Be Still, Life

by Ohara Hale

Overview

A song, a riff, and a playful romp—this is a lively contemplation about being present to all of life!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781592702572
Publisher:	Enchanted Lion
Publication date:	05/22/2018
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	341,022
Product dimensions:	8.20(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	4 - 18 Years

About the Author

Ohara Hale is a multi-disciplinary artist. Born in Hollywood, Hale, who spent her youth in the Midwest and formative years in Los Angeles and other parts of the universe, now lives in Montreal.
She works as a fine artist, illustrator, director, animator, voiceover actor, graphic designer and art director. Hale shares her studio with her dog, Banana, who looks like a pig and snorts like one, which is great because Hale loves pigs as much as she loves dogs.So Banana serves as a two-in-one combopet. Hale loves all creatures, including spiders and even snakes!

Editorial Reviews

06/04/2018
Part mindfulness meditation, part delirious flight of fancy, this unusual picture book encourages readers to pause, quiet down, and take in the world, senses open. In each spread, the rhyming text offers a suggestion to notice the worlds within worlds that reveal themselves when a watcher simply observes: “Be still, life, be still/ like the surface of a pond/ and you’ll see the fish/ swim through/ the clouds and the fronds!” In subsequent spreads, readers are called to quiet their bodies to feel their hearts move, and even, in a nearly solid-black spread, imagine the mysterious “something” that can be sensed, even in seeming “nothing.” The rhyming lines occasionally scan awkwardly, and the contrasting, abstract concepts—the something in nothing; the idea that “everything is still and moving”—may hit home most with an older audience. But Hale (the Who Did It books) creates winsome expressions in the plants, fruits, and creatures that fill her sherbet-colored pages, and the text’s surprising blend of profound questions and wild goofiness forms a unique invitation to delight in life and its smallest wonders. Ages 4–up. (May)

Publishers Weekly

A Brain Pickings Best Children's Book of 2018


★ "The rambunctiously designed illustrations of bugs, plants, fruit, snails, and other aspects of the natural world are done in simple, warm, unshaded colors and black crayonlike outlines that echo and support the narrative's ingenuousness, as does the hand-lettered text. It doesn't take itself too seriously—some segments are endearingly silly, especially the asides of some of the critters voicing their opinions. What sets this book apart from so many others with the same theme of the nourishment derived from connecting with life is its infectious joy, delivered simply and sincerely."—STARRED REVIEW, Kirkus Reviews




"Hale beckons eye, heart, and mind to drink in the glorious aliveness of the world with a generous curiosity, evocative of Simone Weil’s assertion that 'attention is the rarest and purest kind of generosity.' [...] Playful levity and vibrancy carry the deeper soulfulness of the message, which unfolds with a songlike quality — a sort of hymn in word and image."—Maria Popova, Brain Pickings




"Part mindfulness meditation, part delirious flight of fancy, this unusual picture book encourages readers to pause, quiet down, and take in the world, senses open. ...Hale creates winsome expressions in the plants, fruits, and creatures that fill her sherbet-colored pages, and the text’s surprising blend of profound questions and wild goofiness forms a unique invitation to delight in life and its smallest wonders."—Publishers Weekly




"A lasting reminder to slow down and let the world fill you up"— Matthew C. Winner of The Children's Book Podcast




"A bright splash of poetic genius splashed across any day. With exuberant illustrations this book beckons smiles."—Jesica Sweedler DeHart, The Wandering Bookseller




“Incredibly charming, sweet, and meditative.” —Anabela Piersol, @fieldguided




“This book is just so tranquil and lovely. It is all about slowing down to enjoy the sweet and simple things that this beautiful life has to offer. Its rhythmic text and whimsical illustrations are everything and it has jumped to the top pile of my new favorite things this spring. It is honestly a refreshing breath of fresh air that I could read over and over again in succession.” —Clarissa, Book Nerd Mommy


“…A book that is a celebration of the senses…” —The Book Beat (Detroit, MI)




“Using simple, soothing meter and rhyme, the book speaks to young kids about the need to slow down and the joy of living, all in the context of their own childhood experience. The artwork is delightfully whimsical and the muted color speaks to this idea of measured calm. I wholeheartedly recommend it, especially to those of us who feel inspired by the slow living movement.” —Rebecca, The Bookplate

From the Publisher

★ 2018-04-25
In casual rhyme, this picture book extols the values of stillness and observation.Speaking directly to readers, author/illustrator Hale delivers a passionate, can-you-believe-how-good-it-is-to-be-alive homage to living. Focusing on the natural world, she describes the possibilities of what can be experienced with the senses when readers become still: seeing the shadow of "a small snail snoozing" growing long as time passes, feeling "the sun's light," hearing the "tapping of tiny mice feet," and, whimsically, the song of fruit in a bowl: "you might hear the hum / of a crisp summer's apple." The narrative's heartfelt exhortation to, and inclusion of, its readers ("you are also a part of the wonderfulness of life!") saves it from the tired sanctimony that can bog down themes of this type. The rambunctiously designed illustrations of bugs, plants, fruit, snails, and other aspects of the natural world are done in simple, warm, unshaded colors and black crayonlike outlines that echo and support the narrative's ingenuousness, as does the hand-lettered text. It doesn't take itself too seriously—some segments are endearingly silly, especially the asides of some of the critters voicing their opinions.What sets this book apart from so many others with the same theme of the nourishment derived from connecting with life is its infectious joy, delivered simply and sincerely. (Picture book. 3-9)

Kirkus Reviews