Review: Zen Shorts

A few weeks ago I randomly grabbed a book off the shelf of the kids' section at the public library. The title intrigued me as did the cover illustration. Why would a panda be wearing shorts?

Zen Shorts is the story of two brothers and a sister who meet a panda named Stillwater. He tells them simple stories that are interesting to kids and based Zen principles (as I learned from reading the author's note at the end of the book.)

The illustrations are also fantastic. Geeks will appreciate that Muth has worked on several graphic novels, including Neil Gaiman's Sandman series.

We had to return this book before the due date and not for the usual reason we return books before their due date, which is because if I have to read them one more time my head will explode. We had to return it because we were reading it so much that the pages started to pull out from the binding. So, we returned it and I bought my own copy and several extra copies to give as gifts.

I am not a particularly Zen person, but I aspire to be. And I have no idea if the kids understand the principles in this book, but I've always believed that at every stage my kids understand way more than I think they do.

Comments

[Amanda]

Seventy(!!) five star reviews at Amazon?! That seems down-right amazing for any book, let alone a children's book. Kudos to the author and illustrator!