Kinder Book Club: Buddha at Bedtime
The following post originally appeared in October 2010, and since then I’ve mentioned Buddha at Bedtime a great number of times. Yesterday I was reminded how much this book deserves frequent re-reading.
After resting on our shelf for a couple of months, it found its way into Miss First Graders backpack. She and her friends read some of the stories during their bus ride. Now the waiting list for kids eager to borrow it has grown impossibly long. Perhaps we’ll have to buy a copy to donate to the school library. In spite of its Buddha reference the stories and their lessons are universally appealing.
Let me know if you’ve had a chance to check out this book. What does your family think of it? If not, I highly recommend it!
Relax, be still, and listen.
These words set the tone for each and every story in this remarkable collection. Buddha at Bedtime: Tales of Love and Wisdom for you to Read with Your Child to Enchant, Enlighten and Inspire, by Dharmachari Nagaraja, is a treasure.
After slogging through poorly written renditions of well-known fairy tales and questionable compilations of odd bedtime stories, I have finally found a book full of engaging stories that send my kids off to dreamland without nightmares and leave them with a positive message the next day.
This book contains 20 modernized versions of ancient Buddhist stories. Most are full of whimsy and wonder, spurring on creative play, even as they teach about kindness, courage, and peace. Each story ends with a short restatement of the moral for reinforcement. in the unlikely even that you missed it (see the excerpts below).
There is a Buddhist primer in the beginning of the book and some instruction for meditating with children in the back. I haven’t tried that yet, but in a world where school bullying is a subject of for the legislature and war stretches uncertainly into the future, I think meditation might be the next thing we try.
Though the stories are rooted in Buddhism, the lessons of this book are universal including:
- Sometimes it is easy to let fear and jealousy cloud our judgment. A wise person knows that there is enough love in their heart to give to every living creature in the world.
- By keeping promises and being kind and forgiving, we make the world a better place for everyone. a wise person shows compassion for others, even when they have been hurt by them.
- Sometimes it feels like there’s no option but to fight our way out of a difficult situation. A wise person knows that it’s their intelligence, no their physical strength, that will help them to win in the end.
This last moral summation follows my girls’ favorite story: “The Prince and Sticky Hair.” Sticky Hair is the mean old monster who haunts the Forrest with hair so sticky, all efforts to vanquish him just get stuck. His shaggy locks are jeweled with the swords of misguided fighters, including that of the young, brash prince. The prince, once he lost his own sword to the sticky mess, cleverly talked the monster into setting him free. Soon the monster and the prince became friends and the forest was safe for the kingdom.
Even with its sappy good ending, this is a story that really gets Miss Kindergarten’s imagination gong. We have created drawings of Sticky Hair and masks. We have acted out this and other stories in the book.
As it turns out, books with imaginative stories, beautiful illustrations, and important teachings are not as difficult to find as I thought. This is one of the best!
Tags: Children's Books
