Zen Shorts

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Zen Shorts

Muth, J. J. (2005). Zen shorts. New York, NY: Scholastic Press.

Age Level:  4-8

Genre:  This is a picture book.

Summary:  

        Zen Shorts is a book is about a giant panda bear named Stillwater and three curious children. Stillwater moved to the same neighborhood as little Michael, Addy, and Karl and they quickly became friends. As the children visit Stillwater, he tells each of them a different Zen short.

Reflection:

 
       This picture book includes many wonderfully beautiful illustrations full of color and detail. The artistic media used is water color. Even though the brush strokes are visible, the illustrator was still able to make the paintings very life like or realistic. The pictures come to life and contribute to the story immensely. Without the illustrations, the meaning of the story would not possess as much of a feeling of calm as the illustrations give us.

    There are two different types of artistic media used. In the picture above many watercolors are used to give the reader a sense of reality with a little dream like feeling. The picture below shows the other type of artistic media used. There is a lot of negative space in these illustrations where the artist used only black ink on a solid color background. These two different styles are used to guide the reader as the two different stories are being told. 

      

 
            The colorful watercolor pages of the book are used to denote when Stillwater is interacting with the three children. The black and white pages are used to denote when Stillwater is telling the children a Zen short.

            As Stillwater encounters the children he tells each of them a different Zen short (a short meditation of the teachings of Buddha). These stories do not necessarily teach a moral or lesson, just an idea to ponder over. The Zen shorts are told in a kid friendly voice and allow for further discussion. This book would be great for open discussion in a classroom and teaching practical living content.

The way the author intertwined each story was clever and made the book flow nicely. The stories characterize Stillwater as peaceful, noble, and loveable. A great story book character!  

The combination of beautiful illustrations and language made this trade book a great easy read and worthy of a look. Even the adults can learn something from this fun loving bear.