BREATHE LIKE A BEAR

Children’s musician and mindfulness expert Willey helps children learn to assuage first-day-of-school jitters.

On the way to school, Bear encounters her pal Bird and confides that she’s got “butterflies in her tummy.” Bird admits that he’s worried, too—what if the other classmates don’t like his feathers? Owl overhears and suggests a mantra to calm their anxiety. She breathes deeply and says, “Breathe in, breathe out. / Everybody has a heartbeat. / Breathe in, breathe out. / It’s a rhythm we all share.” Realizing that Bear’s fur and Bird’s feathers “may look very different…but they do the same job,” the pals feel much better and continue on their way. They come upon Fawn, who’s worried that his preference for eating grass is strange, so Bear and Bird teach him the mantra and breathing technique. Arriving at school, they see Owl, who, unsurprisingly, is their new teacher, leading the class in the mindfulness activity. Discussion questions for readers, related to Bear’s, Bird’s, and Fawn’s concerns, are interspersed, with the final one intended to instill confidence about children’s own uniqueness: “What makes you special?” Though the text is somewhat wordy and the Disney-esque cartoon illustrations are a bit saccharine, overall the story gets its message across effectively. The book ends with a link to Willey’s song “Everybody’s Got a Heartbeat.” (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A practical approach to anchoring oneself in the face of uncertainty.