About the Author

Avril McDonald has a Diploma of Education from Wellington College of Education, New Zealand, where she trained as a primary school teacher majoring in music and dance. She has had a varied career in digital entertainment. She launched Feel Brave to help teachers and parents find solutions to help children learn to deal with their emotions and to reach their potential.

Reviews

A brilliant introduction to yoga for the little ones in your life! My daughter enjoys turning to her favourite pages to act out the yoga poses which are fun and simple to follow. The illustrations are truly beautiful and relaxing. I love the natural flow the book has and the poem ''Stars in the Night''. Such a lovely book... I recommend this book for every little yoga child! Read the review on Toppsta''s website here.Toppsta Reviewer

If you''re looking for a book to introduce children to yoga then I can see this being a great book but personally it didn''t do anything for us. When it''s storytime my daughter likes to snuggle in and this book was all about getting moving. Read the review on Toppsta''s website here.Toppsta Reviewer

My child enjoyed and had fun copying the cats stretching poses whilst being read to. We both liked the combination of having the cats stretching poses story and then the poem at the end. It was a very nice switch. A book that helps to get children up and moving and then afterwards relaxing and reflecting. Read the review on Toppsta''s website here.Toppsta Reviewer

The Purrfect Pawse is subtitled a little book to help children pause, stretch and be grateful. First readers are gently invited by yoga posed portraits of Catreen the cat, ( accompanied by a small n1ouse friend) to go through a series of morning stretches. Each pose is starkly engraved and fluidly described in lulling verse. The Purrfect Pawse is a morning to night book of poems written especially for children ages 4 to 7 years. Including an enchanting end poem Stars in the Night, starring Wolfgang the sleepy wolf, readers are taken on a pre-bedtime night journey through starry skies to summon all the people, things, and places they love best, stir them in a cocoa filled cup, and drink them up, feeling replete with sleepy dreams of gratitude. The Midwest Book Review

This is a lovely little poem book. The cat is doing yoga poses so me and my daughter are going to give them ago. A very relaxing bedtime book. This book also included stars in the night which asks lovely questions and makes the child think about what they love. The illustrations are very calming. Read the review on Toppsta''s website here.Toppsta Reviewer

This is a nice introduction to yoga, or just quietening down and thinking. We had come across the breathing like hot chocolate concept before but this helped to reinforce it a bit. It's really easy for children to follow, with clear text and illustrations (must admit I didn't really like the illustration style). The layout was a little bit odd, being split into two halves suddenly, not something you often see in picture books. But having said that we found both exercises useful for calming down. Read the review on Toppsta's website here.Toppsta Reviewer

This is a really lovely book and gives young children a great introduction to yoga, and calming exercises. We really enjoyed both doing the stretches and reading the poem aThe Stars in the Night' together. This will be a great book to continue to read before bedtime and I would really recommend it. Read the review on Toppsta''s website here.Toppsta Reviewer

This is a sweet book but to be completely honest my kids weren't particularly interested in it. They read it once and that was it, but they did seem to enjoy it that time! I've come across similar books which are more attractive and more engaging, but I'm sure other children will enjoy it. Just maybe not one for us!Read the review on Toppsta''s website here.Toppsta Reviewer

This is a very sweet short book, also included was a second story called aStars in the nighta which too was lovely. Both remind us to take time to clear our minds and stretch our bodies. Read the review on Toppsta''s website here.Toppsta Reviewer

This is such a sweet book. My little ones loved doing the yoga exercises with me and copying the cat. It made us laugh to start with and I love the idea of doing this regularly to help us relax. The poem at the end was really heart warming and my little girl loved it. Read the review on Toppsta''s website here.Toppsta Reviewer

We enjoyed these calming stories a lot, it is an easy way to get going with simple yoga, some of which my daughter has done at nursery and school. We all joined in with doing the actions and enjoyed the pictures too. The addition of the dog story was really good, I think it would be a nice extra story to share at bedtime, it would make you dream nice things! Read the review on Toppsta''s website here.Toppsta Reviewer