This was a beautiful book, the illustrations were bright and colorful; the text takes us on a journey down the path of life which isn't always going to be easy. This would be a great addition to any library or classroom and would make a great graduation gift.

Highly recommend.

Bob Staake offers young readers and their grown-ups a serene experience with his children's picture book, 'The Path'. Staake's illustrations, paired with his equally thoughtful words, invite readers along a visually soothing journey through a shifting path with an undetermined destination. This book will absolutely be enjoyed as a standalone story and its humble messages can also help grown-ups gently illuminate bigger concepts with young ones. I appreciated the light pace and length of this book during bedtime reading with my children. The details in "The Path' will help me describe many important themes to them: perseverance, resiliency, and the ability to choose how we approach life's celebrations and setbacks. The colorful pages and brief story are an ideal fit for younger listeners and readers and I believe the lessons this story uncovers are motivating reminders for anyone else listening in. I look forward to purchasing this book for our home collection and would highly recommend this story for elementary teachers, parents, and guardians to enjoy with their young readers.

I appreciate the publisher, Astra Publishing House, for the opportunity to enjoy an electronic Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for my honest review.

Beautiful illustrations depicting a journey through landscapes. Simple text that's easy for kids to follow along.

This book is gorgeous, the illustrations are phenomenal, and the story is short and sweet but with a powerful message. Life is a journey , unique for every individual and this book captures that thought perfectly. Would make a perfect graduation gift or gift for any one undertaking any sort of life change.

With vibrant graphic art, The Path leads you on a journey through the ups, downs, turns, and bends of life. A realistic and encouraging message for people of any age.
This book would also make a great companion text to Cynthia Rylant’s Life for any classroom social-emotional lesson!

The Path is sure to delight young readers with its lyrical text and bright and colorful illustrations.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read and review this title. All opinions and mistakes are my own.

This is a lovely inspirational book that envelops an important life lesson. Award-winning author Bob Staake unveils the truth about a unique path that we can follow as we journey through our life.

"You will walk. You will walk along a well-worn path that many people have taken—and long before you."

The reader follows a young boy along a path as he traverses over lush grassy hills, through fields of wild flowers, over dangerous raging rivers, up steep mountains, and through a dark dank cave. The boy comes to a fork on his path and he has to make a choice which direction he will go. Unsatisfied with either he decides that there is another choice that he can choose? I wonder what is choice might be?

The author imparts to the reader that life has many challenges and also many beautiful aspects that can be held dear to our hearts. He explains that you don't have to choose the path that many others have travelled but you have the capability and ingenuity to create your own path if you so desire. The message is uplifting and positive and the book would be a perfect gift to give to someone who is graduating or making an important life change. "The Path "encourages kids to dare to be themselves! It's a celebration of the uniqueness of being you!

The illustrations are nothing short of stunning. They’re truly the highlight. Unexpected colors and textures fill every page. The book has a nice lesson, all about journeys and possibilities, obstacles and choices. It’s a lovely book.

The Path is a metaphor for our lives. Sometimes they are easy and sometimes it’s hard but eventually we all find our own way. This was a good story with a good message for kids in hard times. The illustration was beautiful and complimented the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Astra Publishing House for access to this ARC.

The Path paints a cute and accurate depiction of life as a journey that is full of challenges. The message is clear and the illustrations are very fitting, but the story is also a bit bland. It ends with a great sentiment but it's not enough to give the book a "must read again" quality. It's a great one-time read book.

Thank you NetGalley and Astra Publishing House for the opportunity to read an advance reading copy.

The landscapes and the colors were gorgeous, but I found the human character design to be out of place. I kept trying to like the wonky design, but it just didn't work for me and it was almost distracting.

Additionally, the text was boring and very VERY pointed. There was no subtlety to the cliché analogy, and because it didn't rhyme or have meter or anything, there is no way I would ever recommend this picture book to someone. I only read it once and I don't want to have to read it ever again.

But the art was really pretty.

I absolutely LOVED this picture book. It's simple, but is filled with deep meaning making it perfect for all ages.
After reading this I honestly thought it would be a wonderful gift to give anyone who is graduating. I love the message and will most certainly add this to our school library.
Thank you NetGalley and Astra Books for Young Readers for my ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

https://www.goodreThis is a tough one…

The art in this picture book is sooo pretty and you can clearly tell there was a lot of work behind the color study and chiosing all the shapes and nature-“settings”.
The uhm human (?) figure was very weird looking but I could ignore it and look past it because of just how beautiful the rest was.

However the text was so bland and boring.
“You choose and forge your own path, there are many possibilities - not only the ones you can clearly see right away”… it’s a nice sentiment but it’s the same old story, overused and abused, and if you don’t find a way to spin it and make it original it ends up having the same taste of a reheated pre-made meal and that’s what this was for me, unfortunately.

But the drawings were so darn pretty.ads.com/review/show/4422686714

This was touted as the next great book for a graduation gift, and I think that it's about time we had a replacement for Oh the Places You'll Go. I'm not sure the ending of this one fully realizes the vision that gift-givers intend for graduates. I would have liked to see a bunch of paths of footprints of each person finding their own path, or a bit of a reinforcement of the message at the end. Perhaps the paths circling each other or doubling back sometimes and that sort of thing would have drilled it home a bit more.

Aside from that critique, I enjoyed this book. The colorful illustrations were lovely and I liked the cartoon style and positive tone. Yes, it was short, but it was powerful. The metaphors were simple, but still made an impact. I could see this being a book that littles ones would like, as well as graduates.

“You walk along a well-worn path that many others have taken before you.” Thus begins this metaphorical story about life.

I fell in love with this lyrical story.

The illustrations show in dramatic detail what our path may look like. This introduces many opportunities for parent and child to have discussions.

I like the illustrations and the message of don't give up. I wanted a little more hope throughout but this is still a good book.

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC!

Hmmm... Yes and no. This looked great, with craft in the diverse cartoonish landscapes our character is taking its walk (of life) through. It shows in nice fashion then the ups and downs of life, in a simple metaphor, but I don't know if such an idea as is in the ending really rings true.

This is being touted as the next “graduation book” and with everyone having read “Oh the Places You’ll Go” I was hoping for something fun and new, but this really fell flat. It was beautiful, but too short and didn’t instill hope as much as it felt like a weak “keep going”.