It seems like books on Buddhism—or at least Buddhist concepts—for children are growing in number every day. Though I have yet to find one that I don’t like, David Bouchard’s Buddha in the Garden is one of my absolute favorites.

It’s a wonderful story about a young orphan, abandoned and cared for by monks. When the elder monks travel, searching for enlightenment, the boy hopes to go, too; instead, he is told to stay and take care of the garden, as the monks will not train him.  They give him the task of gardener because he was found with a peony flower.

A blind monk tells the boy that Buddha is in the garden; the boy wonders at the old man’s, though the monk will not say anything else. It is implied that the boy does not need to travel elsewhere to discover enlightenment.

Naturally, this causes the boy to “search” the garden, seeking Buddha or anything other than the flowering plants themselves. When he cannot find anything, he falls asleep and dreams.

And it is within this enchanting garden that the boy experiences his own visions during his rest. Through the images that he sees—including those of his own mother—poor, sick, and desperate to protect her baby—the boy realizes that enlightenment isn’t in the outside world alone; it is in the everyday garden that he tends to as well. The book concludes with the boy becoming a statue of Buddha in the garden, symbolizing his own discovery of enlightenment and that Buddha was in fact always in the garden all along.

Even without the beautiful story, the concepts of Buddhism, and the meaning of the book overall, I would recommend Buddha in the Garden on visuals alone.  Zhong-Yang Huang, the illustrator, visited a Buddhist monastery before creating the art and it shows in his careful, lively illustrations. His peaceful, lovely watercolor landscapes, temple, and garden provide a feel for both time and place as well as peace itself. The language, too, is a soothing mixture of didactic language and rhythmic, short sentences.

Though recommended for ages six and up, given the vibrant illustrations the book could be shared with a younger audience. I wouldn’t recommend reading it straight through to a younger child, especially one who may have a short attention span; but sharing the pictures and telling a story together would be just as enriching at a younger age.