How far we've come in one year, and how far we have not. A year ago yesterday I returned to in-person teaching after being in distance learning since March 2020. I remember the anxiety of not being vaccinated yet as we jumped in, eager to be with the children again, but terrified of getting sick. This week, in 2022, my school district returned to distance learning--planned for only one week--with the challenges of teaching online again, and for me, being a mom making sure my daughter succeeds with distance learning herself. The past version was not fun. Along with the now, is the worrying about what seems to be a matter of when we will get sick, rather than if we will. It is exhausting combining the mental fatigue and challenges with focusing, and filtering out fiction from fact as news about Covid, vaccines, tests, treatments, and more seem to change and be contradicted daily.
Two days in to distance learning and it seems all right--better than the past. My daughter is older, more tech savvy, and I guess, so am I. I still feel anxious and unfocused, but am determined to keep moving ahead.
Since it has been one year since my last post, I tried to think about what I have been wanting or needing lately. I keep wishing there was a way to freeze time so that I can get more done and move beyond what feels like regular life maintenance to life progress. I can't slow down time, but I can breathe deep and think about sloths in picture books. Yes, sloths--laid back, slow-moving, often sleeping, beautiful creatures.
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Super Sloth Written and Illustrated by Robert Starling © 2019 Andersen Press USA
One day, an ordinary sloth discovers and reads a book about a superhero. The sloth wonders if he can be a hero, too. Then, when a greedy anteater steals all of the animals’ mangoes, something needs to be done so the animals can eat; however, no one believes they are capable of getting to the anteater to save the mangoes. Sloth decides this is his chance to become a superhero. Sloth soon discovers, though, that he lacks the powers of flight and speed. Doesn’t he need these to be a superhero? Later, when another animal says they are powerless to fix the mango situation, Sloth wonders if maybe he possesses strengths that can turn him into a superhero after all.
My daughter and I found the story cute, simple, and funny. It made us smile even though, as in several other sloth fiction books we’ve read, Sloth has the ability to walk and stand. Real sloths are unable to stand and support their bodies. They move solely by climbing and crawling. Currently, any sloth books that elicits smiles from us is a worthy sloth book, but we would love to find more stories with sloth characters who truly represent the animal.
On that note, the following two books fit the bill.
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Sparky! Written by Jenny Offill and Illustrated by Chris Appelhans © 2014 Schwartz & Wade Books
- 2015 Charlotte Zolotow Award winner (for outstanding writing in a picture book)
All a girl wants is a pet. After her mother promises her she can only have a pet that "doesn't need to be walked or bathed or fed," the girl researches her options and decides a sloth meets the criteria. Arriving via Express Mail, much to the mother's chagrin, the mother cannot reject the pet as her daughter reminds her, "a promise is a promise."
Sparky is a typical sloth. He sleeps, he hangs, he sits. The girl teaches him various games--hide and seek (Sparky sits and doesn't hide), statue (Sparky is a pro), king of the mountain (Sparky sits and the girl wins). When the girl feels the need to prove to a peer named Mary that Sparky is just as good of a pet as Mary's cat, the girl does not think through her plan before promoting Sparky in a grand manner.
Teaching a sloth to play fetch and perform other tricks that involve movement before Sparky "forgets" what he was supposed to do, is not an easy task. When it's time to show off Sparky to Mary and a neighbor, Sparky performs as expected, based on his behavior in the time spent with the girl. He sits and stares and barely remains awake. Mary is not impressed. The neighbor comments on Sparky's pretty coat.
In the end, the girl continues to view Sparky as her dear pet, and possibly also as a friend. Sometimes, it's not important what a pet can do. Sometimes, contentment with a pet comes from just being together.
The watercolor illustrations in shades of brown, green, blue, and red, and the facial expressions of the characters combine to create a visually calm story that made me smile at times as I read, but also connect with the girl. Not that it matters to the story, but as a reader and a mom, I might guess the girl is an only child with a single mother (as there are no siblings nor a father mentioned). Like my own daughter, the girl may have longed for a pet as a companion. The girl, I believe, eventually realizes that instead of trying to make Sparky into something or someone who he is not, she can be with Sparky as himself and love him anyway.
In real life, sloths are not pets. A peer like Mary still thinks she knows it all. And, a girl expresses at least some frustration when a pet does very little of what she wants him to do. The girl in Sparky! never appears frustrated, although she has a brief moment of doubt of her own words as she tries to impress others with Sparky's "talent". Mostly, she appears to breathe acceptance.
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"Slowly, Slowly, Slowly," said the Sloth Written and Illustrated by Eric Carle © 2002 Puffin Books
The sloth in this story slowly, slowly eats, slowly, slowly crawls along a branch, slowly, slowly falls asleep. The sloth hangs upside down from the tree during the day, the night, and in the rain. Life moves around the sloth in the animals passing by, in the changing of the weather, and more. When other creatures ask the sloth about its silence, its boring nature, and what the animals perceive to be laziness, the sloth slowly, slowly takes time to respond. And the response is brilliant! The sloth acknowledges most of the animals' perceptions of its nature. The sloth admits it is "unflappable, languid, stoic" and "slow, quiet, and boring". The sloth slowly, slowly asserts itself by naming off numerous additional adjectives that describe exactly how this sloth believes is its nature. Laziness is not part of the list.
I love how grounded the sloth seems in the story. The text, complemented by Eric Carle's traditional colorful illustrations and depictions of nature, creates a story that is both slow--not boring--and lovely. As I try to remember to take even a few moments each day to practice mindfulness, "Slowly, Slowly, Slowly" said the Sloth is one wonderful book that can aid in the calm and focus needed to achieve moments of being present.
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Sloths make me smile. Sloths make me feel calm. I realize, that thinking about sloths helps me be present and focused. Thank goodness my daughter has a collection of sloth stuffies, and we know two locales that have a live sloth to see in person if we wish to visit.
What is something that helps you focus and find calm these days in our seemingly unsettled world? Share your thoughts in the comments. I would love to hear from you so we can learn from each other.
Back again, at least thinking about writing,
today, tomorrow, and always.
~Tamara
