Review: Your Mind Is Like The Sky

Your Mind Is Like The Sky (A First Book of Mindfulness) is a meaningful and beautiful simile to help children recognise the vast array of thoughts that may flit through their minds every day. Bronwen Ballard's gentle text encourages readers to notice these thoughts, then introduces some simple techniques to help children focus on certain thoughts while letting others drift on by.

The analogy between the mind and the sky describes the mind as like days, some are clear with blue skies, some stormy and others dreary. Ballard, goes on to liken thoughts to clouds, with some white and fluffy, while others may be dark, 'raincloud' thoughts.

Laura Carlin's illustrations provide a superb visual narrative representing a child and some of the many thoughts inside this child's mind.


Carlin depicts the child in solid tones of navy, red and black, with their faithful dog in solid dark brown. They are surrounded by magnificent faint sketches, created in the manner of a child's pencil or crayon drawings. These sketches display the myriad thoughts passing through the child's mind throughout the day and reach the edges of the page, and sometimes beyond, in almost every spread, except for the pages where the child is feeling overwhelmed by 'raincloud' thoughts.

Your Mind Is Like The Sky provides children with some language around the concepts of mindfulness, allowing children to more easily understand, notice and accept their own thoughts and share their thoughts with others in their lives. Highly recommended.

Title: Your Mind Is Like The Sky
Author: Bronwen Ballard
Illustrator: Laura Carlin
Publisher: Quarto Group UK, $24.99
Publication Date: 4 February 2019
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 9781847809032
For ages: 7+
Type: Picture Book




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