This book is filled with beautiful illustrations. Each one showing us how the be. Be with the world around us, enjoying the tiny details we find. With each breath we become more in tuned to our environment. Also, this will be a lovely read a nap or bedtime. Whether you are looking for a quiet moment or reminding yourself & your little one to take in and be with their surroundings, this book is a great reminder. ( )

Goodreads Review:
I breathe slowly in,
I breathe slowly out. My breath
is a river of peace.
I am here in the world.
Each moment I can breathe and be.

Hear thunder crash, feel your toes touch sand, and watch leaves drift softly away on a quiet stream. The simple poems in Breathe and Be help children learn mindfulness as they connect to the beauty of the natural world.

Mindfulness teaches us how to stay calm, soothe our emotions, and appreciate the world around us. Whether we’re watching tiny colored fish darting in the water or exploring the leaves, branches, and roots of a towering tree, the thoughtful words and the lovely art of Breathe and Be remind us how much joy we can find by simply living with awareness and inner peace.

"Breathe and Be: A Book of Mindfulness Poems" by Kate Coombs is a beautiful, and very accessible, book of poetry for elementary-aged children. I have been researching, listing, and purchasing books to house in a "calming space" within my library. It's a place for students to decompress, calm down, and relax. Besides an aquarium, fidgets, and coloring sheets, I want students to access books that will give them tools to become less anxious and more calm. This poetry collection is the perfect addition. I will be able to use a short five-line poem to teach students as a memorization and recall technique for calming themselves. I think I'll use "I breathe slowly in, I breathe slowly out. My breath is a pathway of peace moving softly through me. Each day I can breathe and be." Every poem in this book is written in the Japanese poetic form of a Tanka, which is traditionally 5, 7, 5, 7, and 7 syllables for each line. This form is more loosely followed as short, long, short, long, long for each of the five lines. I love these short, fun poems each is full of figurative language -- personification, simile, and metaphor.

I breathe slowly in,
I breathe slowly out. My breath
is a river of peace.
I am here in the world.
Each moment I can breathe and be.

Hear thunder crash, feel your toes touch sand, and watch leaves drift softly away on a quiet stream. The simple poems in Breathe and Be help children learn mindfulness as they connect to the beauty of the natural world.

Mindfulness teaches us how to stay calm, soothe our emotions, and appreciate the world around us. Whether we’re watching tiny colored fish darting in the water or exploring the leaves, branches, and roots of a towering tree, the thoughtful words and the lovely art of Breathe and Be remind us how much joy we can find by simply living with awareness and inner peace.

Ages 4–8

I breathe slowly in,
I breathe slowly out. My breath
is a river of peace.
I am here in the world.
Each moment I can breathe and be.

Hear thunder crash, feel your toes touch sand, and watch leaves drift softly away on a quiet stream. The simple poems in Breathe and Be help children learn mindfulness as they connect to the beauty of the natural world.

Mindfulness teaches us how to stay calm, soothe our emotions, and appreciate the world around us. Whether we’re watching tiny colored fish darting in the water or exploring the leaves, branches, and roots of a towering tree, the thoughtful words and the lovely art of Breathe and Be remind us how much joy we can find by simply living with awareness and inner peace.

Ages 4–8