Teresa Power

Cute characters and a laid-back, fun setting create a wonderful atmosphere for young listeners to learn a tiny bit about yoga.

Little Mouse lives in a burrow and has a warm, calm life. His best friend, Mr. Opus, is a cat next door and sometimes, they watch the family there practice yoga. Sometimes, Little Mouse even tries the poses himself. When the girl goes to the zoo on a school field trip, he and Mr Opus tag along—Little Mouse is so curious about the other animals! There they not only show more meet new friends but have a little fun as well.

Little Mouse and his friend, Mr Opus, the cat, are a lovely duo. The book starts with a quick glance at Little Mouse's life in the burrow and visiting Mr. Opus. While many yoga books for kids concentrate heavy on the yoga and dive right in, this one takes more of a traditional tale form, allowing Little Mouse and Mr. Opus to develop as true characters. There's a lovely plot as Little Mouse gets a chance to take his first trip to the zoo...leaving yoga as a secondary message, which slides right along with the tale.

The illustrations are very well done and add lots of little details. We enjoyed just gazing at these and enjoying each scene. The characters are nicely depicted and the tale comes to life on every page.

As to the yoga, this book surprised me. While yoga is definitely present and listeners will want to try the poses themselves, the aspect is actually pretty subtle. It's lightly explained that yoga calms and helps clear the mind, but this is built wonderfully into the story and not preached. The different poses aren't delivered in clear, instructive form, but also flow right along with the story. For example, the giraffe stretches his neck to eat leaves, speaks to Little Mouse, who then stretches his neck too. But it's built in so seamlessly, that it's not blatantly clear that they are illustrating a yoga pose. Especially young listeners are lead into yoga in this way without feeling like they're being forced.

This is a great introduction to a series, and it will be fun to see where it goes next and how the author continues in this path. show less

I entered a giveaway a couple of months ago and this is one of the books I won, although I don't quite know *how* as I'm pretty sure this wasn't one of my selections.

Anyway, it's a picture book about a yoga-loving mouse and his cat friend tagging along on a girl's field trip to the zoo; there the mouse sees a variety of animals and assumes poses that mimic them. It almost goes without saying that this isn't about yoga the ancient spiritual discipline, but yoga the means of getting affluent show more suburbanites to spend money on silly clothes.

Emma Allen's illustrations are cute, but I think the only thing the target audience will get out of this is that they should be allowed to take their pets on field trips, too. show less

This children's book introduces yoga poses to children in the form of the ABC's using short, rhyming descriptions and instructions of each colorful, illustrated pose.

This is an incredible book for families! The children in the illustrations are realistic, and diverse, which I feel helps all children with connecting with the those in the book! The illustrations are magical and colorful, and I was impressed with the way the author could effectively teach a child how to do a pose, in a way that show more didn't feel like learning, and all with a rhyming that didn't seem forced or overdone! Some of the poses were made-up, but all incorporated balance, relaxation, flexibility and/or strength. While looking through it, I could feel my younger self fill up with wonder and excitement with the discovery of new ways to move my body. I will definitely be purchasing this book for my (future) children! I think it'd be a wonderful book for them to read and incorporate on their own, and the enticing illustrations will do just that! show less

Just like hiding vegetables in your kids food, this book cleverly introduces exercise and yoga in a fun way by encouraging the little ones to copy Little Mouse and his friend Mr. Opus the cat as they try out some fun yoga poses before going out trick or treating.

Excellent illustrations and nice rhyming couplets make this a great book for kids