To Them Every Moment Is A Miracle

Every single day when morning arrives and I wake up, the first thing I see is my dog, Mulan.  She is either still sleeping next to me or giving me the where-is-my-breakfast stare.  And every single day, I take a few minutes to be grateful to have her sharing life with me.  She reminds me to focus on the now.  She does not dwell on the past, which is not to say that she does not remember.  She just chooses not to have it steal her current joy.  She does not think about the future except to get excited about what we will see on our walks or when we go for a ride in the car.  She, like the dogs before her who have been a part of my world, lives life as it should be, moment to moment.

For dogs everything is a sensory experience.  Based upon what they see, hear, taste, touch, or smell, they react with what I have come to believe is perfection with the exception of skunks and porcupines, of course.  Being a Dog: A Tail of Mindfulness (Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, April 5, 2022) written by Maria Gianferrari with pictures by Pete Oswald is a book to savor every day, any day.  It is a reminder of the purpose and value of how we spend our time.

Can you be like a dog?

Being like a dog

is BE-ing.

Right now.

They tend to disregard what was and what will be in exchange for what is.  They embrace the morning with stretches, wagging, doggie kisses, and a breakfast and beverage enjoyed.  When they go outside, one of the first things they do is lift their noses to the air, gauging all the local happenings.  They sniff every whiff.

Do they know how to play?  They do with every muscle and movement in their bodies!  And they don't care if it is sunny, rainy, windy, or snowy.  

Whatever emotion comes their way during the day, they express it.  We should, too.  There is no better display of happiness than the happiness of a dog.  Wherever they go, whatever they do, they do it completely.  

They realize the need to rest during the day to recharge when necessary.  We should realize this, too.  Then, get back into the action in every season.  At the end of the day do you have a ritual?  Dogs do.  They let nature tell them it's time for bed.  Every muscle and movement in their bodies welcomes sleep and dreams.  

Author Maria Gianferrari has been and loves to be in the company of dogs.  She believes like Roger Caras that 

dogs make our lives whole.

It is through her observations of her canine companions and research about them that gives this book its authenticity.

Her short sentences and phrases are as if a dog is speaking them.  She takes us, word by word, through a dog's appreciation of finding joy and living fully throughout their day.  Alliteration adds to the zest this dog, all dogs, bring to a day.  As we follow this dog and his human, we are reminded to be like a dog.  And we find ourselves agreeing with total abandon.  Here is a passage.

Wade and watch in the water.

Tunnel and shovel in the sand.

Hide and leap from the leaves!

One of the first things you might think from looking at the right side, front, of the open and matching dust jacket and book case is this dog is wise in the ways of the world.  This dog is ready to embrace the day.  This dog loves to run, fetch, and return.  Do you notice the smile?  Do you notice the heart-shaped tag?  The dog and text on the front of the dust jacket are varnished.

To the left, on the back, beneath the words

Let's BE like a dog---right now.

is an interior image.  It shows this dog's human popping up from a pile of leaves as the dog jumps high in the air over those leaves.  We all know they will then roll around in the leaves together.  Both the child and dog have their mouths open in happiness.  

The opening and closing endpapers are the bright turquoise color we see on the dog's collar.  The title page is a mirror illustration of the jacket and case.  With a page turn we see the dog chasing a seagull on the left and sitting and waiting next to the tennis ball on the right.  These are the publication information and dedication pages.

Throughout the book, Pete Oswald 

used cut paper and scanned watercolor textures to create the digital illustrations for this book.

They are highly animated with spot-on dog expressions and body postures.  Pete Oswald includes details in the images allowing us to see the bond between this dog and the child.  

The pictures are single-page images with wide loose frames, smaller images grouped on a one or two pages, full-page pictures, edge to edge, and double-page visuals, edge to edge.  Regardless of the activities, our eyes are drawn to the dog and the human's response to that dog.  They are together, always.

One of my many favorite illustrations (I could literally frame a lot of them.) is the first double-page picture in the book.  It is morning.  On the right side of the image, through a window, we see tall buildings glowing in the morning light.  Near the window on an oval rug is an easel.  A picture of the dog has been painted by its human.  The tennis ball is beneath the window.  On the left side is the bed.  Above it, on the wall, are pictures representing the friendship between the child and dog.  (One of the pictures shows the child's hand reaching for one of the dog's paws, tip to tip.) The child, still under the covers, is stretching their arms upward.  The dog is on top of the blankets and stretching.  What a wonderful scene to begin a day!

Truthfully, I cannot imagine a personal or professional collection without a copy of Being a Dog: A Tail of Mindfulness words by Maria Gianferrari and pictures by Pete Oswald.  At the close of the book are several pages giving us examples of how to be like a dog in all four seasons.  We are challenged and instructed to SNIFF like a DOG, HEAR like a DOG, SEE like a DOG, FEEL like a DOG and TASTE like a DOG.  Along the bottom of these four pages are facts about dog characteristics.  On the final page we are shown a Mindful Breathing Exercise.  The illustrations on these five pages are fabulous!

To learn more about Maria Gianferrari and Pete Oswald and their other work, please follow the link attached to their name to access their website.  Maria Gianferrari has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  Pete Oswald has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  Here is a link to a post on author Tara Lazar's Writing for Kids (While Raising Them) site including an interview with Maria Gianferrari.  You can view some interior images from this title there, too.  Here is a link to a virtual launch of this book at Books of Wonder with both Maria Gianferrari and Pete Oswald.

UPDATE:  Maria Gianferrari is interviewed at Picture Book Builders on June 14, 2022 about this title.

Maria Gianferrari is a community scientist, self-taught naturalist, and bird nerd who holds an M.A. in Creative Writing and a Ph.D. in English.  She is the author of narrative nonfiction picture books which celebrate urban ecosystems, the natural world and our wild neighbors.  She also writes engaging expository nonfiction.  And as a lover of dogs, Maria's fiction picture books star dogs as main characters and explore the human-canine bond.  She writes from her light-filled, book-lined study in Massachusetts with rescue dog, Maple at her side.  

Seeking Calm And Connections

Sunday morning, standing outside on the hill, clouds were at the beck and call of the wind.  Wispy smoky clouds, barely above the horizon, were moving to the west and larger fuller clouds, higher and above them, were moving to the east.  Birds were enjoying the benefits of a heavy earlier rainfall.  After an overcast day, as dusk settled crickets chirped their evening chorus.  Large wild rabbits, fur darkening, froze like statues, nearly blending in the tall weeds dying as autumn approaches.

Two recently released books ask readers to enjoy each and every moment pausing to consider our place in an infinite whole.  Here and Now (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, September 3, 2019) written by Julia Denos with illustrations by E. B. Goodale (Windows Candlewick Press, October 10, 2017) explores finding the marvelous in minutes.  It asks us to think of what others are doing in those same minutes.

Right here,
right now,
you are reading this book.

Where exactly is this book you are reading?  You might be holding it.  Another person might be holding it.  You might be sitting, standing or snuggled into a cozy spot.  If you are seated, what is under you or what is above you?  Go all the way down and go all the way up.

You and everyone on this Earth are moving through the stars and among other planets, and orbiting the sun in a vast universe.  As you are reading this book, what else can you see?  (I see fog blanketing grass, leaves, tree branches and rolling hills.)

Somewhere, a telephone is ringing.

Extend your vision.  Extend your thinking.  There is more to be seen.  There is a future to be dreamed and lived.  There are creatures, wild and domestic, everywhere.  All kinds of things are growing and mending.  Can you name things growing?  (I have a big bruise and a bump that doesn't hurt as much.)  There is much we cannot see, but that doesn't mean it isn't expanding, improving and evolving to be its best.  Extraordinary.


There are many things we fail to think about, important things, but author Julia Denos reminds us of those items, circumstances and possibilities and invites us through her words to participate.  Beginning with this very book, she asks us to center ourselves and then reach out to other surroundings and people.  This is how she connects us to each other.  In her sentences, this is how we find the marvelous in the everyday items, circumstances and possibilities.  Here is a sentence.

A friend you haven't met yet is sitting down to dinner.


Rendered in

ink, watercolor, monoprinting, and digital collage

the artwork by E. B. Goodale begins on the open dust jacket stretching from left to right, back to front.  The golden grass and flowers start in the upper left-hand corner extending over the spine to make a gentle curve on the front.  The sky on the back is darker and scattered with stars unlike the front.  Beneath the grass on the back is a cross-section of what is underground.  We see a chipmunk's home, bones, rocks and a box marked secret.  This ground stops at the spine to become the pond on the front.  The use of white on the front of the jacket is brilliant.  The child seeing her reflection is also noticing how ripples spread like we do when we walk through life.  Everyone has an impact.

Lifting the dust jacket to the book case, we are shown a hand on the far left and a hand on the far right, holding the book.  The canvas is in hues of blue, brushed in parallel and even strokes like floorboards.  On the opening and closing endpapers the fabric from a quilt on an interior image is used to cover them both.  Characters from the illustrations are shown gathered beneath the text on the title page.  One of them is holding this book.  Ants and an airplane figure in the picture.

Each illustration, spanning two pages or a single page with text on an opposite page or woven into the picture, is a poetic presentation of the text.  Children from different racial backgrounds explore and appreciate what is offered to them.  Readers will see themselves in their activities and the expressions shown on their faces.  A sense of calm permeates with every page turn.  Easter eggs are there to be found by careful readers.

One of my many favorite illustrations spans two pages.  A walkers' bridge crosses over a small river from left to right.  A cityscape can be seen shadowed in the distance behind it.  A flock of birds flies over the bridge on the right.  The four characters featured are shown on the left; two are standing on the bridge.  The oldest is seated on the ground with the youngest near a tree.  A butterfly is landing on their dog's nose.  Another two people are relaxing on a blanket near the riverbank, their dog curled up and sleeping.  This element begins on the left, moves over the gutter and completes on the right.  Ducks, Canadian geese, squirrels, pigeons, rabbits, more butterflies, a bee, a mouse, ants and a spider web are depicted among the humans.


Peace, mindfulness and respect for each other and those things around us are guaranteed when reading Here and Now written by Julia Denos with illustrations by E. B. Goodall.  Julia Denos includes an author's note at the end.  One of her sentences reads:

Meditation is just another way of noticing, and noticing is a little bit like magic.

I highly recommend this title for your personal and professional collections.

To learn more about Julia Denos and E. B. Goodale and their other work, please follow the links attached to their names to access their websites.  Julia Denos has accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.  E. B. Goodale has accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.  Author, reviewer, and blogger, Julie Danielson hosts several illustrators including E. B. Goodale on her blog, Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.  You will enjoy the showcased illustrations.  In this video Julia Denos and E. B. Goodale speak about the process for creating this book.





Author Holly M. McGhee and illustrator Pascal Lemaitre who earlier collaborated in Come with me (G. P. Putnam's Sons, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, September 5, 2017) work together again.  Listen (Roaring Brook Press, September 3, 2019) welcomes us into the art of finding connections.  Each one of us is a vital link in the chain of life.




Listen

to the sound of your feet---
the sound of
all of us
and the sound of me.

We should next pause and take a peek at the sun which shines all around the world on all of us.  When the sun sets, stars sparkle all around the world above all of us.  Inhale the air which is necessary for all of us.  Savor your food.  When was the last time, you put your hands into the dirt, feeling its richness and how it gives life to many?

As we use our senses for these experiences, we are asked to do so through the filter of our hearts . . . our wonderful hearts.  Our hearts are powerful, performing feats for us.  They are our guardians and our storytellers.  They allow us to see what is alike between everything rather than focusing on the differences. They take us back to the beginning.


Repetition throughout the narrative by author Holly M. McGhee supplies a beckoning cadence.  We find ourselves immediately engaged in the sensory suggestions.  Each time we are prompted to focus on others and on all of us.  In a wonderful technique, we close the narrative with the same words but with an altered rhythm.  Here is a passage.

Dig

in the earth.
Your roots are mine,
my roots are yours,
the roots of all of us
are the same.

Yet you are you and I am me and we are we.
Us . . .


On the open and matching dust jacket and book case a small child quietly observes a tiny red bird among the flowers and overhanging branches. (This tiny red bird is shown throughout the book.)  The rising sun shines on them both.  To the left, on the back, on a canvas of white, the same child is leaning their head against the trunk of a tree, arms to either side of the smooth bark.  Their eyes are closed.  A washed, loose, blue circle frames most of this picture with the sun low in the sky.  Each scene is as if a collective breath is being held.

A washed spring green covers the opening and closing endpapers.  Loose, fine lines by artist Pascal Lemaitre present pastoral scenes during daylight and nighttime.  Changing background colors reflect these varitions.  We feel the gentle breeze blowing leaves as a deer leaps away.  We feel the warmth of the sun.  We see stars reflected in the water as we float on a pond.

Each image requests readers to stop.  We need to notice the tiny details.  Can you see the ants, snail and rabbit?  Do you see all the bees buzzing over the sunflowers?  (Are the sunflowers there because of the Van Gogh quote at the book's beginning?)  What word is fashioned from the tree roots underground?

One of my many favorite illustrations spans two pages. (They are all double-page pictures.)  It is night and purple shades are used to color everything starting with a lighter color at the top and darkening near the horizon and into the water.  Stars shine in the sky and in the water as reflections.  The landscape, flowers, grass and trees, the dock and boat are etched in black.  A lily pad and shadows of fish are shown.  The child is leaning over the edge of the boat looking in the water.  The tiny red bird is singing, perched on the tip of the bow of the boat.  The child and bird have a glow about them as does one of the stars.


Peace and admiration for yourself and all others envelops you when reading Listen written by Holly M. McGhee with illustrations by Pascal Lemaitre.  Each page turn is like walking into open arms and being embraced by all that is good.  Wonderful as a read aloud or read silently to yourself, this book is highly recommended for your personal and professional collections.

To discover more about Holly M. McGhee and Pascal Lemaitre and their other work, please visit their websites by following the links attached to their names.  Holly M. McGhee has accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.  Pascal Lemaitre has accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.  The publishers have created a special site for Listen which includes an activity kit and interior images.  John Schumacher, Scholastic's Ambassador of School Libraries, hosts the book trailer premiere on his blog, Watch. Connect. Read.  It includes a chat with both the author and the illustrator.  At Kathy Temean's site, Writing and Illustrating, Holly M. McGhee talks about this book, her career and her friendship with Pascal Lemaitre.

A Conversation with Susan Verde

Good morning, Susan.  I am thrilled to be meeting you virtually with hopes of spending time, even a little, with you in real life sometime in the near future.  After lots of rain these past few days, we have blue sky dotted with big fluffy white clouds, warmth and gusty breezes.  Let’s imagine for a few moments, the two of us are sitting on my back deck, soaking up the fresh air and holding cooling cups of tea.

Hi Margie!
Thank you for this interview. I can feel the gentle breeze and taste the warm tea...is it chamomile? It’s lovely.

I’ve just finished rereading all six of your children’s picture books, The Museum, You and Me, I Am Yoga, The Water Princess, My Kicks: A Sneaker Story! and I Am Peace: A Book of Mindfulness.  Each of the beautiful stories in these books is told from the first person point of view.  Would you please explain why these stories are told from this perspective?

Often when I am writing I am calling forth many of my own experiences and emotions so there is definitely an element of “me” personally coming into play. However, I also feel that hearing the “I” gives the reader a chance to really embody the story and “become” the character. With “I” there is an instant connection. Even if it’s an experience the child has never had or someone who might look different from the reader, in the first person the story becomes an experience that is possible and a feeling or set of feelings to contemplate and explore and perhaps emphasizes the universal qualities of the character. Any good story will do that whether it’s in first person or not but it’s definitely the way I tend to write.

All of your books, even My Kicks: A Sneaker Story! with its exuberance, have an undercurrent of gentle serenity about them.  To what do you attribute this?  Is this a conscience effort on your part?

What a lovely thing to say Margie. I can’t really say that it is a conscious effort but my approach to the ups and downs of life is to try to handle them with care and calm. Maybe being a mom or a teacher or perhaps even having a mindfulness practice have influenced this approach. Each experience in life is an opportunity to notice and proceed with kindness and my hope is that kids should feel that no matter what they are going through it’s okay...they are okay.

I would like to shift our conversation to your most recent title, I Am Peace: A Book of Mindfulness.  What prompted you to write a companion title to I Am Yoga?

I Am Yoga was meant to capture the way yoga makes us feel and how it helps us manage our feelings. Mindfulness is a component of yoga but also a practice unto itself so it seemed like a natural follow up. Children have a lot of stress, just like adults and mindfulness is a way of helping children manage. I Am Peace is intended to give them yet another tool just like yoga and to show them that it’s the peace we feel inside that helps us show compassion and empathy to others.

The comparison of the character’s jumbled thoughts to swiftly moving water, then riding on those thoughts adrift in a boat and eventually finding an island beneath the narrator’s feet is truly inspired.  Was there a specific event or moment when this analogy came to you?

In one of my trainings we learned many ways to help children connect to their breath as it is the best way to formally practice mindfulness and bring attention away from distressing thoughts. Using the image of breath as an anchor when our “ship of thoughts” is being carried away was one technique. I loved it so much and found it really helpful when talking about our worries and emotions and how we can get swept away. I couldn’t wait to use the analogy. Kids get it when you can give them something relatable and visual to connect to their experience. They know just what it means to be carried away by moving water...by too many thoughts and worries and what it means to come ashore and feel land under their feet.   

This is the fifth collaboration with Peter H. Reynolds as the illustrator of your words.  Were you aware before seeing his art of the three images without words which join your text, I make a difference to I can hug a tree… ?

Working with Peter is pure joy. When I write I know he will make the words come to life in a beautiful way that captures my intentions but with his own style. He is a very mindful person and artist. Because of our partnership and the fact that we really work in a collaborative way I often get sneak peeks of what’s to come and we have some back and forth. I did get to see this part ahead of time but I certainly wasn’t expecting it and when I saw it I was blown away albeit not surprised. The whole spread was such a moment of mindfulness. Kids love to see the dropping seeds and make predictions and then consider how the spilling of seeds is an act of sharing with and connecting to nature.

What is your wish for this title and its readers?

My wish is that I Am Peace makes mindfulness accessible to teachers, parents and especially kids. It can feel like an esoteric term and we hear it all of the time these days but it is really simple to practice and has measurable physiological and emotional benefits. I hope this book inspires the practice of noticing without judgement and being kind to oneself. We all have stress and big emotions but there are ways to get through it and find more peace within. I hope they learn that even with these tools they will make mistakes but again with kindness and awareness they can learn from their mistakes and not hold onto them. I often ask the children I visit and work with to talk about their worries and stresses and then ask them if they find it easy to be kind to someone else when they are feeling upset within themselves. Of course the answer is no. But, if we can cultivate more peace inside then we can share peace with others. Just imagine what this could do to our world…. I just have to say that children are so smart. They are willing to go deep and look inside and have so much wisdom to share. It’s through them that we can really effect change.

I hope you have a few more moments for some other questions.  I shared this book with two kindergarten classes this past week.  I think they might like to know a little bit more about you and your family.

What made you decide to shift your life’s work from working in the classroom as an educator (with a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and a Master’s degree in Reading Remediation) to teaching yoga and mindfulness to children of all ages with a full-time writing career?

I loved being a classroom teacher! When I had my children I took some time away from teaching but continued to practice yoga to stay sane as a mom of 3 and as a person in the world! As my kids got a bit bigger I began to think about how I could continue my work with children but I felt like I wanted to have a different experience than being in a classroom full time. My own yoga practice was so beneficial for me that it made sense to share it with children especially in the school setting where they feel so much stress and need more support even at a young age. That’s when I decided to become a kid’s yoga and mindfulness teacher. Best decision ever! Writing is something that I have been doing for as long as I can remember and mindfulness and yoga support that creative process. It is sometimes hard to juggle all of these things but I am fortunate because as challenging as they can be (and they can be VERY challenging), teaching, writing and parenting are all things that fill my soul and I am grateful everyday.  

If you could describe the location of your home and your house using your senses how would that be?

Ooh I love this question! My house is at the end of a long winding road lined by strong tall trees and lots of green in the summer and brown in the fall and white in winter. The house is covered in brown shingles and natural wood and there are big windows all around. Our street has other houses painted white and yellow with quiet neighbors until it’s summer then voices are heard and dogs are being walked and kids are skateboarding on the road. The tops of the trees that fill our yard let in the sunlight in warm patches. The leaves rustle in the breeze and fall in crunchy piles in Autumn. You can smell the ocean and the fresh cut grass and whatever is cooking in the kitchen when you stand in the backyard. Inside, the house smells like lavender oil and sometimes the stinky feet of teenagers. You can feel the grass between your toes and the hard pavement of the driveway and the itchy bites of mosquitoes in summer and the refreshing cool water in our pool. If you catch us on the right day you can taste the vanilla cupcakes that my daughter will no doubt be famous for someday. There are always sounds outside and in.. deer eating plants, crickets used for feeding pets chirp and our pet frog croaks, squirrels dance on the roof, and sometimes woodpeckers make the sound of a mini drill on the side of the house. There are talking children and clanging pots and pans, my daughter playing her ukulele and singing and my sons rapping and all of us occasionally breaking into spontaneous dancing AND a barking dog. There is always something to hear even when it’s quiet.

How old are your three children?  Do they practice mindfulness?

My boys, Josh and Gabe are twins and are on the verge of being 14 and Sophia is 12. They do practice mindfulness meditation and have reached a point where they are pretty good at  connecting with their breath and being kind to themselves when they feel overwhelmed or caught up in a big emotion and as teenagers they have a lot of big emotions!  They are also pretty good at reminding me to take a breath when I get overwhelmed. I love to see them doing the things they are passionate about and being fully present and in the moment. Gabe is a surfer, Josh pays football and Sophia sings. When they are doing those activities it is amazing to see how connected they are to their own experience. It’s mindfulness in action!  

What kind of dog do you have?  How did he/she get their name?

Our dog is a Coton de Tulear. It’s a fancy name but he’s really just a scrappy little white fluffy doggie who barks too much but is very loving. We were reading a lot of Harry Potter when we got him and I wanted to call him Neville but that was quickly dismissed so we just started calling out names and someone said Gizmo (could have been me thinking of the movie Gremlins) and we all agreed on that! Not much of a story but it has turned out to be the perfect name. He is definitely a Gizmo.

I couldn’t be happier to have been able to spend this morning with you Susan.  Thank you for chatting with me and visiting Librarian’s Quest.  I am wishing you PEACE.  

Thank you Margie! I am grateful for the time together and have really enjoyed answering all of your thoughtful questions. It has been truly wonderful. I wish you PEACE as well.  

To learn more about Susan Verde and her books please take a few moments to visit her website. She has links at her site to articles she has written for other publications on yoga and mindfulness.  By following the links attached to five of her books listed above you can read my blog posts.

Sensing The Moment

As soon as the door opened and we stepped outside, we were acutely aware of our surroundings.  The crisp, cool air was a welcome respite from the heat and humidity amid a lingering dry spell.  The overpowering perfume of skunk was not as desirable.  To be sure my canine companion and I were moving our heads as fast as possible to locate the source of the odor.  Fortunately the culprit was nowhere in our vicinity.

In this instance, happening in seconds, we were totally conscious of where we were, who we were and what was in the range of our senses.  We were fully engaged in the moment.  I Am Peace: A Book of Mindfulness (Abrams Books for Young Readers, September 26, 2017), a companion title to I Am Yoga (Abrams Books for Young Readers, September 8, 2015) written by Susan Verde with art by Peter H. Reynolds supplies answers to questions.  Concern is replaced with calm.

There are times
when I worry about
what might happen next
and what happened before.

The child speaking to readers is full of doubt. She feels as though her mind is swirling out of control.  She likens it to water, fast flowing water.  She imagines herself in a boat on that water, adrift and caught in the current.  She flips.

With water all around her, she pauses.  She assures herself.  A tiny island lifts her up.  As her thoughts gather, her spirit finds strength.

I am Peace.

The child discovers peace opens up opportunities within us.  It expands our generosity.  It gives us the confidence to know we matter.  Our observations and actions broaden our world view.

Smell, taste, touch, see and hear are finely tuned as each breath goes in and goes out.  The water around the island, the island now home to new life, is still.  The boat and the child are secure.  This is now the time for the release of peace.


During the waking hours of our days, children (and adults) sometimes get caught up in the craziness of things to do and schedules to keep.  When we need to rest, it's nearly impossible.  Susan Verde reminds and shows us to how to practice peace.

She leads us with her narrative from our own jumbled and troubled thoughts to the place where we long to pass the mindfulness to others.  Her simple, direct sentences are a soothing, soft song.  Here are some samples.

I can watch my worries gently pop and disappear.
I let things go.

I can say what I feel inside out loud.
I know myself. 


When you are so still, so in tune with your surroundings, birds feel safe resting on your out-stretched arms, then you are indeed peace.  This image on the front of the dust jacket conveys the essence of the book.  The complementary colors used in the attire, the peace hat and peace necklace, supply a sense of calm.  They act as statements of intention and achievement.  To the left, on the back of the jacket, the child is resting on the island beneath the tree, the foliage a rainbow of color.  The boat, island and trunk of the tree are shown in rich, warm shades.

Beneath the jacket on the book case, a white background highlights the child, first on the front, playing a guitar as a bird resting on the neck sings along with the notes.  The child's eyes are closed in contemplation.  On the back, on the left, the child is feeding the birds who sit on his hand, head and one is flying toward them.  The child is carrying the bag of seeds, of peace.

A swirl of blue-green with a center on the opening and closing endpapers reflects the idea of water and our thoughts before we attain calm.  On the title page the child is leaning back on his arms, eyes closed, as the sun shines on him and the small new island.  Rendered in ink, gouache, watercolor, and tea the illustrations of Peter H. Reynolds extend the text beautifully.  In this particular title Peter uses predominately warms colors with only spot cool hues of blue, green and teal on white backgrounds.

When the child's thoughts are out of control, he features the hat unwinding like a ribbon, creating the water upon which the boat rides.  After the words

I can make a difference

Peter, without words, gives a special new dimension to the story for five pages.  He shifts his perspective to focus on the new possibilities growing.  It's a lovely transition to the next text.

One of my many favorite pictures is when the child is shown with arms straight out and up at his sides.  We are closer to him only seeing his body from the waist up.  His eyes are closed as he stands in stillness.  Two birds are resting on his hands.  A third bird with wings open for flying is coming to the top of his head.  Animals have the ability to know what we hold inside and these three birds are aware of the calm.


You cannot read this book without a sense of complete serenity enveloping you.  I Am Peace: A Book of Mindfulness written by Susan Verde with art by Peter H. Reynolds shows readers how we are capable of bringing harmony within and without ourselves.  At the close of the book, Susan leaves readers with a guided meditation.  I know children will willingly gravitate to this title. I highly recommend this title and its companion volume for your professional and personal bookshelves.

To discover more about Susan Verde and Peter H. Reynolds and their other work please visit their websites by following the links attached to their names.  Be sure to visit Peter's blog too.   At the publisher's website you can download the meditation guide.  I'm placing the video here with Emily Arrow and Susan from the first book for you to enjoy again.  Susan Verde and Emily Arrow stopped by KitLit TV with Rocco Staino.