I almost never write about books on Droolicious (which should probably change come to think of it), and with this book I am probably late to the party, but it is so great I had to evangelize it a bit more. Zen Shorts by Jon J. Muth is the story of a panda named Stillwater, and the three short tales he tells children.
The book itself is beautifully illustrated in watercolors, with each of the individual stories illustrated with sort of asian brush-strokes. The stories are simple, peaceful tales not meant to teach as much as show different ways of looking at situations that kids find themselves in all the time. It’s rare that my kids and I actually discuss a book after reading it the previous night, but with Zen Shorts we ended up talking about examples in our lives where the stories apply.
It is easily the best book I’ve bought for my kids in the last year, and I highly recommend it. In fact, the newer book from Jon J. Muth is out now too – Zen Ties. Read about that one on Babble here.
Zen Shorts, $15.23 for the collector’s edition from Amazon.com