Book Review - New Classics and Big ideas

Does this ever happen to you?

You are so taken with a fine book or movie or CD or idea that you want and need to share it with everybody you love. You want to stock up on this book or CD and save it for birthdays or  Christmas. You want everybody to be as excited about it as you are.

Jon J Muth is a writer and illustrator who brings ancient teachings, stories and simple truths to children's books in a way that makes me want to purchase every copy in Barnes and Noble so that I can give them as gifts.

I have an affinity for books that contain beautiful ideas that are accessible to kids and that are also beautiful to look at. Zen Shorts and The Three Questions are exactly the type of books you should keep to share - with your kids, with your grandkids, with your nieces and nephews. Keep them up on a bookshelf and bring them down for special times.


Zen Shorts is a Caldecott Honor Book that introduces us to Stillwater, a giant panda who moves into the neightborhood and befriends siblings Addy, Michael and Karl. In turn each of the kids visits with Stillwater and shares there own concerns, worries, fears or frustrations. With each child Stillwater shares a story (I love a-story-within-a-story) that illustrates the child's dilemma from a different perspective and provides a short meditation on anger, luck, and giving. Stillwater's stories come from Zen Buddhist and Taoist tradition, but Muth makes them accessible to kids.

 The Three Questions is Muth's take on a Leo Tolstoy's short story of the same name.

"When is the best time to do things?"
"Who is the most important one?"
"What is the right thing to do?"

In Muth's version young Nikolai is searching for answers to these questions (and not getting answers that seem right for him) when he meets the wise turtle Leo digging in his garden. In turn Nikolai helps dig the garden, saves a panda and then her baby from harm. In doing so he has the answers to The Three Questions.

Muth combines his study of Zen, Leo Tolstoy, and his belief that learning through stories can help us all to create books for kids that are important.

And there is a reason that Zen Shorts is a Caldecott Honor Book. His artwork is sublime. I happen to love watercolor anyway, but the skill and beauty of these books is incredible. I want to frame every page and put them on the wall.

Get these books!