Zen Shorts
Lexile Level: 540L
Zen Shorts by Jon J Muth tells the story of a panda named Stillwater and three siblings named Michael, Karl and Addy. Stillwater appears in the children's backyard one day and begins to tell them stories based on Buddhist parables. This book would be great to read aloud as it includes beautiful messages about giving, kindness, and forgiveness. Students could create writing responses after this book has been read aloud by their teacher as an extension activity that would allow them to explore the messages individually and form their own thoughts and reflections. Teachers could also include this book in their classroom library in order to create a more culturally diverse selection of books for their students to explore.
