Official Review: Hana's Inner Teacher: Her Imagination

[Chelsy Scherba]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Hana's Inner Teacher: Her Imagination" by MaryJo Clark MS ED.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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Hana’s Inner Teacher: Her Imagination is a children’s book by MaryJo Clark, MS ED. Hana, a little girl, feels grumpy all the time. Unfortunately, she has no idea why. Finally, her mother tells her to sit alone and think about what’s causing her to feel that way. Hana sits quietly and imagines a nice park with all sorts of people. She also sees a shimmering ball on a picnic table. As the people walk by, their emotions have colors. The colors touch the ball, but they don’t disturb the tranquility within. Hana comes to a profound realization about her own emotions and how she can protect herself.

The book comes in print form and is about the size of a coloring book. It is fully illustrated with large, colorful drawings that are lovely to behold. I’m assuming the author did the illustrations as well, because the book doesn’t credit them to anyone. I really liked the drawings of Hana and the various characters she sees in the park. The drawings are a huge positive aspect of the book. They really clarify the complex subject the author relates.

Where the book perplexes me is the disconnect I felt between the childish design of the book, the mature writing and the abstract subject. This book looks like it should be read by ages 7-10. However, the writing is not the easiest to follow. I felt it was too wordy sometimes. Some sentences and vocabulary were also quite advanced for the age I’m assuming she’s targeting. If she wants to appeal to younger children, she will do better to write in concise, clear sentences. The book, as it is written now, would be better formatted as a short novel for older children or teens who can comprehend it easier. I applaud her for trying to help young children protect themselves from negative energy, I just think she needs to put it more simply. She needs to write with a small child’s voice in mind and let go of the overly specific, mature sentences. Otherwise, this book is lovely.

There were also a few missing words and grammatical errors, but nothing too severe. Overall, I liked the design of the pictures and pages. I didn’t really like the font. For me, it added to the difficulty of reading because it was so thick and curly. The thick black font felt negative and was at odds with the subject. A cleaner font would improve the aesthetic for me.

I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. It has some problems, but they can be fixed. Mostly, just making a few edits so that the book reflects the age group a little better. I liked the story and the illustrations a lot. I recommend this story to kids at a more mature reading level. This book is a nice introduction to meditation for children.

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Hana's Inner Teacher: Her Imagination
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[praise+anyi]

This is truly a complex subject and it's a nice idea to introduce it to kids. I wonder why the author decided to make use of advanced vocabulary with the type of illustrations and design that he chose. Thanks for your intriguing review.

[DEEPA PUJARI]

This book seems to have a deeper meaning. It is good if young children learn to take control of their emotions. If this book helps do that even a little bit I think it's totally worth reading.

[Frannie Annie]

It's great that authors are trying to teach kids how to control their emotions. Good review!

[Miraphery]

This seems like a good book for children but I agree that the targeted age may have difficulty understanding as a result of the advanced vocabulary used. Thanks for the review.

[fadjei]

This is a great subject to introduce to kids, but it seems like the author may have made the writing too complex for kids to understand. It's important that when new ideas are being introduced to kids, they are broken down in a way that is easy for them to follow.
Thanks for the review!