Finding Muchness: How To Add More Life to Life

Yamada (What Do You Do with a Problem?), a children’s book author and CEO of the greeting card publisher Compendium, offers in his upbeat latest some appealing advice on living to the fullest. The reader is addressed directly (“You are bursting with promise, potential, and possibility”) and encouraged to pursue various ways of finding personal fulfilment, among them dreaming, creativity, risk-taking, perseverance, kindness, gratitude, and enjoying the present moment. Alongside Yamada’s affirmations are Santoso’s drawings in gray scale with pops of yellow portraying whimsical scenes of a cute duckling after it has hatched from its egg. Yamada dispenses established wisdom, with maxims including “Lose yourself in what you love. Find yourself there too”; “effort is a path to achievement, and more importantly, to improvement”; and “doing good and feeling good are connected.” The anthropomorphic duckling, meanwhile, explores its world—writing, smelling flowers, meeting other animals, learning to fly—in scenes loosely connected to the text. (As with the statement, “Being brave and being afraid often occur at the same time,” which is accompanied by an image of the duckling looking up at a large wave.) This light piece of inspiration will make a charming gift book for graduates and others embarking on new adventures. (July)