You Are a Lion

Yoo, Taeeun. 2012. YOU ARE A LION! AND OTHER FUN YOGA POSES. New York: Penguin. ISBN 9780399256028 [Suggested Grade Level PreK – 2]  

 
REVIEW
While there are many titles that engage children in animal sounds and behaviors, this simplistic picture book stands out as it leads readers through some fun and basic yoga poses. YOU ARE A LION! AND OTHER FUN YOGA POSES guides readers through the motions of a simple pose such as “downward dog:”

"Stand / With feet flat / Bend and touch ground / Bottom up! / You are a . . . / . . . Dog."

 The title serves as form of imaginative play that will get children’s bodies in motion, while activating their imaginations in a calm manner.

The gentle illustrations in a calm palette accompany spare directive text, allowing ample opportunity for reader engagement.

 
YOU ARE A LION! AND OTHER FUN YOGA POSES provides a basic way to introduce yoga to a classroom, and can serve as a medium for a transitional activity to get young ones off of the seats and onto their feet.

Namaste.

CONNECTIONS

Lead the children through these poses and ask them to create new yoga poses. After deciding what a horse position may “look like,” create the directions for it, following the style presented in YOU ARE A LION! AND OTHER FUN YOGA POSES. Write them down and add onto your yoga routine. Research to see if there are “real” yoga poses for your invented creature or object.

RELATED BOOKS

There are a many books that provide direction and encouragement for movement during reading. Here are a few:
Cronin, Doreen. STRETCH. ISBN 9781416953418
Cronin, Doreen. WIGGLE. ISBN 9781599610931
Cronin, Doreen. BOUNCE. ISBN 9781416916277

 

By Marianne Crandall Follis