The Travelling Turtle Practises Mindfulness written and illustrated by Bianca Vickers, follows a Turtle on a journey around the world where he meets new characters and learns about mindfulness. At the beginning of this book there is a brief explanation of what mindfulness is. You may ask yourself: Is your mind full? Or are you mindful? Turtle’s journey teaches himself and others to appreciate life and notice their thoughts and feelings in the present moment.
This book is written in verse and each verse carries meaning. Throughout the book there are ‘Practise mindfulness’ stamps which will direct the reader to a mindfulness activity. For example, the stamp which says: ‘ Practise Mindfulness: Be CALM like Whale’ encourages readers to focus on the following activity: ‘Listen Carefully – Can you name 3 things that you can hear? E.g. the pitter patter of rain, birds chirping, leaves rustling, fingers tapping’.
This particular approach focuses on listening carefully to what can be heard in that present moment.
As you may notice, the word calm is capitalized, as this is how it is presented within the book. Each animals’ mindfulness focus is capitalized throughout the book and forms part of the read aloud affirmation list at the end of the book e.g. I AM CALM. This book encourages readers to appreciate the beauty in the world and how calm and peaceful you can feel when you practice mindfulness.
By the end of the book the reader will have participated in mindfulness acts and be left feeling more calm and peaceful.
I was inspired to write this book due to my own experiences of learning about mindfulness and how to use these approaches to live a more calm lifestyle where I am more present and in the moment. Over the past 2 years I have been developing myself as a person which has included focussing on having an attitude of gratitude, becoming more mindful and positive. Due to my positive experience of undertaking many different approaches, I felt this was something that I would like to share with others as I feel it is beneficial to all.
This book is aimed at children between the ages of 5-9 years old. It is a book that can be read anywhere, be it at home or in schools and educational settings etc. This book is filled with bright and colorful illustrations and explains mindfulness and meditation approaches in a child friendly way. It is good to introduce these approaches to children at a young age as they can use them to help themselves understand and respond to their thoughts and feelings throughout their lives.
As there are practice mindfulness activities throughout the book it is not aimed at younger children, however parents and educators are welcome to use them with their children if they feel it is beneficial and appropriate, as all children are individual.
I hope from reading this book, readers gain a good understanding of different approaches that can help us maintain an element of calm within our lives. It is very easy to get caught up in the busy-ness of every day life, but this is why it is most important to remind ourselves to bring our thoughts and feelings to the present moment. These mindfulness approaches have helped myself a great deal and I hope that other adults and children alike can gain something from this book and be able to take some of these approaches into their daily lives in the future.
In addition to this reading book, there is also The Travelling Turtle’s Mindfulness Colouring Book which includes the characters from this story book. Each page has an individual character with patterns for coloring in. On each coloring page there is a statement to encourage positive thoughts e.g. I am UNIQUE.
I would hope to see this book develop further and be read and enjoyed by many. I would like for this book to be acknowledged as a useful resource to promote and aid positive approaches to mental, physical and emotional health and well being, as I feel this is an incredibly important topic area. I would be interested in taking this book into schools and other settings to deliver this story along with practising the activities with children and adults to demonstrate how to use this book to its full potential.
This book was self published at the beginning of 2021, with my debut book The Travelling Turtle’s First Adventure self-published in November 2020. I currently have 3 books available on Amazon which are in ‘The Travelling Turtle’s Adventure Series’.
Thank you to the Authors’ Lounge for featuring this article. To find out more about The Travelling Turtle Practises Mindfulness book and keep up to date with The Travelling Turtle’s Adventure series, you can find us on:
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