BOOK REVIEW “KINDNESS”

BOOK REVIEW “KINDNESS”

I picked this one up from Amazon as it was suggested for children.
It did not specify age…

The subtitle says “A Treasury of Buddhist Wisdom for Children and Parents”

There are many wonderful stories in this book. Quite a few come from Jataka tales and many are similar to ones you may have read in “Zen Flesh, Zen Bones” but there were a few that I could not readily identify the source.

While I enjoyed the message of the stories and value the content I do have some gripes with it. I had selected this book for reading at bed time to the kids, and there lies the problem. In the presentation of the stories a lot of difficult vocabulary was used. And in many of the stories I had to either think fast and use a word that fit the situation or stop to explain a complex word. While this may have been good for helping my children build their vocabulary, I fear that the message of the stories themselves often got lost in jargon. Which is in my mind a shame. So I would recommend this book for older kids and may give it to them as they begin to read more themselves, but I would not recommend it for reading to smaller children.

A note to people who write “Children’s Books”: never use a $64.00 word when a .25¢ word will do.

Hope that helps somebody!