My Daddy is a Pretzel

“Today in class, we're going to say what jobs our parents do each day.” Some children have parents who are gardeners, or builders, or even marine biologists. But one little child has a daddy who is sometimes a tree, sometimes a bridge, and sometimes a fish. He can even be a pretzel! My Daddy is a Pretzel is a wonderful book for teaching children about yoga, and gives instructions for nine different postures that they can try. Each is illustrated clearly and accompanied by a short text that explains the deeper lessons – such as believing in ourselves or being both strong and flexible – that underlie each pose. The illustrations of wide-eyed, smiling characters give a welcoming feel to the book and enhance its playful message, show more helping to encourage children to try some of the poses for themselves.

In these times of rising childhood obesity and increasingly sedentary lifestyles, it's more important than ever for fathers to model good habits of physical fitness and exercise for our children. It does little good to complain about modern trends that have decreased our daily physical activity, or to nostalgically insist that things were somehow better in “the good old days”. Over half the population of the planet lives in cities now, and forms of entertainment like television and the computer are here to stay. Our challenge now as fathers is to teach our children how to incorporate physical fitness into their daily lives, even if they grow up to drive to work and then sit at a desk all day like so many of us. Yoga can be great for both fitness and as a means of relieving the stress of our fast-paced lives, and teaching even basic yoga techniques to children can help them greatly both now and in their later lives, Unfortunately, our children have their own ideas of what they want to learn, and are often especially resistant to things that are “good for them.” My Daddy is a Pretzel, with its warm tone and child-friendly format, is a valuable resource for introducing yoga to children in a way that they will find both educational and fun. Review by Book Dads show less

My Daddy is A Pretzel was an adorable informational book about yoga. What I liked most was how the book discussed the different positions. The books setting was in a classroom on a day where the student's parents explained their careers. As each parent said their job, one student would explain that her dad is like some aspect of that job. For example, one parent was a vet and the student said sometimes her dad is a dog. After that, there was a page with the downward position and a small paragraph that explained the pose. The next page had it broken down into step-by-step directions for children. Another thing that was cool about this book was that the end pages were covered with different poses from the book in bright, fun colors. The show more main idea of this book was to introduce yoga to children and make it sounds fun and look exciting. show less

I read this with my daughter, who enjoys how yoga connects to work and play, like her music class. Teaching examples include families, their work, and playful illustrations. Even if there is a surplus of children’s yoga books out there, Baptiste captures the interest of the whole family.

Summary: This story is about a young girl and her father who are practicing different yoga moves together and bonding.

Personal reflection: It seemed like a nice, informational book.

Class use: Have students do these poses to learn about health and wellness.