Buddha at Bedtime: Tales of Love and Wisdom

I was under the impression that this was a small little Buddhism bedtime themed story and I was absolutely blown away when I received this amazing book with over 118 pages. Cover to cover it is brightly illustrated and filled with stories. Each story has a themed lesson and at the end a little Buddha character named Hotei gives your child a piece of wisdom to take from it. The layout of the book is PERFECT in the front you have a table of contents listing the title of each story so you can allow your child to choose based on a title. It also has a brief intro on Buddhism and how to get the most use out of the book. In the back there's an index that will tell you what themes are in each story, such as "bullying" or "anger". This helps you locate stories that could be beneficial to your child depending on things they are dealing with or issues they are having trouble with. There is also an intro into meditation which I also thought was wonderful. If I could give it more stars, I would. Based on the price my expectations were just a small picture book, but this is so so so much more. I highly recommend this book and this Author. I only have one left in the series to buy.

My daughters love this book. It's one of the most requested books for bedtime reading. They love the illustrations and I love the morals of the stories. I am not Buddhist, nor do I subscribe to any other religion, but this book has awesome stories and principles that my children, who are 5 and 7, can understand and relate to. The book is very well made and I know it will last to be enjoyed by future generations in my family. I think this is my favorite children's book yet. I would recommend it for non-religious families, especially families who are raising freethinkers. I can also see this book being well loved in religious homes. It is a well compiled book and it has tips on getting your children in the right place of mind and calming the mood. I would definitely recommend this book to other parents and guardians of young children. I am hoping the next book is just as wonderful.

No matter your religious affiliation, or lack of, this book is FANTASTIC and can be read to ALL ages...really. Our girls are 4 and 5 and the 4 year old rarely has the attention span for many of the books our 5 year old does. But, since this book's stories are short, they are perfect for kids (and adults...my Mom liked it so much she bought one for herself!) and adults alike. At the end of the story, I gave each child a chance to think about and come up with a "moral" or something they learned from the story. They LOVED doing that, and though they didn't always actually get the one written in two sentences at the end, they came up with lots of other ideas that were ALSO in there. GET THIS BOOK. For Christians that feel they should ONLY read things that teach "Christian" morals, you won't feel that this goes against ANY teachings in your faith. Its not a book of religion. It doesn't try to sell another faith at all. These are all really important, basic (but not so basic that they will annoy you. These are things that kids should hear frequently while developing what kind of person they want to be, and that development needs reinforcement for years and years and YEARS...and adults need this primer too as a reminder, or as an eye opener. I LOVE this book, and am on here to find more just like it. :)

My 4yo daughter likes this book and so do I! It makes it so easy to be an A+ parent at reading time. Unlike some of the other childrens books with traditional buddhist animal stories, this one is well translated into English that's appropriate for 4-8 years of age. And I love that the authors chose to include a few descriptive vocabulary words that are a bit advanced for my 4yo. ... kids can't build great vocabularies without learning new words -- but they include just the right amount of them per story. Each story begins with a short paragraph primer encouraging the youngster to pay attention to the important parts of the tale -- in a fun way. It finishes each story with a little paragraph to help the youngster pull out the moral of the story. It encourages a short and meaningful conversation. Sure, you can do this on your own with any book, but parents get tired, hurried and lazy. The artwork is beautiful, and there is the perfect amount of it. Not too much that the young listener gets distracted... just enough to get the creative imagination started. It's almost hard to believe you get this big book for this price. A++ on value.

This book is a wonderful collection of life lesson stories. The stories use vivid vocabulary and pictures and they are very entertaining for children of all ages. However I recommend this book for children 4 or older since there aren't pictures on every page like a traditional kids story book. My 4 year old daughter wanted to look at the pictures but when I turned the page to continue the story, there weren't any pictures and she lost interest a little. The stories would be great for a bigger group read aloud to allow for discussion after the story. Beautifully written stories that can be read over and over!

I bought this book to read to my children (girl age 4/boy age 6). It has become a classic that we have read again and again. This book has many different stories about 3-4 pages each. Each story has a moral that is relevant to all of us. For example there is a story called The Lion and the Jackal, at the end of this story the message is "Sometimes it is easy to let fear and jealousy cloud our judgment. A wise person knows that there is enough love in their heart to give every living creature in the world." As you can see there is nothing overly religious in this message that is why I would recommend this book to people of all religions. The messages appear light, but have hidden depth and resonance. This book has beautiful stories and breathtaking illistrations. Every night before bed we read one story from this book, even though my kids have them memorized they still want them again and again. This book is one that will stay with them for their whole lives. It is a gift for the soul.

For Christmas 2015, I wanted to get my 5½ year old a few solid bedtime books. I wanted books that had moral underpinnings and that would provide her with a well rounded understanding of various faiths. I bought several books from each major religion geared towards children. "Buddha at Bedtime" is one of the books I purchased. Wow. I am not Buddhist so I have no real bias here. This book is beautiful... not merely in presentation, but in the stories within it too. They are simple, well written, flow easily when read aloud as well as silently, and have depth that even little ones can understand. I cannot recommend the book enough. Regardless of your personal faith, there are universal truths in "Buddha at Bedtime" that any reasonable and decent human can relate to. Any child would be well served by having this book in their personal library.

We bought this after a recommendation from a friend. I love it probably as much as my eight year old! They are easy short stories that I have either read with him, or he has read himself. And the morals are good and easy to understand and grasp too. Excited for our newborn to grow up hearing these!

So many cute and meaningful stories for children and adults. My children remind me to read a story from this book every night :-). I also liked the fact that the author put background information about Buddha and Buddhism that is easy for children to understand. Great book would recommend it to anyone looking to give they're children more thought provoking, life lessons, yet gentle and entertaining short bedtime stories.

Siempre y cuando sepáis inglès este es un libro con mensajes de Budha no de religion, pero si con moralejas de positivismo, autoestima y generosidad. Nosotros somos bilingües y todos nuestros libros son inglès por lo que no tenemos problema en leerlo en ingles. Si el libro existe en español para los que no controlan el ingles os lo recomiendo.

As a Buddhist myself, I like to gently find ways to share my spirituality with my children without trying to push it onto them. I bought this book along with 'The Buddha's Apprentice at Bedtime' and both have been a big hit in our household. The book has an easy to understand summary of what Buddhism is and a small introduction to the magic of meditation. It also has some simple and helpful stretching/relaxation techniques to practice with your child before you begin which my children find beneficial. The stories are short (a few pages long) so perfect for bedtime reading. They would suit both boys and girls, mine are aged between 5 and 8 and really enjoy them. The moral at the end often opens discussions as the children can relate the stories to their lives and things that might have happened in their days and these stories can help things to make sense for them. The books are beautifully and colourfully illustrated and I would highly recommend these for a bedtime favourite.

Amei os contos. Todos tem uma conclusão do tipo "Moral da história" que ajudam a educar as crianças sobre coisas do dia a dia. Minha filha mais velha (5 anos) amou e ficou triste quando acabamos de ler todas. Já vou providenciar a compra do próximo livro. É uma pena que não tem versão traduzida para o português. Isso impede que ela possa levar pra escola e ler com os amiguinhos.

Great