A solid and unintimidating introduction to mindfulness meditation for young readers.
The meditation practice of counting breaths to create calm is presented in this picture book first published in Australia.
This introduction to calming meditation is aimed at young readers and presents a simple technique: counting breaths to 10. After directly encouraging readers via second-person narration to count their breaths to 10, the story relates what each of five youngsters—illustrated with varied gender presentation and shown with diverse hair textures and skin tones—have in their minds, thoughtwise. For example, “Molly’s thoughts are butterflies” while “Oliver’s thoughts are monsters,” and “Amelia’s thoughts are wriggly worms.” After acknowledging these different types of thoughts, the text segues to the idea that all thoughts are fleeting and transient—even scary ones. This important point is the basis of meditation, and it’s heartening to find it reinforced so strongly throughout as well as being the final summation: “Just finding your breath can put you at ease. / Watch your thoughts drift away, then feel calm… / And at peace.” In its essence, the theme is clearly presented and unintimidating, but the perky rhyme carries with it a hint of patronization. Perrini’s illustrations don’t vary from full-bleed double-page spreads, and while they present plenty of open space—reinforcing the idea of uncluttered mindfulness—they generally lack any imaginative interpretation, mostly mirroring the words. However, it is enriching to see diversity represented.
A solid and unintimidating introduction to mindfulness meditation for young readers. (Picture book. 5-10)Pub Date: Feb. 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5064-6377-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Beaming Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2019
Lighthearted spook with a heaping side of silliness—and hair.
Fifth graders get into a hairy situation.
After an unnamed narrator’s full-page warning, readers dive right into a Wolver Hollow classroom. Mr. Noffler recounts the town legend about how, every Oct. 19, residents don fake mustaches and lock their doors. As the story goes, the late Bockius Beauregard was vaporized in an “unfortunate black powder incident,” but, somehow, his “magnificent mustache” survived to haunt the town. Once a year, the spectral ’stache searches for an exposed upper lip to rest upon. Is it real or superstition? Students Parker and Lucas—sole members of the Midnight Owl Detective Agency—decide to take the case and solve the mustache mystery. When they find that the book of legends they need for their research has been checked out from the library, they recruit the borrower: goth classmate Samantha von Oppelstein. Will the three of them be enough to take on the mustache and resolve its ghostly, unfinished business? Whether through ridiculous plot points or over-the-top descriptions, the comedy keeps coming in this first title in McGee’s new Night Frights series. A generous font and spacing make this quick-paced, 13-chapter story appealing to newly confident readers. Skaffa’s grayscale cartoon spot (and occasional full-page) illustrations help set the tone and accentuate the action. Though neither race or skin color is described in the text, images show Lucas and Samantha as light-skinned and Parker as dark-skinned.
Lighthearted spook with a heaping side of silliness—and hair. (maps) (Fiction. 7-10)Pub Date: Aug. 31, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5344-8089-6
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Quietly contemplative and thoroughly lovely.
A child finds adventure and a change of perspective on a dreary day.
Clouds cover everything in a palette of unending gray, creating a sense of ennui and gloom. A child stands alone, head down, feeling as gray as the day, and decides to ride through town on an old bike. Pops of color throughout the grayscale illustrations go unnoticed—there are yellow leaves scattered about, and the parking lot is filled with bright yellow buses, but this child, who has skin the grayish white of the page, sees only the empty playground, creaky swings, a sad merry-go-round, and lonely seesaws. But look—there’s a narrow winding path just beyond the fence, something to explore. There are things to be noticed, leaves to be crunched, and discoveries to be made. Imagination takes over, along with senses of wonderment and calm, as the child watches a large blue bird fly over the area. The ride home is quite different, joyful and filled with color previously ignored, reaffirming the change in the rider’s outlook. The descriptive, spare text filled with imagery and onomatopoeia is well aligned with well-rendered art highlighting all the colors that brighten the not-so-gray day and allowing readers to see what the protagonist struggles to understand, that “anything can happen…on a gray day.” (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Quietly contemplative and thoroughly lovely. (Picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781797210896
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
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