A Handful of Quiet: Happiness in Four Pebbles Hardcover – Illustrated, September 13, 2008

First off, this is not a book you would hand to a child, or even read to a child page by page. Instead, this book outlines a series of activities and thought experiments that kids will love. Kids are directed to find four pebbles: each symbolizing a mountain, the sky, the ocean, and space. The book then offers dialogue to have with the child about what it must feel like to be a mountain--or an ocean. Suffice to say for this review, the magic of this book is in the nuances of these discussions. It helps switch on a broader sense of awareness while planting seeds of compassion. The book is small and beautifully illustrated.

Book is a great little aid for starting meditation. I purchased this for my friend, a mental health provider, as she lamented that she wished she was able to learn how to teach her patients how to meditate. While we have a largely Hispanic population and I attempted to find a Spanish version, there wasn't one to be found and that's OK for our purposes. We're getting the page with the meditation mantras translated, which are simple enough to allow this. While aimed at being a children's book, it's for children of all ages and is just a great simple meditation that's just easily teachable. I love the pebble aspect to have something physical for helping to maintain awareness of the task at hand. It's short and affirmative. I purchased my friend a jar and those glass rocks that are so popular and she was over the moon! I also liked that the book is an enclosed spiral bound book so can be used many, many times without risk of the spine coming apart to be used for years to come.

I purchased this book for my granddaughter on her 7th birthday. Her Mom is a Yoga Instructor and I thought her Mom might like it more than she. Was I wrong!! My granddaughter fell in love with the pictures. She has always loved stones and each one in the book has a story. Secondly, the reader is encouraged to fill in personal thoughts about feeling happy or relaxed. As a first grader just learning how to write, this was a delightful experience for her. Finally, in the back of the book is a lovely piano tune. She is just learning how to play the piano and was thrilled to see this short music piece. All in all, the book is beautiful and MUCH more than I expected. The size is perfect for little hands, but it is hard bound. The illustrations are lovely and the message is timeless. LOVED this book!

Honestly, this book could be a single sheet of paper and be equally effective. However, the message is excellent, and I have enjoyed using it personally as well as with my family numerous times since we acquired it. The meditations are simple and memorable, and cultivate presence/freshness, mental and emotional strength/solidity, clarity/calmness, and freedom.

This is absolutely one of the best books on meditation for young children that I have even seen. I have taught pre-school through adults - been an educator for 30+ years - and this book is set up exactly as I would want from an educator point of view. I have already started using this process with my 7 year old granddaughter to help her be calm and focus, and it is working. Next I will introduce it to my 4year old grandchild.1) It sets up the story for the child to understand2) It provides a physical example for the child to use3) It provides guides practice for the child4) It provides pages for the child's own words and artAnyone - teachers, parents, grandparents, child care workers - can use this book and method. The information could be presented all in one day over an hour or more, or (as I prefer) it can be presented over a couple of days which provides time for the child to think about it and absorb the ideas. Then the practice and be continued over a lifetime!Just excellent - from a master teacher - Thich Nhat Hanh - created from a series of teachings he provided to a large group of children who were attending one of his retreats.

A lot of books regarding mindfulness for children use animals as characters, which is cute and gets their attention, but doesn't actually teach students to be mindful. They're either thinking about a quiet frog or pig, and not noticing their own bodies. This book uses rocks and visuals such as "space" which are more abstract to help children find calm. I love the poems at the end. I used the rock meditation in my Kindergarten class and my students were so great at relating the images to their bodies and making them their own. We did the drawing activity, and the kids were drawing SILENTLY on their own! They were so into the activity that they voluntarily did not talk. They focused on their task intently, some even stopped to breathe as they worked.

So, the age range I would put this is like 2nd grade and higher.. I didn’t say an age because some kids can understand at like a second grade level a bit younger but overall a great concept and I recommend this author to almost everyone I know :)

This book repeats its self through it. It was a little different then I was expecting. I like the way it shows to use meditation with the stones but wish it had a pocket to put them in to keep with the book. I tied a little pouch bag to it cause I got the one with the spiral notebook coils.