“Zen Shorts” Presentation, Book Review Example

In Zen Shorts by Jon J. Muth, the story centers around three siblings who meet a panda bear in their backyard named Stillwater. The children find him sitting with a large red umbrella. The siblings introduce each other to the bear. The siblings quickly become friends with Stillwater who turns out to be quite a storyteller, teacher and mentor. As the story unfolds, the three youngsters visit Stillwater who subtlety provides guidance through stories.

Addy visits Stillwater at his home for tea the following day and they enjoy the day celebrating his Uncle Ry’s birthday. Stillwater tells Addy about how generous his uncle was with a short story he called ‘Uncle Ry and the Moon’ which is about the time a robber came into Uncle Ry’s home. Uncle Ry was worried he did not have a gift for the robber since he always wanted to give his guest a gift. So he gave his only robe to the robber. Uncle Ry in his generously worried over the robber since his gift was so small, and wished he have been able to give him the moon.

Michael visits the next day and finds Stillwater up in a tree. He climbs up with the bear but worries about falling and getting hurt. Stillwater relates a story to him about how some bad events are really good ones. He tells him a story called ‘The Farmer’s Luck’ about a farmer’s horse running away and returns with two wild horses. This seemed to be good luck until his son falls off one of the wild horses and breaks a leg. Again, what seemed to be bad luck was good luck when his son was passed by for entry into the army to fight because of his broken leg.

Karl, the younger of the siblings visits next. Karl was mad at his brother and Stillwater tells him a story called ‘A Heavy Load’ about two monks and a rude lady. One monk helps her but she is ungrateful. The other monk spends a lot of time upset but the first monk teaches him that being upset is really wasted time and energy.

Zen Shorts is a book of short meditations in Taoist and Buddhism styles. The author has taken three fables meant to teach children the art of self and specifically looking beyond the surface of things. Stillwater represents a Buddha figure for the children to learn love, mystery, kindness and how to live with the self and with others. Generosity, imagination, adventure and forgiveness are the basis of the lessons the author is conveying.

Jon J Muth is an award winning author and comic artist. He has written and illustrated several books. He won a Gold Medal for his illustrations. His version of the Soup Stone Fable won a National Parenting Book Award. Zen Shorts is a New York Times Bestseller and also is a Quill Award nominee. This book also was awarded the 2006 Caldecott Honor.

Muth grew up Ohio. He now lives with his family in upstate New York. He relates that his inspiration for Zen Shorts came simply from ‘wondering’; he wondered how it would be to have a Zen master living close by to answer ‘what if’ questions. He feels that being able to open one’s eyes to see beyond the world and look at all the possibilities of what can be, or what might happen, will allow a person to see things in a new way. When I read this story, I immediately thought of how wonderful it would be if all children who read this book could see how valuable it is to be able to learn such priceless lessons.