This is a wonderfully adorable story that shares a good lesson in how not everything has to be done as fast as possible.

Mindful Mr. Sloth is a totally charming picture book with some great themes, most importantly, it’s ok to slow down and learn about all that you miss when your life is going so fast. The artwork is fun, characters are diverse and inclusive, and it presents some grown up themes in a relatable way. I will be recommending this at my library going forward!

Mindful Mr. Sloth will be a hit! The illustrations are beautifully detailed. The story itself is very sweet, but not saccharine.

Sasha has one speed: fast! For her, everything is better when it's done quickly. Then, just as she's racing around trying to catch butterflies, she hears a loud CRASH, and discovers a sloth on the roof of her treehouse! Sasha is sure the two of them will be best friends, so she scoops up the sloth and races off to have fun. There's just one problem. Sloth is slow. Very slow! By the time he's tied his apron ,Sasha has already painted four pictures. And it takes him WAAAAY to long to find a heartbeat when they play doctor. But Sasha has one last plan: the neighborhood race. Popping Sloth in her bike basket, the two take off.
But it seems Sloth is more than just a slow creature. He's also one who takes in the world around him, and with his help, Sasha begins to do the same.
Mindful Mr. Sloth by author/illustrator Katy Hudson is, at heart, a mindfulness story wrapped up in a laugh-out-loud book. Kids will love seeing Sasha try to force Sloth to behave her way, and will be so busy laughing, they won't even realize they're learning until it's too late. I loved every minute of this book, from the gorgeous art to the great lesson the story imparts. Perfect for any kid who always seems to be moving along at top speed, Mindful Mr. Sloth is the perfect reminder that sometimes it's okay to slow down, smell the flowers, and just be still for a minute.
Thank you to Capstone books for letting me read this early. I loved it, and can't wait to buy it for my own shelf.
On-sale August 1!

I loved this book! I've read other books by this author and have enjoyed all of them so I had high hopes for this one. I love the illustrations for this book and the message that came with it. Sasha is impatient and wants to do everything fast. Mr. Sloth moves very slow. Throughout the book, he teaches Sasha how to slow down and enjoy things. I think this book teaches kids a very valuable lesson about slowing down to enjoy things.

Sasha is a little girl who does everything fast. Not only that, but she has so many things on the go at one time, that she doesn't always finish things that she starts. Now this is often the case with children, but Sasha takes it to extreme. I'm sure we all know someone like Sasha, but how do we get them to slow down and smell the roses. In this story, Sasha meets a sloth, one that just happens to live in the tree where she has her treehouse. She wants to be best friends and before he realizes what is happening, she has dragged him off to her house and tried to engage him in all her many activities. Well, he does not do anything fast enough for Sasha and he finally has enough. He yells at Sasha to stop and after several times, she finally realizes that she is missing a lot. She agrees that sometimes going fast is okay, but it is also important to slow down and enjoy things. I really liked that it took a few tries to get her to realize what she was missing. The ending of this book where they are reading together and Sasha realizes that she gets to look at the pictures touched me, being a book lover. At the end of the book there are points about mindfulness that are short and concise. We went over them together when I read this book to my granddaughter. She doesn't really understand the concept of Mindfulness, but the points about focusing, relaxing, breathe, and use your senses were great. Another well illustrated book with bright and vibrant pictures showing a lot of emotion and action to add greatly to the story. I recommend this story to families and classrooms. This would be a great addition to a group of children who are working on slowing down and becoming mindful.

I was excited for this book and wanted so badly to love it, but I wound up more concerned than anything. It feels like the book is criticizing Sasha for tackling the world at a fast pace and moving quickly between activities. It never said this explicitly, but it made me concerned for the message kids might absorb about neurodiversity--the idea that a "fast" approach to the world is wrong.

The first half of the book really doesn't make a case for why Sasha could benefit from slowing down or attempting mindfulness. It just paints her as flighty and careless. The climax is a little frustrating: she's trying to win a race and the sloth keeps nagging her to stop. Wanting to win a race is a perfectly reasonable thing and a very reasonable time to move quickly!

The ending got a bit more balanced. I liked reading about how Sasha found out fun could be fast and slow and I liked that the story illustrated some benefits of both approaches. It just feels like it would take a lot of explaining/contextualizing to read kids this story without them getting problematic messages.

On the plus side, the illustrations are beautiful and I appreciated the inclusiveness. There was actually more than one girl. More than one POC. Different physical abilities represented. I liked seeing Sasha wear a bonnet in bed too.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!

Mindful Mr. Sloth by Katy Hudson was a delightful read. I loved the illustrations! A great reminder in this hectic world where we always seem to be doing a million things at once, that we sometimes need to slow down and appreciate the little things.

I hope this book helps usher in more books about Sloths. Sasha is a girl who loves to go fast. She does all things fast. It will take her new friend Mr. Sloth to show her how to slow down and the amazing things that can be found when you stop to smell the flowers or entice the butterflies. Another great book by Katy Hudson, which has BIPOC illustrations.

This book was the cutest! I think we all need a reminder to stop and smell the roses from time to time. Also, the illustrations were breathtaking. I would absolutely buy this to read to my kids.

Sasha wants to do it all at the same time and as quickly as possible. Then, she meets Mr. Sloth who teachers her to slow down a little and be in the moment instead of always rushing ahead. The pictures are as adorable as the text, and I love how the author slips in her previous picture book covers in the illustrations. A good message for children and parents alike.

Sasha has one speed, and that is full speed ahead. She does everything fast and moves on to the next thing. Until, that is, she meets Mr. Sloth, and let’s be honest here, Mr. Sloth is adorable. One of my young reviewers said, “Awwww! He is so cute!” Mr. Sloth takes everything at his own speed, which is frustrating for Sasha until he shows her things she had never even noticed as she raced by.

Katy Hudson’s Mindful Mr. Sloth is an adorable picture book for toddlers and preschoolers about taking time to observe the world around you. With an adorable sloth, lovely full color illustrations, and Black girl representation, this is a delight to read with young children.

Available August 2021

Cute story! I think we all know a Sasha (or are we all a little bit Sasha?)! I love the illustrations and all the tiny little details - Stillness Rd is great! Of course, it's a joy to see a fearless Black girl in the lead role - I love seeing young people, especially BIPOC girls, as strong willed characters. She knows who she is! I didn't feel that the story was alluding to changing her, because honestly, she's brilliant as she is, but that we should all take a moment to collect ourselves and see the beauty around us (to give us the mental fuel we need to be Sasha's every day)! I also really liked seeing Sasha in a bonnet at bedtime - fantastic!

Fun and beautifully illustrated story reminds me of an old Simon/Garfunkle song (Slow down you move to fast...). The story reminds the reader that fun has two speeds--fast and slow (like two of my grands) using the example of Sasha who appears as an overachiever/multitasker. Of note is that the race includes bikes, a go-kart, a scooter, walking, a skateboard, and a wheelchair (YAY!). Love it!
I requested and received a free temporary ebook from Capstone Publishing via NetGalley. Thanks!

What an adorable story!!
I’ve always loved cartoon sloths. The crawling movement of real sloths is super creepy but the sloths in the movie Zootopia and other books I’ve read are just adorable. Also my personality matches mine. So yeah, I relate! Haha!

That said, this was such a cute story about how to get a toddler to slow down and appreciate everything around them. I can see this books becoming a favorite in our house.

It’s a simple concept but the illustrations and words elevate it to the next level. Loved it!

This was a fun book! I feel like a lot of adults could use the reminder that we need to slow down. I love sloths; so the cover immediately drew me to this book. I feel like kids today try to do too much, too many sports/activities and they don't get to enjoy life.

This book will be a great reminder to everyone to slow down and enjoy life.

My kids LOVED this book! The illustrations were so cute and really drew my kids in. They also loved the story of the sloth. Such a cute story about slowing down and enjoying life!

I chose to read this book because of the cover. It is SO adorable. The illustrations are awesome in this book. I love the style of it and the representation of diversity in race and abilities as well. The story is great. I know the kids at my school can relate to this story. I will definitely be buying it as soon as it comes out.

~ Thanks to NetGalley and Capstone for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review ~

I wasn't not ready to love "Mindful Mr. Sloth" as much as I did, but here we are. The story was engaging, the writing itself was a delight, and those illustrations were fantastic! There was a really cute shout out to one of Hudson's previous books on one of the first pages of the book, which made me smile. I also loved the small acts of inclusiveness shown by Hudson, such as depicting a child in a wheelchair taking part in the race. This book is full of little details like that that make it so special. I really can't wait to be able to read this to a mini me one day, but for now I'll definitely be recommending it to my friends who already have bubs.


Summary
Recommended age range: 4-8
Pros: good introduction to mindfulness; lovely illustrations; subtle acts of inclusiveness
Cons: -

This is a very cute book with adorable illustrations that reminds readers that it's important to slow down in life sometimes and just take everything in. Though it is geared towards children, I feel like adults will also enjoy the message.