The 2006 Caldecott Honor Award winning book, Zen Shorts, was written by Jon Muth and published in 2005. I was first fooled by the title of this book. I thought it was about a young man's piece of clothing. I couldn't have been further off. What made this book interesting to me was that it was actually a story within a story. Three children are being taught life lessons from three different Zen stories told by a panda named Stillwater. These little stories are what the title calls "shorts".
The "shorts" introduced the children to the rewards of giving, explained how luck can be neither be judged nor predicted, and how not to carry angry feelings with you. Each correlated to the feelings that one of the children in the book were having, and after the story was explained the child had a different light on his/her feelings.
The same three children and Stillwater continue their friendship in another book written by Muth. Zen Ties, too, focuses on ways to become a better person. Muth seems to put an importance of teaching values and developing good character into his stories while making them appealing and very entertaining. The illustrations are very whimsical and light. I would definitely like to read books by this author to my children as they grow older and are experiencing life.
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