Where’s Buddha?
By Marisa Aragón Ware
Bala Kids, 2019; 32 pp., $16.95 (cloth)
In Where’s Buddha? young readers learn that Buddha is up high in the sky and down low under the sea. He’s near and far, big and small, fast and slow. He basks in the sun and shines with the moon. In the winter, he watches the snow fall, and in the summer he walks in the warm monsoon rains. The Buddha is in our hearts and everywhere we go. He is always with us. My three-year-old daughter heartily approves of this new picture book. On each page, there is a cute, big-eyed Buddha, and she loves looking for him. Sometimes he’s out in the open and easy to spot, but at other times he’s hiding—in a submarine or rocket ship or airplane. Marisa Aragón Ware’s deep appreciation for the natural world shines through on almost every page. Her illustrations are colorful and elegantly stylized, and the overall effect is magical.