Meditation Is an Open Sky: Mindfulness for Kids

“Meditation won’t take away your problems, but it will help you deal with them,” writes Stewart before walking children through nine meditative exercises that aim to ease feelings of fear, indecisiveness, and anger. Rippin uses a gentle-looking elephant to demonstrate each tactic; as Stewart describes drawing “an object that makes you happy” to improve concentration and clarity, the elephant’s thought balloon contains (what else?) a peanut. Stewart’s peaceful tone is reassuring and calming in itself, and a closing section addresses questions about boredom and sleepiness for meditation newbies. A solid resource for children (and the adults in their lives) who are seeking to get a handle on tricky emotions and situations. Ages 4–7. (Mar.)