A richly illustrated retelling of a traditional Buddhist Jataka tale, written for young readers. This book works equally well as a read-aloud and as a classroom text introducing values through narrative.
Meet two tree spirits—one wise and one foolish—who live peacefully in the forest until a tiger takes shelter beneath the foolish spirit’s tree. Disturbed by the tiger’s noise and smell, the foolish spirit demands that it be driven away, despite the wise spirit’s warning that the balance of the forest depends on the tiger’s presence. When the warning goes unheeded, the story asks young readers to consider what happens when short-sighted choices disrupt a larger web of life.
Through clear storytelling and expressive illustrations, the tale introduces children to Buddhist themes of interdependence, responsibility, and respect for nature. Included activities encourage children to reflect on their relationship to the natural world and explore simple ways to care for it.
Bhikshuni Jin Rou is author of Buddhist books for children. Her most recent book, written with Terri Nicholson, Guan Yin: The Buddha's Helper, is a Nautilus Silver Award winner and is translated into French, Spanish, Chinese, and Vietnamese. Over the years, she has been retelling traditional Buddhist teachings conveyed in the sutras and Jataka tales in language that children understand. The first books were illustrated by her students. Other books include The Kind Monk, Under the Bodhi Tree, Snow-Covered Peaks, Amitabha s Happy Land, No Words and a series of Jataka tales on ecology: Giant Turtle s Nap, Come Back. O Tiger! and The Golden Feather. She is founder of Instilling Goodness Books, an imprint of Buddhist Text Translation Society and editor of Wok Wisely: Chinese Vegetarian Cooking, rated Best New Release of the month in Chinese cooking on Amazon. Jin Rou was born and raised in Mississippi, writing stories between cotton rows, with sticks. She began her writing career in New York City as a puppeteer, creating and performing puppet shows in Central Park, schools and museums. Later she volunteered in an orphanage in Nepal, where she encountered Buddhism. This lead her to being ordained as a Buddhist nun in the Chinese tradition at the City of 10,000 Buddhas in California, where she now lives. She holds a BA in education from University of Southern Mississippi, a MA in Holistic Health from Heartwood College of Healing Arts, and a MA from Dharma Realm Buddhist University, plus a certificate in Writing Children s Books from Washington State University.
