Yoga Adventures for Little Explorers

Written by Megan McDougall

Illustrated by Hayley Lowe

Pownal Street Press

978-1-998129-23-2 

32 pp.

Ages 3-5

May 2025 

 

There are so many ways that parents and teachers have been getting little ones into mindfulness practices, including yoga, and Megan McDougall's Yoga Adventures for Little Explorers demonstrates that, with some playful imagination, it can be easy.

From Yoga Adventures for Little Explorers, written by Megan McDougall, illustrated by Hayley Lowe

In rhyming verse, Megan McDougall lets us follow a child and his mother to "try something new" though it's obvious that the child is reluctant.

She smiled at me and gave me a nudge.

Weary at first, I did not want to budge.

But everything changes when they enter a space with other children and their parents, and he is given a very special mat that "if you let it, ignites magic in your mind." With that promise, their class begins, starting with breathing and moving into various poses. The poses may not be labelled as Tree Pose or Mountain Pose, but the children are guided to "grow their roots and stand really tall" or "bring both of my feet down to the ground" to find stillness.

From Yoga Adventures for Little Explorers, written by Megan McDougall, illustrated by Hayley Lowe

As the children move through their poses, the yoga studio morphs into a forest or an ocean shore or even a concert venue for a gorilla rock band. And soon the children are dancing with the apes, and doing poses that have them bending and stretching.

From Yoga Adventures for Little Explorers, written by Megan McDougall, illustrated by Hayley Lowe

Finally, when they are home and the child is settling into sleep, those lessons of calm and stillness take him to a dreamland of new adventures.

From Yoga Adventures for Little Explorers, written by Megan McDougall, illustrated by Hayley Lowe

I know that the intention of books such as Yoga Adventures for Little Explorers is to introduce young readers to yoga and other mindfulness practices but, because BC's Megan McDougall takes the perspective of the child, it becomes something different. It isn't children being told what to do. It's what the child experiences, and every child seems to experience it differently, as evident from the variety of their poses. There's an honesty about a story in which a child is dragged to a new place and their trepidation at what they might expect. But then the yoga class becomes an exercise of the imagination as the boy senses places and animals around him. These imaginings add to his experiences and enhance his yoga practice. And any child who reads this book can try these same poses because a double-spread appended to the story displays a great ape doing 15 different stances.

 

Hayley Lowe, an illustrator from BC, uses different media including pencil and digital application to create art that reflects the authenticity of the physical poses but also the fanciful imaginings of a child. Her colours, like her lines and shapes, are soft and cheerful, and any reader would feel welcomed into the yoga studio and the landscapes envisioned.

 

If you're a teacher or a parent who'd like to get your children into yoga, I recommend Yoga Adventures for Little Explorers as a playful introduction and then as an informative guide to the practice. It's a study that little ones, like their adult counterparts, will appreciate for the positive impact on the body and the mind.

Have You Ever Heard a Whale Exhale?

Written by Caroline Woodward

Illustrated by Claire Victoria Watson

Pownal Street Press

32 pp.

Ages 3-7

June 2024

 

With humour and rhyme, Caroline Woodward, who wrote the text for beautifully illustrated picture books  A West Coast Summer (2018) and Singing Away the Dark (2017), again takes us to her beloved West Coast to really take in all the sensory experiences that life there offers. We will hear, and see, and smell, and taste, and learn and wonder at the unique ecosystem that is the ocean and its coast from those who live and enjoy it.

Have you ever heard a whale exhale

and SLAP the water with its tail?

Breathing in after breathing out,

heaving WHOOSH with a mighty spout!

Our visit to the West Coast has us listening to a whale as it breaches, breathing and tail slapping and spouting. Its behaviours may be typical but to any observer they are captivating and revealing. Such are the actions of the seals who spy-hop to see what's going on–one with a monocle suggests they are paying close attention–or of the oystercatcher, a shore bird, who can pry open molluscs.

From Have You Ever Heard a Whale Exhale? by Caroline Woodward, illus. by Claire Victoria Watson

And what of the smelly sea lions and the squawking seagulls, eagles and dolphins? All have their place and ways of living that intrigue and reveal life on and near the ocean. But Caroline Woodward also includes humans who are invited to think about what it means to be these animals and the ocean and what living on it and near it is truly like.

From Have You Ever Heard a Whale Exhale? by Caroline Woodward, illus. by Claire Victoria Watson

By phrasing her text as a series of questions, Caroline Woodward invites the reader to think about the ocean, its animals and their behaviours, including those of humans on the water, at a campfire or something else. Questions like "Have you ever felt the freezing north wind blow...?" or "Have you ever wondered why eagles love to fly..?" encourage young readers to look and smell and feel a little deeper about the coast and its inhabitants and not take for granted that which makes the West Coast their home.

From Have You Ever Heard a Whale Exhale? by Caroline Woodward, illus. by Claire Victoria Watson

Like Caroline Woodward, illustrator Claire Victoria Watson is a creator in British Columbia. Her visual art blends a variety of media including pen and ink, watercolours, and acrylic, with some digital design. Though the media she uses are plentiful, there is still a simplicity to her art that helps the readers focus on the smells–wavy lines emanating from the sea lions make this clear–or the sounds or the visuals of the scenes depicted. And though she follows Caroline Woodward's text to bring life to Have You Ever Heard a Whale Exhale?, Claire Victoria Watson also adds her touches of humour. There are the cormorants with the clothespins on their noses, the gray whales fine dining on herring roe, and a cowboy-hatted octopus square dancing or at least trying to. The message about the ocean and the diversity of its animals is never lost but it is told playfully as well as naturally.

From Have You Ever Heard a Whale Exhale? by Caroline Woodward, illus. by Claire Victoria Watson

Have You Ever Heard a Whale Exhale? may not cover every animal that lives in the ocean or near it, but it does cover an important message of appreciating our natural world so that we might protect it and all its inhabitants.

 🐋🦭🌊

 

Picture Book Giveaway 📫📘

 

Because I was fortunate to receive two copies of this lovely picture book,  I would love to share one with a reader of CanLit for LittleCanadians. (Only Canadian addresses are eligible to apply. Sorry.)

 

Leave a comment about the ocean (whether you've visited one or not) for me on X (formerly known as Twitter) by tagging me @HelenKubiw or on Bluesky at @hkubiw.bsky.social and using the hashtag #HaveYouEverHeardAWhaleExhale. I'll log all comments until Friday, July 26th, 2024 at 12 noon (EST) and then do a random draw. If you are selected, I will DM you to let you know and get details about where to send the book.

 

Good luck everyone! 

 

 🐋🦭🌊

A is for Anne

Written by Mo Duffy Cobb

Illustrated by Ellie Arscott

Pownal Street Press

978-1-778124549

24 pp.

Ages 0-3

For release February 28, 2023

 

A is for Anne is a concept book that is ever so Canadian, set in the late 1800s and on Prince Edward Island, and offering an opportunity to learn the alphabet and a historical perspective of our world. From horse-drawn carriages to games and activities, A is for Anne takes us into a different time and place.

From A is for Anne by Mo Duffy Cobb, illus. by Ellie Arscott

Some of the letter designations are simple enough, like A is for Anne, who waits by the train, and B is for Brown, a horse with a mane. Young children will understand and appreciate the I is for ice cream and J is for July but many of the references are far more esoteric, requiring a knowledge of L. M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables novel–"M is for Matthew, the real reason we're here" and "N is for natural, a father so dear"– or include sophisticated and dated terms like "decree," and "cordial." This does not take away from the elegance of A is for Anne, but I think it extends its readership to all ages, from the very young who are learning their alphabet to older readers who have already read Anne of Green Gables.

From A is for Anne by Mo Duffy Cobb, illus. by Ellie Arscott

Mo Duffy Cobb, co-founder of PEI's boutique publisher Pownal Street Press, captures all the nuances of Anne's story from the child's arrival in Avonlea to her relationships with Marilla, Matthew, Diana, and Gilbert. She takes readers into Anne's enthusiasm for the island's beauty from its poplar trees by a stream, the blossoming cherry trees, and yellow skies tinged with pink, and her joie de vivre for the potential of her new life. Mo Duffy Cobb shares with us Anne's foibles and her heart. And she does it all in polished rhymes, giving rhythm to her refined text.

From A is for Anne by Mo Duffy Cobb, illus. by Ellie Arscott

Though not from PEI, illustrator Ellie Arscott delivers the reader to Anne's home in place and story. From its landscape and its people and the story of the freckled child looking for a home, Ellie Arscott's watercolours with ink depict a world of softness, of place and people. The pace of life is slower than today and simpler in scope but full in sentiment and connection, as is the original story.

I know that parents and teachers will first see A is for Anne as the alphabet board book that it is, but I hope that others will see it as a tribute to the classic story, giving us both rhyme and art to see Anne and her creator from a different perspective.