Fearne Cotton and Sheena Dempsey teamed together in Autumn of last year to produce the picture book Yoga Babies.
Fearne Cotton is a familiar face and voice on radio and television, (I remember first watching her present with Reggie Yates) and she is also a writer. Fearne Cotton has put two of her loves together, yoga and writing and this is her debut picture book. It is a book that has since been made into paper back, which was recently published. Alongside Sheena Dempsey’s illustrations, whose work includes Dave Pigeon and Gringer the Whinger, Yoga Babies is a super read.
I have found yoga to be a brilliant thing and my eldest (Little One) is a yoga baby herself. She began witnessing me completing yoga and Pilate exercises as a baby and then went on to doing little sessions with me. I was really keen to share a book around this topic with her but was never successful in finding one. I was absolutely delighted when Yoga Babies was published.
Yoga Babies is based around a group of diverse children who attend a yoga class together. As the story progresses you observe each child in their home settings completing different yoga poses indoors and outdoors.
The book is celebration of children from different families and varied cultural backgrounds. Young readers will observe grandparents, mum, dads and even family pets completing yoga.
The book is an inviting read in that it encourages its readers to give yoga a go too. “We’re the Yoga Babies / look what we can…Can you do it too?” The written text is rhythmic and short through out the book making it an ideal read for the young reader.
The book shares different yoga positions and is a brilliant way of going beyond the book and competing moves just like the characters in the book do. Yoga has great health benefits, it promotes mindfulness, good for concentration and flexibility and it can be a lot of fun.
Sheena Dempseys illustrations are adorable. The illustrations are warm and realistic and using the endpapers as a way to introduce the characters was a brilliant idea. Ever since we shared this book my youngest daughter (Baby) has always adored the illustrations and has been known to give the characters little kisses. She gets so excited when we read the book together and is always keen to give yoga a go. Her big sister does her praises but also shows her how it is “meant” to be done.
There is so much detail on each page to discuss, different rooms to observe and many animals to spot. There are funny things too, like the scribbling found on the walls and the sofa. I wonder which little artist hasn’t done that?
Yoga Babies is a colourful, rhyming read celebrating yoga and encouraging you and your little ones to join in too.
Disclaimer: We received a copy of this book from the publishers and Toppsta. All words and opinions are entirely my own.
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