This is a charming book called Nishka's Golden Heart
The story is about a little pine marten that leaves his home in order to find a better life. He finds new friends on his journey. He creates a soccer team with his new found friends and teaches them the value of friendship, hard work, and having fun. They are a winning soccer team. It is a story for all the young at heart. The illustrations bring the characters to life. The people who have bought it adore it and they happily cry. It is a wonderful book!
This is a charming book called Nishka's Golden Heart
The story is about a little pine marten that leaves his home in order to find a better life. He finds new friends on his journey. He creates a soccer team with his new found friends and teaches them the value of friendship, hard work, and having fun. They are a winning soccer team. It is a story for all the young at heart. The illustrations bring the characters to life. The people who have bought it adore it and they happily cry. It is a wonderful book!
Transitioning from childhood to adulthood happens in a blink of an eye. One moment, you're being tucked into bed by your parent, and the next, your family is helping you move into your dorm or first apartment. Life, out of the protective shell of your parents, can be challenging. Besides being responsible for day-to-day essentials, you must find a place to live, possibly in a new town. Unfortunately, this might mean you need to find new friends, too. Often, when people move away from home, they have difficulty making new connections, as readers will discover was the initial case with Nishka.
Nishka's mom informed the pine marten (small, fuzzy-looking bear) that it was time to see the world and create a better life for himself. He was, understandably, scared to leave his home and all his friends. For the first few weeks, he hadn't made any friends due to the language barrier. The pine marten simply couldn't speak his neighborly animals' languages. That problem occurs in the human world every day, too!
Luckily for Nishka, his patience and kind heart earned him his first new friend, a white horse named Elder. Nishka helped out the lost horse, which led to them talking, followed by an instant friendship. Nishka taught Elder how to play soccer, a sport the horse was unfamiliar with. Their excitement on the field attracted the attention of a bunny named Oliver, who quickly joined the fun. With the addition of two birds, a team was formed with Nishka as their coach.
Nishka treated everyone with kindness, acceptance, and patience. He demonstrated how we should treat others, on and off the field. We've seen tempers flare at sporting events, so I recommend sharing this book with any budding sports star before they hit the court, field, etc. Make sure game time is a fun experience for everyone involved.
I was happy Nishka found friendships in his new community and was able to share his love of soccer with others. I loved the cute drawings of the animals in their soccer outfits. I liked Nishka as a role model for our children. We need more kindness and patience shown in this world. My only complaint is the overuse of "said." The author could've used other dialogue tags to convey the tone or emotion behind the speech, especially when the quoted lines end in exclamation points.
The story's title is 100% accurate; Nishka does have a heart of gold!
I recommend the book to children three years and older.