sandal (2007).
This confusing, composite variant scarcely resembles the “Jack and the Beanstalk” rendering that most North American readers might know. The author draws on the stories of 16 different countries from Indonesia to Gambia, the United States to Mongolia, interweaving them into one narrative that will require multiple reads to interpret. With monsters that include an ogre, witches, the devil, and a giant, readers will wonder where the familiar pieces of the story are. Those acquainted with the variant arguably best known in North America will recognize “Fee, fi, fo, fum! I smell the blood of an Englishman” but little else. For example, there are no magic beans in this retelling. Where the narrative lacks cohesion, the unifying thread is left up to the illustrator. Paschkis’ comely folk-art–style gouache paintings recall the tapestries and textiles of the various countries represented in the story, and readers will be able to discern the main character in each illustration. It’s a shame that more extensive notes than the pointer to SurLaLune Fairy Tales and Margaret Read MacDonald’s Tom Thumb (1993) are not offered for those curious readers who would wish to further pursue the divergent iterations presented here.
A clever but disjointed take, with no Jack and no beanstalk. (Picture book/folktale. 5-8)Pub Date: April 23, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-15177-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Godwin Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
Though wonky in places, this book makes important points about mitigating anxiety in young children.
Lucy was once a happy and cheerful girl, but shortly after she started school, she often found herself worrying…a lot.
Lucy’s new withdrawn behavior concerns her grandmother. Lucy and Nonna talk to her teacher, who assures Lucy that everyone makes mistakes. Later, Nonna recommends that Lucy help her father, a chef, in the kitchen. With best friend Evan’s help, Lucy becomes quite a good helper. When a food critic comes to her father’s restaurant and a nervous Lucy drops his lemon tart, her father and Evan marvel at the artistic beauty of the broken tart on the miraculously intact plate. (The critic judges it “highly original.”) The illustrations are charming and particularly creative in an early spread in which the children go from standing beside a swimming pool to a page two-thirds the normal size on which Lucy stands, uninterested and apart from the other children, who swim and dive into the pool. Puzzlingly, this clever design does not carry on throughout. Perhaps it’s the translation from the Dutch, but this section reads awkwardly. When the instructor asks, “Who wants to jump off the diving board?” the students cheer, “Yippee!” It’s an odd response and one that children will likely point out. A concluding poem from Nonna to Lucy about making mistakes feels unnecessary. Lucy, Nonna, and Lucy’s father present White; Evan is a child of color.
Though wonky in places, this book makes important points about mitigating anxiety in young children. (author's note) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-60537-579-3
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clavis
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020
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