Zen Shorts (A Stillwater and Friends Book) (Caldecott Honor Book)

This set of books about Stillwater the panda are wondrous. Art work is beautiful, and enchanting. The stories are unique and thought provoking. My 3 yro has all of them, and loves them. He's still too young to get the depth of the stories, but still the story provides something he can grab onto now, and as he has grown, repeated reading have allowed him to gain new insights. The characters are pleasant and relatable to a child. What I really appreciate about the story is they are not static stories. There's levels to them. And they are not just another reiteration of the same stories you see repeated in children's book time and time again. For example, rather then just talk about being mean, or sharing, or considerate, on story is about a child who wants to play robots with Stillwater. The child tells Stillwater that he will be "the bad guy". So, with some cookies, Stillwater demonstrates that being the bad guy is no fun for himself, or for others, but still agrees to be the bad guy. Then allows the child to decide to play differently by having both robots go on an adventure together, changing the playtime from a conflict oriented imagination, to a cooperative and positive game. The feel of these books is not a classic story, there is a mundanity to and a flow that provides a very nice change of pace. The Not just how you interact with others, but how you interact with yourself. This should be obvious from the "Zen" in all the titles, but until you have read it (20 times at least) it is hard to appreciate how these books flow and form a story that is both thought provoking for little (and old) minds, and still provide a story that is immersive and childlike. I sincerely hope Mr. Muth makes more of this story line, and if not, I thank him for these pieces of joy.

If your household is anything like ours, you've got books aplenty. We could open a small library at this point, because as my now 3.5-year-old has grown, we saved all his books for his little sister. We haven't hit the phase yet where books can be donated because we've got another baby ready to read the old ones. So, when it comes to recommending a book to someone, knowing that they too may have a million books already, I really try to think it through. And this book is one I recommend to everyone, even if they've got room for just one more on their kid's shelf. It's well drawn, it's a good length for toddlers, it's peaceful, and there are messages in the stories that will evolve with your child as they grow. I remember the first time we read it when my boy was two. He liked the pictures and sat through it, listening the whole way. He asked for it a few times a week. And now that he's closer to four, we still read it, and he asks thoughtful questions about the Zen short stories that he (hopefully) absorbs and help him down the road. It's the type of book that's all fun on the surface with deep, positive ripples underneath. Our copy has been read maybe 80 times and we've gifted the book to a few others as well. Apple TV+ even recently created an animated show around the book so the stories of the three kids and their neighbor panda, Stillwater, can continue to evolve. I just love books like this. They teach kids lessons about how to understand some of the day-to-day stresses of life, while keeping it fun and positive. I'd much rather my kids learn how to handle difficult emotions as a normal part of the big picture rather than being scared or confused by them. If only we could all have a Zen panda living next door to us... The world would be better for it.

I regret trusting Amazon's recommended reading age, which says 2-6. Bought this book for my 3.5yo son for Christmas and while it's beautifully illustrated and has meaningful stories (hence my 5 star rating), we probably won't really be reading it for another few years. My son is very well-read for his age and generally has an advanced level of understanding but I think the story-within-a-story format can be confusing for his age and the lessons conveyed are not easy to decipher or apply to real life. Finally, one of the stories mentions a war and a draft and I'm not looking to explain either one of those concepts in detail to my 3yo. I'd recommend, but for an older child.

I was reading this book to some 14-year-olds. After one of the zen stories/parables, one of the kids turned to whisper to a friend, "that's DEEP!" Love this book. It's beautifully illustrated. I find the sequel (Zen Ties) much less engaging, but I love the usage of the framing story and the parables in Zen Shorts.

We bought Zen Shorts last year when our son was only 3 years old and were delighted that he enjoyed it as much as he did even though he was so young. It provides for good story telling and make me feel good about reading him literature that will enable him to become a better person as he grows up. The illustrations are fantastic but that just seems to be a bonus. The story is about a panda who befriends 3 siblings and develops a friendship with them. As the story unfolds, the wise but absolutely adorable panda spends time with each of the three siblings and shares stories or makes observations that are steeped in Buddhist philosophy. The characters are appealing to all ages and the narrative is just right for little kids to wrap their little heads around these concepts. The book has important lessons to teach and imparts valuable Buddhist philosophy in a way that is entertaining, subtle and not preachy. We love Stillwater and after enjoying the fun story, we almost feel the sense of well-being settling on us as we sit to talk about the stories and what Stillwater shared with the kids in the book. We subsequently bought Zen Ties and Zen Ghosts as well, both of which are really good books, but I think Zen Shorts is our favorite.

Jon J Muth is a master of bringing great stories of both Western and Eastern traditions into beautiful, simple language and lovely water colours, so that they become compelling for children and remain so for adults. Anyone building a library of great books for their kids should add this and Muth's other books to the shelf. He's a true artist and my girls (three and five years old) simply love his books and Stillwater, the great panda who appears in most but not all of Muth's books.

Amazon book purchase has never disappointed me so far. Great price, 👌🏻 quality, almost anything one is looking for, we can find.

I picked up a bunch of children's books recently. I use them when I teach English. The ones I bought were: A Sick Day for Amos McGee The Incredible Book Eating Boy Zen Shorts 1 Million Dots I bought these after I searched on the net for "children's books with a soul." In that search I found the following page: "Design Mom’s Top 50 Picture Books." These were all books that had been published since 2000. I wanted to see some newer, but good quality, books. A Sick Day for Amos McGee Very charming and very surprising. I would recommend it to anyone. 5 Stars The Incredible Book Eating Boy Also, very funny. I'd be a little worried though that the book might teach kids to start chewing on books. A good book though. 4 stars. Zen Shorts Good. The art is wonderful. The outer story seems a little too thin though. It appears to be merely a vehicle for the author to tell the three inner stories from the book...which the author himself did not invent. I would have preferred to see the author put more effort into his own part of the story. In general though, Zen Shorts reminds me of the Disney movies "Song of the South" and "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh." In both of these works, there is also an outer story that serves as a vehicle for smaller stories to be told. Unlike Song of the South and Winnie the Pooh though, there is no time for us to meet and fall in love with any of the characters within the story. Falling in love with the characters is a necessity that was neglected in this book, but was allowed to happen in both "A Sick Day for Amos McGee" and "The Incredible Book Eating Boy." It's a good book. But it needed to be larger and the author himself needed to contribute more. 3 stars. 1 Million Dots has not yet arrived, so, I can't speak much about it.

Das Buch ist sehr gut für Kinder die ihre Neugierde auf die Welt und wie die Welt ist entdeckt haben- sozusagen für Kinder ab dem Alter von 4 Jahre..

My daughter says she now wants to read all the books in the "Zen series" because she likes "Stillwater the Story Panda."