For readers seeking ways to express themselves or calm their emotions, this introduction to meditation through one child’s...
A boy in Saudi Arabia sees a storm as a parallel to his own fears and becomes inspired by animals to find inner peace in this story from a yoga therapist.
Members of Ahmed’s family, who appear to be Bedouins, have traveled across the desert to race their camels in an important gathering. Unlike his relatives, who are excited, Ahmed is afraid of his first race. He leaves his tent to spend time with his camel, Jamal. In the quiet, he notices a golden spiny mouse and a Saker falcon. In the distance, he sees a sandstorm, and he realizes that, like the chaos of the tempest, his emotions are causing turmoil in his body. Similar to the protagonist of Manly’s (Nothando’s Journey, 2016) earlier picture book, Ahmed explores his inner life through observing the animals around him. But because Ahmed’s meditation is tranquil, this work lacks some of the vibrant movement of the previous volume. Yet the importance of deep breathing and looking for positive emotions within any turbulence comes through clearly, and the subdued tone of the text skillfully encourages readers to meditate. The author’s earth-toned illustrations, a mix of pen and paint, offer both realistic depictions of the animals and setting and a successful metaphoric expression of Ahmed’s inner life. Three meditation exercises, tied to the narrative, are provided in the endpapers.
For readers seeking ways to express themselves or calm their emotions, this introduction to meditation through one child’s experience delivers a solid starting point.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-9980220-0-0
Page Count: 27
Publisher: JABU Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...
A successful juvenile by the beloved New Yorker writer portrays a farm episode with an imaginative twist that makes a poignant, humorous story of a pig, a spider and a little girl.
Young Fern Arable pleads for the life of runt piglet Wilbur and gets her father to sell him to a neighbor, Mr. Zuckerman. Daily, Fern visits the Zuckermans to sit and muse with Wilbur and with the clever pen spider Charlotte, who befriends him when he is lonely and downcast. At the news of Wilbur's forthcoming slaughter, campaigning Charlotte, to the astonishment of people for miles around, spins words in her web. "Some Pig" comes first. Then "Terrific"—then "Radiant". The last word, when Wilbur is about to win a show prize and Charlotte is about to die from building her egg sac, is "Humble". And as the wonderful Charlotte does die, the sadness is tempered by the promise of more spiders next spring.
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often informative as amusing, and the whole tenor of appealing wit and pathos will make fine entertainment for reading aloud, too.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1952
ISBN: 978-0-06-026385-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1952
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