A succinct, beautifully crafted documentation of the origin of Buddhism.
Before he was known as the Buddha—“the awakened one”—Prince Siddhartha lived a decadent life within protective palace walls, surrounded by abundance and sheltered from life’s inevitable cruelties.
Siddhartha becomes a man within the palace, marrying a wife and fathering a son. However, his curiosity about life outside the palace grows. When he finally travels outside, Siddhartha sees old age, sickness, and death for the first time, and he learns that these painful experiences are universal and unavoidable. This realization becomes the first noble truth of Buddhism, and it inspires Siddhartha to abandon his life of privilege to become a spiritual seeker. Through his meditations, Siddhartha becomes the Buddha. His teachings, such as the foundational “four noble truths,” spread worldwide and become known as Buddhism. This narrative manages to distill the life of one of the world’s most influential spiritual teachers into a slim illustrated narrative. Evocative of the traditional Tibetan Buddhist paintings known as thangkas, the soft watercolors grace the rather stoic narrative with an emotional quality as it depicts the subject’s transition from Prince Siddhartha to the Buddha. The tale is set in India, and the skin tones depicted are realistic and vary from peachy tan to deep brown. This picture book will serve families seeking to share their own Buddhist faith and practice with children as well as independent readers researching spiritual practices.
A succinct, beautifully crafted documentation of the origin of Buddhism. (Informational picture book. 6-12)Pub Date: March 24, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-61180-629-8
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Bala Kids/Shambhala
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
A pivotal moment in a child’s life, at once stirring and authentically personal.
Before growing up to become a major figure in the civil rights movement, a boy finds a role model.
Buffing up a childhood tale told by her renowned father, Young Shelton describes how young Andrew saw scary men marching in his New Orleans neighborhood (“It sounded like they were yelling ‘Hi, Hitler!’ ”). In response to his questions, his father took him to see a newsreel of Jesse Owens (“a runner who looked like me”) triumphing in the 1936 Olympics. “Racism is a sickness,” his father tells him. “We’ve got to help folks like that.” How? “Well, you can start by just being the best person you can be,” his father replies. “It’s what you do that counts.” In James’ hazy chalk pastels, Andrew joins racially diverse playmates (including a White child with an Irish accent proudly displaying the nickel he got from his aunt as a bribe to stop playing with “those Colored boys”) in tag and other games, playing catch with his dad, sitting in the midst of a cheering crowd in the local theater’s segregated balcony, and finally visualizing himself pelting down a track alongside his new hero—“head up, back straight, eyes focused,” as a thematically repeated line has it, on the finish line. An afterword by Young Shelton explains that she retold this story, told to her many times growing up, drawing from conversations with Young and from her own research; family photos are also included. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A pivotal moment in a child’s life, at once stirring and authentically personal. (illustrator’s note) (Autobiographical picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-545-55465-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
Though a bit loose around the edges, a charmer nevertheless.
Tales of a fourth grade ne’er-do-well.
It seems that young Jordan is stuck in a never-ending string of bad luck. Sure, no one’s perfect (except maybe goody-two-shoes William Feranek), but Jordan can’t seem to keep his attention focused on the task at hand. Try as he may, things always go a bit sideways, much to his educators’ chagrin. But Jordan promises himself that fourth grade will be different. As the year unfolds, it does prove to be different, but in a way Jordan couldn’t possibly have predicted. This humorous memoir perfectly captures the square-peg-in-a-round-hole feeling many kids feel and effectively heightens that feeling with comic situations and a splendid villain. Jordan’s teacher, Mrs. Fisher, makes an excellent foil, and the book’s 1970s setting allows for her cruelty to go beyond anything most contemporary readers could expect. Unfortunately, the story begins to run out of steam once Mrs. Fisher exits. Recollections spiral, losing their focus and leading to a more “then this happened” and less cause-and-effect structure. The anecdotes are all amusing and Jordan is an endearing protagonist, but the book comes dangerously close to wearing out its welcome with sheer repetitiveness. Thankfully, it ends on a high note, one pleasant and hopeful enough that readers will overlook some of the shabbier qualities. Jordan is White and Jewish while there is some diversity among his classmates; Mrs. Fisher is White.
Though a bit loose around the edges, a charmer nevertheless. (Memoir. 8-12)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-64723-5
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
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