by William Meyer ; illustrated by Brittany Jacobs ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 27, 2019
A wonderful read-aloud meditation for the beginner—or the practitioner of beginner’s mind—of any age.
Step by step, Meyer and Jacobs offer a straightforward and age-appropriate mindfulness meditation practice.
This title’s greatest asset is its simplicity. Each page invites readers to notice the present moment without judging what is or changing it to something else. This is mindfulness. “Can you hear your breath? Can you feel it? What does it sound like?” The illustration is similarly simple, showing three people diverse in skin tone, gender, and age. They practice along with the text, and the imagery is demonstrative and uncluttered. Ample white space allows the illustration to breathe along with readers. The depiction of meditators at varying points across the life span provides a subtle reminder that mindfulness is a lifelong practice rather than a task to be accomplished or a goal to be achieved. A misstep is the suggestion of how one may feel at the end of meditation: “lighter, more relaxed, maybe a little calmer?” This creates an unnecessary expectation of what one “should” feel, which the rest of the text actively eschews. However, it is a small and forgivable gaffe in an otherwise well-crafted resource.
A wonderful read-aloud meditation for the beginner—or the practitioner of beginner’s mind—of any age. (author’s note) (Picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-60868-633-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: New World Library
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
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by William Meyer ; illustrated by Brittany R. Jacobs
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by Shelley Johannes ; illustrated by Shelley Johannes ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 19, 2017
A kind child in a book for middle-grade readers? There’s no downside to that.
Beatrice Zinker is a kinder, gentler Judy Moody.
Beatrice doesn’t want to be fit in a box. Her first word was “WOW,” not “Mom.” She does her best thinking upside down and prefers to dress like a ninja. Like Judy Moody, she has patient parents and a somewhat annoying younger brother. (She also has a perfectly ordinary older sister.) Beatrice spends all summer planning a top-secret spy operation complete with secret codes and a secret language (pig Latin). But on the first day of third grade, her best friend, Lenny (short for Eleanor), shows up in a dress, with a new friend who wants to play veterinarian at recess. Beatrice, essentially a kind if somewhat quirky kid, struggles to see the upside of the situation and ends up with two friends instead of one. Line drawings on almost every spread add to the humor and make the book accessible to readers who might otherwise balk at its 160 pages. Thankfully, the rhymes in the text do not continue past the first chapter. Children will enjoy the frequent puns and Beatrice’s preference for climbing trees and hanging upside down. The story drifts dangerously close to pedantry when Beatrice asks for advice from a grandmotherly neighbor but is saved by likable characters and upside-down cake. Beatrice seems to be white; Lenny’s surname, Santos, suggests that she may be Latina; their school is a diverse one.
A kind child in a book for middle-grade readers? There’s no downside to that. (Fiction. 6-10)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4847-6738-2
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
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by Shelley Johannes ; illustrated by Shelley Johannes
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by Claudia Mills ; illustrated by Rob Shepperson ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 14, 2016
Another winner from Mills, equally well suited to reading aloud and independent reading.
When Franklin School principal Mr. Boone announces a pet-show fundraiser, white third-grader Cody—whose lack of skill and interest in academics is matched by keen enthusiasm for and knowledge of animals—discovers his time to shine.
As with other books in this series, the children and adults are believable and well-rounded. Even the dialogue is natural—no small feat for a text easily accessible to intermediate readers. Character growth occurs, organically and believably. Students occasionally, humorously, show annoyance with teachers: “He made mad squinty eyes at Mrs. Molina, which fortunately she didn’t see.” Readers will be kept entertained by Cody’s various problems and the eventual solutions. His problems include needing to raise $10 to enter one of his nine pets in the show (he really wants to enter all of them), his troublesome dog Angus—“a dog who ate homework—actually, who ate everything and then threw up afterward”—struggles with homework, and grappling with his best friend’s apparently uncaring behavior toward a squirrel. Serious values and issues are explored with a light touch. The cheery pencil illustrations show the school’s racially diverse population as well as the memorable image of Mr. Boone wearing an elephant costume. A minor oddity: why does a child so immersed in animal facts call his male chicken a rooster but his female chickens chickens?
Another winner from Mills, equally well suited to reading aloud and independent reading. (Fiction. 7-10)Pub Date: June 14, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-374-30223-8
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2016
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by Claudia Mills ; illustrated by Grace Zong
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