A story about a girl who knew one speed - fast.
Through an unlikely friendship, the girl learns to adapt to suit those around her, learning to appreciate different aspects of life in a slower pace. Adored illustrations and would be a great book to have discussions with students.

Mindful Me. Sloth is the unlikely friendship of Sasha and her new friend Mr. Sloth. Sasha is likely any young girl her age, always going and having little patience. Mr. Sloth teaches her how to slow down and use all of her senses. This was an adorable book with amazing illustrations.

THIS IS SO CUTE!! A great way to teach children about mindfulness with the most adorable illustrations. Sasha loves to go go go and if you have kids who are also always on the move, this is a wonderful little book to teach them ways to slow down.

Sasha, the girl in this storybook, reminds me of a girl I know so well.

She wants to do everything and anything at once, just cannot sit still, read everything and explore as much as she can at a go. But yes, this story tells about being mindful and to be present at the moment. And I do feel this is quite an important message to adults and kids alike.

We feel too much. We want too much. We want to be everywhere. We want to know everything.

But does any of it do anything good for us?

Well, it's time to answer this while reading this book.

I love, love, love the artwork.

Thank you, author/artist and the publisher, for the advance reading copy.

Mindful Mr. Sloth by Katy Hudson reminded me of a cute updated play on the tortoise and the hare. Except Sasha isn’t competing against Mr. Sloth, she is competing against herself. Sasha is a super smart little girl who has tons of interests but wants to do everything at once and in a hurry. She is trying to take everything in, but at the rate she is moving it’s hard to see how she could really be enjoying any of it or appreciating it. With Mr. Sloth, Sasha is forced to slow down...and experience life. I’m excited to read this with my little ones as a reminder to literally slow down and smell the roses. The notes on mindfulness are very helpful and practical.

My daughter is a busy-body, and this is a book that I am excited to purchase for our library. Mindful Mr. Sloth helps kids remember to slow down and make sure that pay attention and take their time. If they are constantly rushing through the chaos of life, they are going to miss the important stuff.

Mindful Mr. Sloth is a great book to teach children about just slowing down, being in the moment, and being mindful. I really like the message. I love how the author posted the meaning of words at the end of the story. These would be great for discussion points. The illustrations are adorable and I love the diverse characters!

An adorable story perfect for busy little people who never seem to slow down. Sasha is an active little girl who is one to go and full of energy. When she meets Mr. Sloth she determines to spend the day with him doing all the things she has planned, but Mr. Sloth is simply too slow - he doesn't seem to get much done. When it is time for the neighborhood race Mr. Sloth rides along in the basket of Sasha's bicycle - zooming through the town. When he demands that Sasha stop along the way he point out the singing birds, the fragrant flowers and all the wonderful things that Sasha has never had time to notice. What will Sasha think of Mr. Sloth and his relaxed nature? Can two such opposite characters be friends?
The illustrations are breathtaking and make this story so engaging and beautiful. Remember to take time to stop and enjoy the pictures!
Thank you to NetGalley and Capstone Pub. for the advanced copy to read and reread. I look forward to getting a copy of this one for my personal library!

Katy Hudson masterfully entwines a story of a girl who does everything fast. The reader notices how there are several butterflies yet to be "seen" on her list and books yet to read in the illustrations. One day a sloth plops out of the tree near her treehouse and together they begin their adventures. Along the way Sasha learns that there are two speeds in life, not one; fast and slow, depending on what it is you want to do.
An excellent choice for classrooms, libraries, home.

A huge thanks to Capstone for my e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book tells the story of Sasha Patience Pruitt who is an impatient girl that loves to do all things at once. One morning she encounters Mr Sloth who has just had a fall. Instead of listening to his story because she likes things done fastly because she is not patient doesn’t listen but scoots him up so they can play. They end up at a neighbour hood race where Mr Sloth teaches her some lessons. We all could learn a thing or two from Mr Sloth and this book makes a perfect read for bedtime. Highly recommend it.

“Mindful Mr. Sloth” by author/illustrator Katy Hudson is a humorous friendship story and a modern fable about the importance of mindfulness. Sasha Patience Pruitt is the spunky protagonist. Sasha’s middle name is ironic, as she is descried as having only one speed: “fast”. She rushes through her daily activities until Mr. Sloth crash lands on her treehouse. Sasha is thrilled to introduce her new friend to life in the fast lane, but Mr. Sloth cannot keep up with her frantically paced play. During a neighborhood bike race Mr. Sloth is finally able to get Sasha to slow down, stop, and discover the beauty in a world at rest. The book concludes with some tips on mindfulness. This title would be a great companion read with Julia Denos’ “Here and Now” and Antoinette Portis’ “Now”.

When I read about Sasha, I could see a number of my students- kids who zoom through their work, who run, speed, and buzz around the room. What a cute book to talk about slowing down and taking the time to focus on one thing at a time!

(I received this ARC from NetGalley.)

I love the message of this book. A book that literally teaches kids to stop and smell the roses. Good lesson with great illustrations.

I received an electronic ARC from Capstone through NetGalley.
Sasha has one speed - fast. She zips through everything she does and rarely pauses. Then Mr. Sloth crashes into her life and begins to show her how much she can add by pausing and taking some portions of life slowly. Hudson models mindfulness without addressing it directly until the final page of the book. The illustrations pull readers in to be part of the action and then part of the quiet. Families will enjoy reading this together; classes will also appreciate the subtle humor and underlying message. Terrific starting point for conversations with those who rush through everything.

A very sweet book about a little girl who is all go-go-go, and her new friend - Mr Sloth - who teaches her the value in finding the time to slow down from time to time. The illustrations are beautiful, and the characters are diverse in appearance.

I do tend to watch the illustrations in children’s book that involve groups of kids, to see that many races and abilities are included - every child wants to see themselves in the pages of a book! I was *incredibly* happy to see diversity in both race AND ability! That a wheelchair is alongside the bikes and scooters - absolutely heartwarming.

Well done!

In Mindful Mr Sloth Sasha does everything fast but Mr Sloth gradually teaches her the joys of slowing down. The world is moving at a phenomenal pace and our children's minds, as do adult minds, need these beautiful books to show us all that amidst the quiet moments of life there is so much to explore. I implore everyone to share Katy Hudson's wonderful story, explore the illustrations and take Katy's advice as I will be doing with the families at my Library Storytimes.

Thanks to Netgalley and Capstone publishing for the ARC of this in exchange for my honest review.

This was way too cute! I read it with my (almost) 5 year old who is just getting into being read to - he said every part was his favorite! The artwork (especially the sloth!) was so cute and I loved the message of mindfulness and slowing down.

This story is about a little girl named Sasha who likes to go speedy fast. She befriends a sloth, and with his aid, becomes more mindful, learning that sometimes it's better to go slow.
From the get-go, I loved the pictures, but felt the story had a bit of a disconnect from the idea of mindfulness. I'm willing to ignore the fact that Sasha is taught to be mindful during a race- by stopping in the middle of it. It seems opposite to the acknowledgement that they give at the end, that there is an appropriate time to be fast as well as to slow down, but maybe they did that for emphasis, since she was speeding through things like reading and painting.
The bigger problem I saw is that it did little to teach what promotes mindfulness in the story- and gave a definition page after the story to try to make up for it. While they give a sentence or two about Sasha "smelling the flowers" (kind of cliché) and looking around, I don't feel that there's sufficient evidence that mindfulness improved things for her.
It never goes into her thought processes or emotional state. Identifying emotions is a wonderful part of mindfulness, but entirely ignored in this book. Though you can see negative emotions in the pictures, particularly while she's reading, it doesn't talk about how she's feeling, or how mindfulness can help sweep away some of those emotions.
Lastly, it erroneously gives the idea that you have to go slow to be mindful. Yet, runners have plenty of time to think as they're running, and it actually promotes mindfulness. Mindfulness isn't about slow or fast, it's about state of mind.
So although my daughters thought it was fine, the story itself was ok, and the pictures were cute, I give it 3 stars for lack of quality information.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC

The illustrations in this adorable book are simply irresistible. Beginning with the cover where Sasha and Mr. Sloth and continuing throughout this title, the illustrations draw the reader’s eye.

Young Sasha is a girl in a rush…busy, busy, busy. One day she stops for a moment as Mr. Sloth lands on the roof of her tree house. Thus begins an unusually action packed day for Mr. Sloth. He sees how Sasha lives, will she take anything from him?

These two friends teach little ones a bit about mindfulness. It could well be a helpful lesson for both the child who hears this story and their adults.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title. All opinions are my own.

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