YOGA BABY

Rhyming text, expressive faces, and uncluttered illustrations make a pleasant invitation to yoga practice as a positive parenting tool. This mama may be unrealistically slender and energetic compared to most new moms, but she represents a parenting ideal. Her winsome baby with a shaggy brown topknot doesn’t quite imitate mama’s yoga moves. Instead baby does something similar but recognizably babylike. When mama stands in tree pose, baby kneels. As mama moves into crescent moon, baby crawls practically under her, so mama pauses to tickle baby. Pastel illustrations and rhyming text show 11 standard “Yoga mama” poses followed by related “Yoga baby” actions. The duo are clearly delighted with the activity. Even when, in the spread with text that reads “Yoga mama, push up plank. / Yoga baby, pull and yank,” baby pulls mama’s curls that have escaped from her headband and pushes on mama’s back, mama keeps smiling. Eventually baby falls asleep in mama’s arms on the yoga mat. Both mama and baby present White. A final note titled “Practicing Yoga With Little Ones” points to the benefits of a yoga practice and briefly cites approximate ages that babies usually can mimic yoga postures. Together, text and pictures demonstrate how yoga contributes to healthy and mindful living and need not be abandoned when a baby joins the family.