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Summary
Summary
Hearing the word "yogi," children might conjure up the image of a picnicking bear. This playful introduction to yoga reveals the true meaning. Known as the "yoga trainer to the stars"-the likes of which include Helen Hunt and Raquel Welch-bestselling author and celebrity yogi Baron Baptiste connects yoga postures to everyday activities in a witty storyline with easy instructions.
Author Notes
Baron Baptiste is the son of two of America's yoga pioneers. He has trained extensively in all the major traditions of yoga. He divides his time between his yoga studio in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Utah.
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-This picture book revolves around children participating in a yoga class and discussing their parents' occupations. For each job-gardener, veterinarian, architect-a corresponding pose is demonstrated-tree, dog, triangle. Stylized watercolor illustrations alternate between spreads showing people at work and an assortment of smaller paintings that break the poses into several steps, along with simple instructions. Introductory paragraphs for each posture attempt to relay the underlying philosophy, with varying success. "The tree pose teaches us to support ourselves with strong roots, so that we can reach high and remain stable, yet be flexible, at the same time" is straightforward enough for young children to grasp. However, the explanation for the plow pose is a bit more obtuse: "Like the plow that turns the soil over to make way for new growth, this pose teaches us that overturning old ways of seeing things sets the ground for inner growth." With warmth and charm, this offering gently encourages young readers, along with their parents, to give yoga a try just for enjoyment. While it serves as an attractive introduction, Thia Luby's Children's Book of Yoga (Clear Light, 1998) provides a much more comprehensive treatment of the subject.-Joyce Adams Burner, Hillcrest Library, Prairie Village, KS (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Kids learn to bend, twist and achieve spiritual balance with new titles that focus on yoga. Renowned yoga instructor Baron Baptiste unfolds My Daddy Is a Pretzel: Yoga for Parents and Kids, illus. by Sophie Fatus. Sitting in a circle, children reveal their parents' jobs, all of which are then related to a yoga pose: "Anna says her step-dad's a pilot. Sometimes my daddy's an airplane." Scenes of parent and child on the job alternate with spreads that give step-by-step instructions for the correlating poses (nine in all). Fatus's bright watercolors teem with relevant details and her lithe children make the poses look achievable. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
Clear, step-by-step instructions and diagrams on how to achieve each of nine yoga poses such as tree, plow, and fish are illustrated with brightly colored art of Gumby-limbed characters demonstrating the different poses. The fictional framework, however, of a boy describing the careers of his yoga classmates+ parents (""Emmie says her daddy+s a farmer. Sometimes, my daddy+s a plow"") feels forced. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
PreS-Gr. 3. Baptiste is an internationally known yoga instructor who has written several guides for adults. His debut yoga title for children uses a clever fiction framework to introduce basic poses. In class, a young narrator sees parallels between what the other students' parents do and what his father, a yoga instructor, does: Niki says her mommy's a gardener, reads one page. Sometimes my daddy's a tree. The following spread features a man in tree pose along with step-by-step illustrations demonstrating how to move in and out of the posture. Other poses--the dog, the airplane, the pretzel, and so on--follow. The cheery, tropical-colored paintings reinforce a sunny mood; the simplified, naive-style images may not have the clarity of photographs, but they still offer adequate demonstrations. Although kids will need help with the positions and the hints about yoga's more spiritual benefits, they'll easily be drawn into this upbeat introduction, while their parents will connect with Baptiste's motivational introduction. Pair this with Thia Luby's excellent nonfiction Children's Book of Yoga (1998) for more instruction. --Gillian Engberg Copyright 2004 Booklist
