You Are a Lion!

January 16, 2012
Yoo goes beyond downward dog to teach children yoga poses that mimic animals like a butterfly, frog, and cat. In alternating spreads, children demonstrate the steps for achieving each pose (“Lie on your stomach/ Hands next to shoulders/ Push up!”) while the intervening spreads show the children in the position in natural settings alongside the animal or object they are emulating (“You are a... snake/ In the cool grass/ Slither and glide/ Make a big hiss”). The final spreads lead to a simmer-down in the bright sun: “Lie down and be still/ Slowly breathe in the garden/ Relax in the silence/ Namaste to each other.” Yoo gracefully merges the spirit of yoga with children’s intuitive sense of play. Ages 3–5. Agent: Holly McGhee, Pippin Properties.

February 15, 2012
Sometimes a stretch of the imagination is good for the body, as well. Seven simple yoga poses (lion, butterfly, dog, snake, frog, cat, mountain) and a rest pose are depicted by a rounded and multiethnic group of preschoolers. An opening scene shows six children gathered in a grassy meadow: "When the golden sun rises / Warm rays fill the garden / Children all gather / Namaste to the morning." Each subsequent pose is shown in a two-page spread in which a different child demonstrates the pose ("Sit on your heels / Hands on our knees / Tongue out! / You are a ..."). This is followed by a two-page opening in which the creature joins the child, and the world around becomes its habitat (."..LION / King of the jungle / Roaring so loud / Make the woods rumble"). Yoo's palette is filled with warm colors, and her block-print and line drawings fill the space without overwhelming it. The generous white space in these openings, along with the friendly type, adds to the overall feeling of invitation and encouragement. This is a pleasingly uncomplicated introduction to yoga that can also simply be read as an invitation to play. A celebration of the ways that even young children can experience the wide world through their bodies as well as their minds. (Picture book. 2-7)

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March 1, 2012

PreS-Gr 2-The increasing popularity of yoga has even babies practicing asanas, and this picture book is a fun way to get toddlers started. Paired spreads introduce a pose in simple non-rhyming verse, accompanied by an image of a child on a small circle of grass (think yoga mat) in the middle of white pages; the spread that follows reveals the pose in a nature setting along with the creature the pose imitates. The instructions for the poses are extremely basic and appropriate for young children; the illustrations will encourage participation and some rambunctiousness. The sweet, colorful digital illustrations are melded with block prints and pencil and include half a dozen children of various ethnicities demonstrating such poses as a lion, a butterfly, a cobra, a downward-facing dog, and a few others. The soft hues and natural settings convey the spirit of a yoga class while looking like children at play outdoors. The text reads almost like haiku and will be simple to recite during a storytime or a yoga practice. There is no discussion of yoga, no Sanskrit beyond a couple of appropriately placed "Namaste" greetings, and the activities could be used to corral the energy of a rowdy group or an individual child. This is a good choice for introducing yoga into storytime programs, even for librarians who have never practiced a pose.-Susan Oliver, Tampa-Hillsborough Public Library System, FL

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2012
Grades K-3 Illustrated with lightly inked block prints depicting a small group of preschoolers bending and stretching in a serene, woodsy setting with no adults present, this introduction to yoga offers a sketchy but inviting demonstration of seven safe, relatively easy poses. Rather than focusing on finer details of posture or breath control, Yoo has each child demonstrate a basic position and then roar, hop (for the Frog pose), or otherwise express the animal (or in the case of the Mountain pose, the geological feature) after which the pose is named. A suggestion that children Namaste to the morning at the beginning and Namaste to each other at the end adds an important element of formality but will probably require a bit of exegesis. Still, this is otherwise better suited for younger practitioners than Laurent de Brunhoff's more specific and challenging Babar's Yoga for Elephants (2002).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)