BookBunnies

Marshmallow reviews Contentment: A Way to True Happiness by Robert A. Johnson and Jerry M. Ruhl

Today Marshmallow is reviewing Contentment: A Way to True Happiness by Robert A. Johnson and Jerry M. Ruhl, published originally in 1999. Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

Sprinkles: So Marshmallow, I am excited to chat with you about a book again. We have not done that for a while.

Marshmallow: Yes! I’m excited to discuss this book with you; reading it was a fascinating experience that requires some unpacking.

S: Cool! I have read the book, too, and would love to talk with you about it. But it has been a while. So maybe it will be good for everyone if you give us a brief introduction to what it is all about.

M: Sure! Contentment is a book of approximately one hundred pages that describes the meaning of finding acceptance within yourself as a way of creating a sense of peace that is impenetrable by outside conditions. Essentially, through analyzing different stories (everything from Shakespeare to Buddhist teachings), the authors determine how the modern individual can regain the sense of calm that we imagine the premodern human to have.

S: So the book is really about what the title says it is about: how to be content. And the two authors base their argument on multiple sources. Somehow I remembered the book as focused on a Buddhist approach. But you are telling me that it is a bit wider scoped than that. That is neat!

M: Definitely! I particularly liked the authors’ analysis of King Lear. At the start, they mention that King Lear can be applied as a general metaphor for every individual in our discontented society. Allegedly, he models the mistakes that lead many to this unhappiness. I was initially a little skeptical of this claim because almost any wide, sweeping analogy has several misalignments. However, they did an excellent job of drawing the parallels between his actions and the minute decisions we make today that – in the long term – cause dissatisfaction.

S: That sounds interesting. So the authors first diagnose a problem: many people are unhappy and unsatisfied. Then they work to determine the root causes, and possible explanations. And then they suggest remedies. Does that sound like the outline of the book, more or less?

M: Well-said! They start by defining the problem, like you said. But they frame it as a mostly modern issue caused by ideas our society has developed over time. These include beliefs about productivity, success, ambition, social validation, etc. I find it a little simplistic to say that none of these issues / desires existed before modern day, but they are convincing in their argument: we are busier and ever in-motion nowadays and our souls are suffering as a result. They argue that there is the ego and the subconscious, which both exist as parts of the whole human. There is also a larger connectivity between all humans that should be channeled more frequently than the self. After explaining these more nebulous aspects, they follow King Lear’s story and point out the modern manifestations of his struggles. Then they show the steps that can be taken to avoid his mistakes.

Marshmallow is reading Contentment: A Way to True Happiness by Robert A. Johnson and Jerry M. Ruhl. — Marshmallow is reading *Contentment: A Way to True Happiness* by Robert A. Johnson and Jerry M. Ruhl.

S: So King Lear is not a one-off example; it is quite central to the book.

M: I would say that it is the most repeatedly-used story the authors incorporated. However, they also mention numerous other past and present-day anecdotes that add another layer of depth to the book.

S: I can see that the book is organized into four parts. Part I is “The Tragedy of Modern Disconent”. Part II is about King Lear and is called “ A Story for our Time”. Part III is “The Psychology of Contentment”. And the last part, “Simple Gifts of Contentment”, is a whole list of gifts. Can you help open that up a bit?

M: Yes, that can sound a little confusing. The last section is a list of concepts (forgiveness, care, etc.) – constants that already exist in daily life – that are actually gifts from the “divine” when you look closer. To specify what I mean by “divine,” the authors frequently reference the universe as a whole as being divine in a way. They do not clarify personal beliefs or argue for a certain religious worldview, but they assert that there is a sense of divinity in “what is.”

S: I see. I wonder if the way they are approaching the “divine” is in any way similar to the way Hubert Dreyfus and Sean Dorrance Kelly approach it in All Things Shining. But I know you have not read that book. Maybe you will, and maybe we will talk about that some time too.

M: Maybe.

S: But maybe in the meantime I should reread this book. You make a good case for it.

M: Yes, I found it really meaningful. I particularly liked how the authors described life as a partner dance between you and everything around you. You can either flow with changes or try to move against the choreography. I found that a very interesting perspective. Of course, I feel that not everything should be accepted, but it is worth being more accepting of everyday life in order to find true contentment.

S: Yes, I agree. So maybe this is a good place to wrap up this review. You often end your reviews with a rating. How would you rate Contentment?

M: I would give it a 100.5% because it was a very unique book that deserves a unique rating! I would highly recommend that every bunny takes some time out of their day to pause and read a text like this that reminds the reader of the value in accepting and really embracing all aspects of life.

S: That sounds great Marshmallow! Thank you for sharing this book with us. Finally what do you want to tell our readers as we wrap up this review?

M: Stay tuned for more amazing book reviews from the book bunnies!

Marshmallow rates Contentment: A Way to True Happiness by Robert A. Johnson and Jerry M. Ruhl 100.5%. — Marshmallow rates *Contentment: A Way to True Happiness* by Robert A. Johnson and Jerry M. Ruhl 100.5%.

Caramel reviews Guapo’s Giant Heart: The True Story of The Calf Who Kept Growing by Janet Zappala and Wendy Perkins

Today Caramel is talking to Sprinkles about Guapo’s Giant Heart: The True Story of The Calf Who Kept Growing, a picture book written by Janet Zappala and Wendy Perkins, illustrated by Lara Calleja, and published in 2022. As usual, Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

The book bunnies were sent a review copy of the book.

Caramel reviews Guapo’s Giant Heart: The True Story of The Calf Who Kept Growing, written by Janet Zappala and Wendy Perkins, and illustrated by Lara Calleja. — Caramel reviews *Guapo’s Giant Heart: The True Story of The Calf Who Kept Growing*, written by Janet Zappala and Wendy Perkins, and illustrated by Lara Calleja.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, today we have a story about rescue animals.

Caramel: Yes, we do, it is about a calf who starts out on a farm, but then a woman named Lynn comes and takes him from his mommy and siblings to her own farm. She names him Guapo.

S: Yes, it seems like the calf and his siblings would be given away or sold, and Lynn took one for her farm because she had room for only one calf. A lot of animals are separated from their parents early in their lives.

C: Yeah, but it is kind of unfair. I like living with my book bunnies family. And it would be sad to have to grow up without you all.

S: Yeah, I am also glad you are growing up with all of us Caramel! But maybe the calf was born into a situation where they could not take care of him. We are lucky that we have enough resources to live as a family and feed ourselves.

C: Yes, that is a very good thing.

S: Glad we agree! Okay, so let us get back to the book. Guapo grows up in Lynn’s farm, right?

C: Yes, until Lynn’s farm runs out of space. Then he is moved, again, to a new farm.

S: Yeah, he grows big, right? But he also makes friends on Lynn’s farm.

C: Yep. He is basically a little calf growing up with a lot of other animal friends. It actually sounds like it could be fun growing up with a whole lot of different animal friends. Putting aside the part that he does not have his family with him anymore.

S: Yes. I think we have to put that aside.

C: Okay.

Caramel is reading Guapo’s Giant Heart: The True Story of The Calf Who Kept Growing, written by Janet Zappala and Wendy Perkins, and illustrated by Lara Calleja. — Caramel is reading *Guapo’s Giant Heart: The True Story of The Calf Who Kept Growing*, written by Janet Zappala and Wendy Perkins, and illustrated by Lara Calleja.

S: So what happens next?

C: Then he moves to the new farm, but then he is all lonely again, because the animals in that farm don’t know him. All they see is a big bull. And so they are probably scared of him.

S: Yeah, that is sad too. He is very different from them. But eventually he makes friends again, right?

C: Yes! He is friendly, and at some point Lynn brings a little pot bellied pig that was Guapo’s friend from earlier, so the other animals in the new farm see that Guapo is kind and friendly and they eventually come around to being friendly with him too.

S: So at the end of the book we learn that this story is inspired by a real rescue calf named Guapo who then became a big bull. Were you surprised to learn that?

C: Yeah, I did not know that there were farms where different kinds of animals lived together like that. Like I thought there could be a couple horses and a couple cows and seven chickens and so on. But in this farm that Guapo ends up in, almost all animals are one of a kind. I guess they are all rescue animals. Somehow they could not continue to live where they had been living, so this place and other places like it collect them and give them a home.

S: Yeah, it is interesting, right?

C: Yup. And cool. Because all animals deserve a home.

S: I agree, Caramel. What did you think about the illustrations?

C: It is a nice picture book, and the animals look very real. So I liked them.

S: Yeah, and it is not quite fiction, apparently, and we both learned some things about rescue farms. So that is also good, no?

C: Yep!

S: So maybe this is a good time to wrap this up?

C: Sure!

S: What do you want to tell our readers then?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel enjoyed reading Guapo’s Giant Heart: The True Story of The Calf Who Kept Growing, written by Janet Zappala and Wendy Perkins, and illustrated by Lara Calleja, and recommends it to all young bunnies who are curious about the life of real rescue animals. — Caramel enjoyed reading *Guapo’s Giant Heart: The True Story of The Calf Who Kept Growing*, written by Janet Zappala and Wendy Perkins, and illustrated by Lara Calleja, and recommends it to all young bunnies who are curious about the life of real rescue animals.

Sprinkles reviews Poetry for Young People: Emily Dickinson

Marshmallow has been feverishly working on her college applications, so Sprinkles thought today would be a good opportunity for her to talk about a neat poetry book for young people edited by Frances Schoonmaker Bolin and illustrated by Chi Chung: Poetry for Young People: Emily Dickinson, published in 1994.

To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee--
One clover, and a bee,
And revery.
The revery alone will do
If bees are few. 
                    -Emily Dickinson

This is one of the little poems in this beautiful book; on page 36, it is accompanied by another poem and an illustration of a house on a prairie, a bee, and a butterfly (the butterfly appears in the other poem, together with a bee, who takes part in both). For those who need a dictionary, the book tells us that “revery” is “dreamy thinking; a state in which one imagines pleasant things.”

Poetry for Young People: Emily Dickinson is a lovely book that brings many of the most popular poems of a beloved American poet, Emily Dickinson (1830-1886). Readers of the Book Bunnies Blog may remember that I have previously reviewed a few poetry anthologies that contained poems by Dickinson among others, as well as Out Of Wonder: Celebrating Poets and Poetry by Kwame Alexander, Chris Colderley, and Marjory Wentworth, which was a collection of poems inspired by famous poems, among which Dickinson took her rightful place. But this current book is dedicated solely to Dickinson and as such brings us so much closer to this poet’s many worlds, the one she lived in and the several others she imagined into being.

The book begins with a four-page introduction to Dickinson’s life and life’s work. We learn among many things that only six of her poems were published in her lifetime, though after her death, people found that she had written over seventeen hundred poems! We also learn that she lived in her family home and more or less isolated herself from the rest of the world, especially as she grew older. But all the while she was creating worlds in her mind and describing them through her words. Indeed, she seems to have believed in the power of the word to created:

A word is dead
When it is said,
            Some say.
I say it just
Begins to live
            That day.
                    -Emily Dickinson

We find this poem at the end of the book, on page 47, together with another brief one:

In this short life
That only lasts an hour,
How much, how little
Is within our power!
                    -Emily Dickinson

These poems all seem simple, many are playful, and the rhyme structure is almost always the same. More generally, as we read in the introduction, most of Dickinson’s poems have stanzas of four lines, with the second and fourth lines ending with rhyming words. Most have two stanzas though some, like the ones I chose to share in this post so far, are shorter or longer. In each case, the English is clean, clear, and definitely not fancy. All these features make her poetry a great choice for parents to introduce young ones to the genre.

Sprinkles is reading Poetry for Young People: Emily Dickinson, edited by Frances Schoonmaker Bolin and illustrated by Chi Chung. — Sprinkles is reading *Poetry for Young People: Emily Dickinson*, edited by Frances Schoonmaker Bolin and illustrated by Chi Chung.

I can see a parent and a child reading these poems out loud together. The rhythm of her poems is almost always iambic (that is, stressed and unstressed syllables alternate), and this makes reading her poems out loud much more fun! Children can play with the beat and learn that poetry offers a lot more pattern and music than just through rhyme.

As I mentioned above, the editor, Frances Schoonmaker Bolin, included on some of the pages, definitions of words that may not be familiar to young readers. Though Dickinson wrote clearly and her language is close to our daily English, she did live almost two hundred years ago, and some of the words she used may not be in immediate reach of young readers today. So these little glossaries make the reading a lot more pleasant because, of course, one wants to understand all the words in order to understand and appreciate a poem!

The illustrations by Chi Chung are on each page and add color and whimsy to the book. Most pages have one poem on them, and the illustration is a simple but colorful image that offers just a little nudge for our own imagination to join Dickinson’s. Some pages have a couple poems presented together, and the image might have elements connecting to both. All in all, the illustrations add much more value to the book, and definitely will make the reading time more fun.

All in all, I found this book to be a great addition to a young person’s poetry library. Add it to A Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson and Tasha Tudor and the two lovely books by AA. Milne, and your little one will have a lovely place to venture into the land of poetry whenever they feel like it.

Sprinkles loved reading Poetry for Young People: Emily Dickinson, edited by Frances Schoonmaker Bolin and illustrated by Chi Chung, and recommends it to all little bunnies who love exploring imaginary worlds! — Sprinkles loved reading *Poetry for Young People: Emily Dickinson*, edited by Frances Schoonmaker Bolin and illustrated by Chi Chung, and recommends it to all little bunnies who love exploring imaginary worlds!

Caramel reviews Carl’s Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman

Caramel loves role playing games and enjoys science fiction so it was natural that he would appreciate Matt Dinniman’s Dungeon Crawler Carl series. He read and reviewed the first book Dungeon Crawler Carl a while back. Today he is talking to Sprinkles about the second book in the series: Carl’s Doomsday Scenario, originally published in 2021. As usual Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, you have already told us a bit about the dungeon crawler Carl, a while back. Today we are talking about his new adventures.

Caramel: Yes, this is book two. Remember Carl is in a dungeon, which is basically a reality TV show for the galaxy. The Earth has been overrun by an alien civilization and they killed most of the living beings on the planet. The rest are living terribly difficult lives. And a few get selected or nominate themselves to be in a dungeon and the rest of the galaxy watches them as entertainment. In the first book Carl and his teammate Princess Donut got through the first two levels of the dungeon. This book is about Level Three.

S: Alright! Remind me again, how many levels are there supposed to be?

C: I think there are eighteen levels or so and nobody has ever passed the thirteenth one. But if anyone can finish the last level, they will be saved! Whatever that means for the aliens running the show. And who knows if they will even keep their promises?

S: I agree, it is not clear that one can trust these aliens. But anyways, Carl does not seem to have a choice, so he will continue on.

C: Right. Yeah, and he’s very, very good at throwing hands.

S: What does that mean?

C: Punching. Unarmed combat. Though he still has no pants!

S: Wait, what?

C: Yeah, when the world sort of ended, it was like 3 am, so he was in his underwear, and was outside because of the cat named Princess Donut, now sentient and intelligent. So he didn’t have time to go get dressed.

S: I am sensing here a tribute to readers who love Captain Underpants!

C: I don’t know that series too well, so I cannot really judge that comment.

S: Okay, forget it. So in this book, do Carl and Princess Donut make new allies?

C: Yes, and no. They sort of make one, and they make another one, but then that one dies, in a bad way. I don’t want to say more and spoil things.

Caramel is reading Carl's Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman. — Caramel is reading *Carl’s Doomsday Scenario* by Matt Dinniman.

S: So Caramel, this was a really long book. But you managed to read it all!

C: Yep. It is 371 pages! And that is three hundred and seventy one pages of absolute awesomeness! So of course I read it!

S: Well, I am glad you are enjoying it because there are a lot more books in the series and you can read them one by one.

C: Yay! That is exactly what I want to do. So the first book was about the first two levels but this one is about only one level. So if there are eighteen levels, then there would be a lot more books to go if they cover one level a book. So maybe I can expect at least fifteen more books!

S: Yes, your math is correct. And it does seem like that one level a book rule holds till book eight, which is the last one out so far. But the author claims there will only be ten books. So those last couple books will probably cover a lot of ground.

C: But they are not written yet? That is interesting. But I bet at least one of them will get written by the time I get that far. Or maybe I can challenge myself and see if I can read faster than that.

S: Hmm, we will see. You do have the third book in line, and you are waiting to get started, right?

C: Yep. So maybe we can wrap this up so I can get started already?

S: Sounds good to me! Okay, what do you want to tell our readers then?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel enjoyed reading Carl's Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman and is already itching to get started with Book Three! — Caramel enjoyed reading *Carl’s Doomsday Scenario* by Matt Dinniman and is already itching to get started with Book Three!