Review by Booklist Review
This calming picture book is a collaboration between a number of Pajama Press' editors and illustrators. Their styles differ, but all are soothing and promote thinking in the moment about one's environment and feelings. Each spread shows at least one child embodying a particular principle or example of mindfulness. For instance, one watercolor illustration shows a boy in an early spring garden, holding snow in his hand. The accompanying text explains, "Bad feelings are like cold snow melting in my hand. I feel them . . . I acknowledge them . . . and eventually they are gone." A page with a textured clay scene of children painting a birdhouse declares, "I feel important when I make things with my own hands." The final page, which features a cartoon illustration, defines mindfulness as "taking time to pay close attention to how we feel. It can help calm down our bodies and our brains. It also helps us concentrate and solve problems." The gentle writing and age-appropriate examples make this a useful book for little ones.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
From the team behind A World of Kindness comes this picture book, which does double duty as a mindfulness guide. Fourteen artists illustrate, with a table of contents helpfully identifying the respective page numbers. Composed prose emphasizes sensory experiences and emotions that many children have witnessed: the sounds of birds and dogs, "the smell of a brand-new book," the textile feeling of soft pajamas. "Sometimes my mind is like a mixed-up swirling snowstorm. It isn't right or wrong--it's just how I feel," reads one page, buttressed with a textured illustration, by Miki Sato, of a child bundled in stitch-detailed winter clothes. Other illustrations feature impressive dioramas in various media, as well as more traditional colored-pencil and watercolor art. The children have differing skin tones and hair textures, highlighting the universality of this effectively grounding read. Ages 3--6. (Nov.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Numerous artists illustrate words meant to ground readers in the moment. The simple text of this invitation to mindfulness covers the self ("I know who I am"), the body ("when I run, my muscles stretch and I feel powerful"), natural surroundings ("I can hear birds and breezes"), emotions ("bad feelings are like cold snow melting in my hand"), and sensations ("the sun is warm on my face"). Designed to bring readers' attention to what is occurring within and around them, the text reads like a guided meditation, beginning and ending with "I am here." Each spread features art by a different illustrator, varying in style, with bright colored-pencil drawings, soft watercolor paintings, mixed-media collage, and striking scenes in textured clay. The scenes represent the moments and experiences described in the text, and they feature children of diverse racial and cultural backgrounds. With its meditative words that encourage slow reading, this book can be used as a practical introduction to mindfulness meditation, as an example of the practice, and as a guide. Each illustration style works, but the combination undermines the simplicity of the book by drawing attention to visual contrasts during the first few readings. As the novelty wears off with habitual reading, attention can return to the experience of mindfulness that is the book's strength. A book that will grow in effectiveness with use. (note) (Picture book. 3-7) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
