Little Bodhi And The Broken Bowl

For the child who broke something and is afraid to say so.

The blue bowl was older than Bodhi. It was older than everybody. Every morning it held water, and the birds came to drink from it. Then one morning his sandal caught the step. Up went the bowl. Down came the bowl. Crack.

Anger goes up. Shame goes down. This feeling started in Bodhi's face and went all the way to his feet, and his feet would not move. So he hid the pieces behind the woodpile and walked away fast. Nobody chased him. Nobody asked him what the noise was. And that was worse, because he wanted somebody to ask.

He shakes with Monkey and the feeling does not shake out, because some feelings are stuck on the inside of you. He walks slow with Turtle and keeps thinking about the woodpile. He lies down beside Cat and cannot rest on top of a thing he has not said. He stands on one leg with Crane and sees the birds coming for their water, and there is no bowl.

Then something comes running. Puppy puts his ears down and comes close, and Puppy has been sorry before, and Puppy is still good.

I broke the blue bowl. Five words. That is the whole hard part.

This is a picture book about the difference between doing a bad thing and being a bad kid. It does not ask a child to feel better about breaking the bowl. It asks something smaller and much harder, which is to say it out loud, and then it shows what a family does next. They fit the pieces back together. The crack stays. They paint it gold, and the birds drink out of it anyway.

Inside The Book:

• Fourteen calm spreads, 516 words, made to be read in one sitting
• A breathing refrain that repeats three times, so a child can say it along with you by the second reading
• A Note For Grown-Ups on why shame moves downward, why children hide, and how to be the way back without interrogating anybody
• Three Things To Try Together: Say It Like Bodhi, Be Sorry Like Puppy, Mend It Like The Sangha
• Warm flat illustrations, with no screens, no scolding, and no grown-ups in the story

Book six of Little Bodhi And The Animal Sangha, and the one that completes the set. Every book gives one animal one feeling and keeps the same calm shape, so a child who knows one book already knows how the next one goes. Reading age 3 to 7.