Mindful Book Reviews By Eve: Gilly the Giraffe Self Esteem Activity Book by Dr. Karen Treisman

Gilly the Giraffe Self Esteem Activity Book: A Therapeutic Story With Creative Activities to Help Children Aged 5-10 by Dr. Karen Treisman

This book puts the B in Brave! Such a useful and accessible book. Just reading the book is inspiring and has helped me to focus on how I can facilitate a positive learning environment for the students and the teachers by incorporating the story and ideas into my in-school yoga classes. The story is one that flows well by adding yoga poses, breathing activities and short meditations and the added applied practices offer many useful ways of building self-esteem activities into the classroom.

Dr. Treisman brings another part of the world to many readers-with new words and ways. This is a great book about diversity. It is colorful, eye-opening and totally relateable. The story promotes creative problem solving, by offering a view from another angle. It is like a game of Statues, where one person sets themselves up as a statue; the next person walks around, looking at the shape from different angles, and then fits themselves into the structure, which is a fun way of promoting this way of thinking.

I highly recommend incorporating these activities throughout the day. Practicing increases personal growth and strength.

Anther great book by Dr. Triesman is Presley Pug, check out my review here.

Thank you to JK Publishing for sending me a copy of this book. All onions expressed are my own.

Mindful Book Reviews By Eve: Angry Octopus: A Relaxation Story by Lori Lite

Angry Octopus: A Relaxation Story by Lori Lite

This is a very well-crafted relaxation story that takes you, step-by-step, through active progressive muscular relaxation meditation.  The story pays special attention to bringing attention to feelings and sensations and it highlights important concepts such as self-reflection, body awareness and cooperation. This is a great book to read aloud to your own children as well as any children you have the opportunity to read to! It makes a great addition to a yoga class or a bedtime ritual and school teachers could use it to help their students relax. The sea creatures are adorable and I love the brightly colored palette and the blurred background lends to the feeling of being under the sea. This book pairs perfectly with Angry Octopus: Color Me Happy, Color Me Calm by Lori Lite (see my review here). Together, they pack a power punch and are great books to help children to enjoy being calm and aware.

 

Mindful Book Reviews By Eve: I Have My Baby, My Baby Has Me by Josh Mortensen

Mindful Book Reviews By Eve: I Have My Baby, My Baby Has Me by Josh Mortensen; Art by Carol Gisler

Right off the bat, I was taken with the beautiful watercolors. The artist, Carol Gisler, pays incredible attention to the details of the natural world with her color palette, brushwork and loving touch and the over-palette of blue and green is extremely  soothing and relaxing. The written prose flow effortlessly and are very inventive. I love the choice of words and how they play with each other, creating soft, sing-song poetry as you read aloud. Your child will be enchanted by the beautiful words and the gorgeous illustrations.

Congratulations! This is a lovely book! I highly recommend it. I just included it in my latest blog post: 19 Books About Mindfulness for Kids, 2 Activity Books and a Deck of Cards, too. (http (colon slash slash) bit (dot) ly/2HXKKxB)

Thank you to Magpie Children’s Books for sending me a copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

 

Mindful Book Reviews By Eve: Watkins Publishing Round-Up

• How To Teach Meditation to Children:Help kids deal with shyness and anxiety and be more focused, creative and self-confident by David Fontana & Ingrid Slack
• The Calm Buddha At Bedtime: Tales of wisdom, compassion and mindfulness to read with your child by Dharmachari Nagaraja
• The Mindful Mandala Coloring Book by Lisa Tenzin-Dolma

How To Teach Meditation to Children:Help kids deal with shyness and anxiety and be more focused, creative and self-confident by David Fontana & Ingrid Slack

This is a great one-stop-book to learn how and why to bring meditation to children, whether they be your own or your students. This book very clearly lays out meditations for different age groups from 5-8 year old children to 15+, late adolescents and for different needs, such as creativity, relaxation and body awareness. The author has come up with fun and creative, and easy to follow, meditations with follow up exercises for home, daily life and school. One of the ones that immediately caught my eye was exercise #4 in the chapter about meditations for mindfulness. The exercise is about taking a familiar object and showing it upside down and having the kids draw it from this odd angle. The exercise is about perspective and focus and creativity. I use this exercise in my yoga class-which is just meditation in motion, and we turn yoga poses on their heels or backs or bellies and then recreate the poses from a different perspective. We can rename them and bring new qualities of them to light when they are taken from a different angle or a chair or are holding onto a cane. Our attention becomes more focused, our minds more creative as we experience gravity from another angle.

I really enjoyed this book and recommend it for it’s unique and creative meditation ideas. I highly recommend this accessible book and strongly agree with the author about having a practice of your own as a necessary element in the desire to bring this to children.

The Calm Buddha At Bedtime: Tales of wisdom, compassion and mindfulness to read with your child by Dharmachari Nagaraja

This is a lovely collection of read aloud stories on instilling wisdom, compassion and mindfulness into ours and our children’s lives and by using the age old art of story telling, these stories make it very easy to bring these qualities to children. The short tale with morals empower children to take these teachings into the world by learning about patience, honesty and trust.

At the back of the book, there is a section of very sweet and simple mindful meditation scripts that can be used to enhance the teachings of the stories. The index makes it very easy to find themes that work in with what you are teaching.

This is a wonderful book that opens the hearts and minds of all who share them. I highly recommend these calming and enlightening stories.

The Mindful Mandala Coloring Book by Lisa Tenzin-Dolma

This is a lovely coloring book with beautifully detailed and delicately drawn mandalas. The book is separated into three sections: Buddhist mandalas, Celtic mandalas and Healing mandalas and at the beginning of each section, a few colored examples are given. Included with each mandala are a description of that specific mandala, simple step-by-step instructions for its contemplation, a recommended color palette and a meaningful quote. Also, for added creativity and self-reflection, at the end of each section are blank mandala templates for you to create your own, personalized mandalas.

This is a wonderful book that is packed with information for contemplation and quiet-time self- reflection. It it the first coloring book that I have seen with all the elements of a mindful practice included in one place. Coloring is a great way to bring about contemplation, meditation and healing. This book is beautifully laid out. I am looking forward to choosing a mandala to color and contemplate! Namaste!

Thank you to Watkins Publishing for these books. All opinions expressed are my own.

Flamenco Books for Young Readers and To Read Aloud

• All About Flamenco/Todos Sobre Flamenco by Silvia Oivo

• Aunt Elaine Does The Dance From Spain by Leah Komaiko
• Bird With The Heart Of A Mountain by Barbara Mariconda
• Flamenco Fantasy by Cynthia Ventrola Struven
• Lola’s Fandango by Ann Witte
• Mo Baila Flamenco by Fresia Barrientos Morales 
• ¡Olé! Flamenco by George Ancona
• Perlie and The Flamenco Fairy by Wendy Harmer
• Quiero Bailar Flamenco by Azucena Huidobro
• Spain by Susie Brooks
• Spain: The Culture by Noa Lior
• Thea Stilton and The Spanish Dance Mission by Thea Stilton
• Today I Am A Dancer by Marisa Polansky
• With Love From Spain by Carol Weston
  

  

  

  

  

  

Mindful Book Reviews by Eve: Nutcracker Mice by Kristin Kladstrup; Illustrations by Brett Helquist

Just in time for the holiday season, comes a soon-to-be classic retelling of the Nutcracker. In this version, the mice live their animated lives right along side the humans at the Marinsky Theater, the historic theatre of opera and ballet in Saint Petersburg, Russia, living in the walls, scavenging for food and dancing ballet. Author Kristin Kladstrup has created an enchanting version of the Nutcracker from the mice’s point of view, bringing the mice to the forefront, and switching around the roles within the story so that mice are the heroes of main characters.

Fun mouse facts are included: Mice do not like peppermint. Mice have fun names such as: Herr Drosselmouse, Esmerelda and Maksim– so much fun to say out loud, as they tickle your tongue and your ear with the sounds of foreign lands. The accompanying drawings by Brett Helquist are wonderfully expressive and reminiscent of other children’s classics such as Charlotte’s Webb and Harriet The Spy. 

This is an instant holiday classic and with the included mouse-centric script at the back of the book, will be great for the young balletomane’s collection (I can imagine it being used by budding choreographers.)

Thank you to Candlewick Press for sending me a copy of this delightful book. All opinions expressed are my own.

Dimensional paper are by my mother, Amelia Robin Gloss of the  infanta from Pavo and The Princess by  Evaline Ness.

 

Book Reviews by Eve: Rent Party Jazz by William Miller & The Happiest Tree, a Yoga Story by Uma Krishnaswami

Book Reviews by Eve: Two books from Lee & Low that promote mindfulness, building self-esteem and diversity are Rent Party Jazz by William Miller & The Happiest Tree, a Yoga Story by Uma Krishnaswami.

Rent Party Jazz by William Miller is a story, above all, about struggle, responsibility, hope and community. The great brush-stroke illustrations by Charlotte Riley-Webb create movement giving life to the scenes of New Orleans, to the people and to the trains of music pulsing through the city. You can practically feel the music bringing them all together, giving the reader a sense of belonging in the story too. I really appreciate the beautiful color palette and how the party scenes are so lively and colorful, contrasting against the darker, more somber tones of the street.

This story is both culturally significant and historically accurate. Rent parties are used to raise money, are a way for budding musicians to get off the ground and a selfless way to hold space for those in need. I highly recommend this book-it might inspire a blossoming philanthropist or a child with a heart of jazz.

The Happiest Tree, a Yoga Story by Uma Krishnaswami is a story that encourages interest, bolsters determination and increases self-reflection. Through yoga, it shows how it is empowering and uplifting to challenge oneself. The main character, Meena, starts off with a weak sense of self and fearing rejection, but through acts of self-challenge, she emerges with inner strength and a strong self-esteem. The sweet illustrations by Ruth Jeyaveeran, show great expressions of interest, happiness, doubt and support that really highlight the emotional content of the story. I love the peppering of authentic Indian phrases throughout the story, making it culturally relevant and inviting. I highly recommend this endearing story of self-realization and inner peace.

Thank you to Lee & Low for sending me copies of these books. All opinions are my own.

Book Review by Eve: Storytime Yoga by Sydney Solis

I was delighted to receive this cornucopia of items from Storytime Yoga‘s creator Sydney Solis. After reading her bio, I can safely say that Ms. Solis has created a yoga program that is full of love, dedication and the amazing art of story telling!  She is truly one of the pioneers of the art form and I can hear her rallying cry of “We can get kids moving using story telling, vivid imagery and movement.” Without a doubt, Ms. Solis embraces “educate the whole child!”

1. The original Storytime Yoga” Teaching Yoga to Children Through Story (Book) was one of the first books I ever bought as I began my own yoga journey. The book includes sample stories that are ancient tales brought to life with yoga movement and a “moral”. You can follow these examples, but I feel the main object of the book is to give the freedom to you to use your own stories, to find your own voice.
2. With The Treasure in Your Heart: Yoga Stories for Peaceful Children (Book), Ms. Solis’ passion for bringing the teaching of yoga into her lessons is in full swing. This book is very user friendly and very spiritual. The story of her life she shares at the beginning, is such an honest and open introduction to who she is, that you cannot be but pulled in. Her mission is clear “to educate children in yoga through story by offering them tools for mental and physical health” which she obviously embraces fully. This books includes a nice collection of photographs of children doing the yoga poses.
3. Peace, for the Children: Yoga, Story, Dance and Mantra Music for Children (CD) uses story, music and mantra. Through the telling of multicultural teaching tales, these story songs develop focus, inner peace and creativity. The rhythms, the repetition,the movements and the affirmations through mantra together are an all encompassing balance of body, mind and spirit. Some of my favorites were:a. Breath It In= Cool and jazzy!

   b. The Nursery Rhyme Body Jam=good giggle song and a good dance song. Make up moves for a repetitive sequence to create a moving meditation.

   c. The Golden Fish=love the steel drum, island vibe.

   d. The Skelton’s Ball (especially the Spanish version, Chumba La Chumba) So much fun to sing along!

4. The Peddler’s Dream: Yoga with a story about following your heart (DVD) The story is very nice and I love the connecting the yoga pose as they help you embody the lesson from the story. This also includes a lovely guided meditation for the end of the yoga lesson. It is very relaxing, especially for young children who are usually very squirmy.

This is a very accessible program, making it great for both practitioners and non-practitioners of yoga to use. Personally, I have found the teachings from the two books to be an invaluable addition to my own teachings. I have used the wisdom of the story teller in many situations. Thank you Ms. Solis! Deep gratitude! I highly recommend Storytime Yoga. Go forth and give yoga!

Thank you to the Sydney Solis for sending me this amazing bundle! All opinions are my own.