Review - Kaya's Heart Song

Kaya's Heart Song
by Diwa Tharan Sanders
illustrated by Nerina Canzi
Date: 2018
Publisher: Lantana Publishing
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 32
Format: e-book
Source: library

"Let me tell you a secret--if you have a heart song, anything is possible. Even magic!"

Kaya is looking for her heart song--the song that happy hearts sing. Her search takes her on a journey deep into the jungle where a broken down carousel waits for a very special song to make it turn again.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

This book combines vibrant, appealing artwork with a strange story about magic to teach children about mindfulness.

While I enjoyed looking at the pictures, and I don't really have a problem with the overall premise, I found the execution strange and a bit lacking. Kaya follows a butterfly into the jungle, where she encounters a man guarding a broken-down elephant carousel. As she concentrates on pulling the vines off and freeing the carousel from its bonds, she starts to get into a meditative state and hear her heart song. Then she starts riding the magical elephants around the jungle, a swarm of butterflies appears with an inexplicably diverse group of children, and everybody gets an elephant ride.

Lantana Publishing's slogan is "Because all children deserve to see themselves in the books they read." Kaya's Heart Song takes that to ridiculous levels, though, and children may be left questioning what a bunch of white and black kids are doing in the Malaysian jungle. There are places where a diverse cast of characters makes sense. This isn't one of them, and I found it distracting.

I also wish the magic aspect had been downplayed a little. As it is, the book seems to imply that being mindful and finding your heart song will make inanimate objects come to life. We don't practice mindfulness so that magical things happen... but that's the message I got from this one.

Overall, I'd probably only recommend this one to children whose parents are willing to sit down and talk about the author's note. The pictures are lovely, but the message is a bit muddy.

Premise: 2/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 3/5
Illustrations: 4/5
Originality: 4/5

Enjoyment: 3/5

Overall: 3.17 out of 5