Review - Yoga Baby

Yoga Baby
by Amy Hovey
Date: 2019
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book non-fiction
Pages: 24
Format: e-book
Source: NetGalley

Can you roar like a lion? Flutter like a butterfly? Stand strong and tall like a mountain? Then you can do yoga! This exuberant rhyming board book celebrates the simple joy of yoga and the natural shapes that even the littlest yogis and yoginis can make with their bodies. Poses such as happy baby, child's pose and downward dog are ones you will see children spontaneously explore from a very young age. Babies and toddlers intuitively know the movements that restore their bodies and minds. Yoga Baby celebrates this mindful playfulness with a diverse selection of babies doing what babies love to do: feeling good and having fun!

(synopsis from Goodreads)

When I requested this book from NetGalley, I didn't realize that it would be in the same format as Holi Colors, another rhyming board book from Orca Book Publishers. I disliked the clunky rhymes and stock photos in that one... and I can't say I enjoyed them much more here.

Part of the problem with this book is that it has a very small audience. I'm not completely ignorant of yoga. Even so, I was only able to identify a few of the "positions", and I think some of the others are a bit of a stretch (no pun intended). While toddlers might enjoy looking at the pictures, the yoga aspect of the book is kind of weak. Possibly only yoga moms will see the value in a book like this.

Just like in Holi Colors, I wasn't that impressed with the selection of photos. For books with specific subjects like these ones, why not hire a photographer and get some original photos that really fit the text?

Babies like looking at pictures of babies, so they'll probably like this book no matter what silly adults think. But for a book that purports to show babies in yoga poses, it falls a little short.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orca Book Publishers for providing a digital ARC.

Premise: 2/5
Meter: 3/5
Writing: 2/5
Illustrations: 2/5
Originality: 3/5

Enjoyment: 2/5

Overall: 2.29 out of 5