Emily and the Mighty Om

Emily's elderly new neighbor, Albert, is a yoga enthusiast, and he's happy to share his knowledge. "Om," he tells her, is "a magic word that everything understands%E2%80%94people and animals, trees... even rocks." One day, Albert gets stuck in one of his yoga positions, his legs twisted improbably around each other like a pretzel. "O..." he gasps. Adult passersby make silly guesses about what he's trying to say. "He wants a phone!" says a passing lifeguard. "A poem!" shouts a librarian. (Side note: the librarian's poem is actually very good.) At last Emily, equally improbably, persuades the grownups to sit in meditation and chant "Om," creating an atmosphere of calm that allows Albert to untangle himself. Kao supplies sweet-faced, doll-like figures, outlining them in warm browns and placing them on pleasant stretches of lime-green grass. A broadly appealing theme about how adult power silences children ("Emily was pretty sure she knew what Albert had really said. But the lifeguard was an adult") runs throughout newcomer Lolley's story, but its most likely audience will be adult yoga enthusiasts who seek to introduce the practice to young readers. Ages 4%E2%80%938. (Aug.)