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Given such spin, intergalactic ambassadors just might think the holiday involves something akin to gladiator warfare, sport, espionage . . . or a combination of all three.[1] Yet within any hyperbolic statement there is at least an ounce of truth. Someday techies may come out with an OVER/UNDER app for managing the pressures of the season — over-cooked turkeys, underprepared travel, overtired children, under-motivated shopping, overbearing in-laws, overextended finances and undermedicated hangovers . . .
until then, there’s a book for that.
With one family member gone on vacation, last week was preternaturally quiet around our home, which opened up time for the rest of us to indulge in pleasure reading. Somehow, appropriately enough, the picture books and poetry we pulled off the shelf spoke to the very essence of what it takes to enter a holiday with a modicum of grace.[2]
The Three Questions was one of these books. Loosely based on Leo Tolsoy’s “Three Questions,” it tells the tale of a young boy named Nikolai, who wants to know, as many thoughtful children do, just how he should behave to be a good person.
“When is the best time to do things?” the little philosopher asks his animal friends as they walk the strand, “Who is the most important one? And what is the right thing to do?” The beautiful heron Sonya, the acerbic monkey Gogol, and the lovable dog Pushkin have their ideas, but the preternaturally sensible little boy is not satisfied by their answers. He decides to seek out the wise tortoise Leo for advice.A little adventure ensues as the boy helps the ancient sage dig his summer garden, saves a mother panda and finds her lost child. Yet through all these labors at the service of others, Nikolai discovers that Leo has evaded answering him.
From Jesus’s admonishments to Martha, to Zen koans, this important message reappears again and again in various proverb traditions . . . but never in such an approachable way for children.
Written and illustrated with beautiful watercolor paintings by award winning artist and author Jon Muth, The Three Questions is a lovely picture book to give as a gift, or to pick up at the library in order to read with your children in the next several weeks. Frankly, you might even pick it up just to read it in a quiet moment; as one celebration passes and preparations for others gathers force, this simple children's tale reminds us of our best selves, and of our own greatest desires for the extended holiday season.
