Menna is one of those kids who walks into a room and things fall over. She can tumble over her own feet. In fact, she's so excited about her class play The New Improved Red Ridinghood, that she trips, falls, and spills the paint while helping build the set. Worse, when she and her mother go to an East Indian grocery store to shop, Meena manages to knock over a bag of rice. Now she's really miserable. Encouraged by the store's owner, whom everyone calls Auntie, Meena signs up for children's yoga. As she works through the various poses, she discovers a mind-body connection she didn't know she had. Then her teacher, Mrs. Jackson tells her she must be a trree in the play. Meena can't stand still, until she realizes she might apply something she she learned in yoga class to her part. Then on opening night, she confronts a disaster with her costume. Can she use yoga principles to overcome the problem? If so, she stands to become THE HAPPIEST TREE in the production.
THE HAPPIEST TREE: A YOGA STORY comes from the pen of talented children's author Uma Krishnaswami. Uma has the knack of catching a child's feelings, growth, and discovery as she develops Meena from a shy little girl who wants to hide from the world, to a confidant actress who might just handle the unexpected emergency. Ruth Jeyaveeran's illustrations work well with Uma Krishnaswami's text, presenting Menna's environment in a rich palette of East Indian colors and objects. As a result THE HAPPIEST TREE: A YOGA STORY offers a universal problem for the heroine to solve, by drawing on a solution from a specific cultural background. The combination offers a rich reading and visual experience to anyone who wants it.
Meena is so excited that her class is putting on a play about little red riding hood. She gets the part of a tree in the play and she is really upset. She thinks that she is too clumsy to play a tree. Later she finds out about a yoga class and decides to try it. The class gives her confidence and she ends up doing a great job in the play.
The little girl in the book feels like a lot of kids today. She felt like she was too clumsy to to the part in the play.
Children who enjoy yoga and/or acting will enjoy this book.
