The Little Book of Joy by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, (yes, the Dalai Lama; who by the way has/had a great statue at the Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in New York) and Archbishop Desmond Tutu (yes, that Desmond Tutu; who I don’t know if he has/had one but should) is a book about how two boys, separated by thousands of miles had similar experiences that would shape them as men.
Adapted from the adult version of the story, this book shows how even in struggles and hard times, there can be peace and calm. There are things that we can do to help us not just focus on the sad, because then that is all you see. The idea of sharing joy is not new, and the fact that these two children would go on to share their joys as adult is really a secondary thought as you read, because it is a lovely sentiment, and you can never have too many reminders of the theme.
Yes, it is lofty at times, and even simplistic, but still powerful. Working well in a classroom setting, this book is for the slighter older picture book reader/listener. However, while it could go up to even ages seven or eight, the picture book format could turn those readers off.
The publisher description informs that this is the two authors only collaboration for children, but I see it opening doors for other similar people to do the same. And I would especially enjoy if Rafael Lopez did the illustrations for those books as well. The images are bold, bright, and maybe a bit “much” but they also fit the tone as you need “muchness” to compliment the text.
Planned for late September/early October 2022
