Yoga Friends

April 9, 2018
In a companion title to Good Night Yoga and Good Morning Yoga, pairs of peaceful, bright-eyed children from different ethnic backgrounds collaborate on yoga poses, in a variety of indoor and outdoor settings. In one scene, two sets of kids are “face to face/ and toes to toes” on a sandy beach. At a zoo, children sit back-to-back, mimicking a lizard “basking in the sun,” as two other children perform a yoga imitation of a pink, sushi-eating octopus in a tank: “One small turn and we’re an octopus/ swimming silently so as not to cause alarm./ We move slowly underneath the water,/ arm after arm after arm.” Hinder’s cozy, cartoony pictures clearly demonstrate each yoga pose, while offering a celebration of teamwork and cooperation. Ages 4–8.

February 15, 2018
Teachers and trained yogis will welcome the return of the diverse cast from Good Morning Yoga (2016) and Good Night Yoga (2015) to introduce playful partner yoga.Twelve poses described in a rhyming stanza are demonstrated. Most children will recognize themselves in at least one of the 24 different child models that represent different ethnicities. In the first pose, a brown-skinned girl with a thick braid and a light-skinned boy sitting back-to-back model beginning cleansing breathes. The next spread shows a darker-skinned girl with tight pigtails and a different light-skinned boy sitting in a blossoming fruit tree and twisting while holding the same back-to-back position. Though city scenes are often in the background, each partner pair is shown in a different locale. As with much yoga instruction the text compares the positions to animals or natural phenomena. These whimsical choices will either confuse or delight children who may not be adept at metaphor. A final spread with brief instructions for use by parents or caregivers shows how young yogis can "flow" from one pose to the next, and a concluding "Mirror Me" activity, clearly for use by a teacher, is included.Partner yoga: best done with a friend--and a skilled instructor. (Informational picture book. 4-8)

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