When I called author, surfer, and father Jaimal Yogis to talk about his new picture book, Mop Rides the Waves of Life (Plum Blossom), he was on a break from “doing the homeschool dance with these three little guys.” He told me not to be surprised if I heard kids in the background.
“We’ve been quarantined up in the mountains,” says the father of three, a 4, 6, and 8-year-old. “We’ve been fortunate to do a lot of outdoor school, like science projects, looking for bugs, stuff like that. … My wife and I both work full-time, so trying to keep everything going has been a challenge.” He says it’s a good challenge, though, to be reminded to keep your mindset healthy. “You can look at it like we’re getting some amazing training here,” Yogis says, laughing. “It’s been a wild ride. Speaking of riding the wave of life.”
“I ended up thinking about this idea early on,” Yogis says, referring to riding the waves of life. He ran away to Maui when he was 16, landing without much money and even less in the way of preparation or prospects. “I was just kind of a typical high school kid rebelling,” Yogis remembers. “I ran into all sorts of obstacles there,” he says, “but I did teach myself to surf.
“I was getting my butt kicked left and right,” Yogis says. In life, learning to surf, trying to make it in Maui, emotionally — Yogis was struggling to ride the waves. In short, he was ready to try anything to help find some peace. So, as in so many of life’s cycles, he returned to something familiar. His parents ran meditation practice, but he had rebelled against it in the past. Now, though, he was willing to give it a shot.
“I wasn’t used to sucking at something so badly,” he remembers. He couldn’t count to 10 without his mind wandering. But he noticed that his thoughts and emotions come in waves. It reminded him of learning to surf, another hard-earned skill that, in his words, kicked his butt at first. Yogis remembered the first time a wave didn’t push him down. “If you move with the ocean, you don’t have to get so beat up.
“We’re made of water. We evolved out of the water,” he says. “We all need to learn about how our inner oceans move.”
“I’m still learning it,” Yogis says, adding: “It would have been super helpful if someone had taught that to me when I was a kid.”
Those lessons learned on surfboards and counting his breaths helped Yogis in life — and they all influenced Mop Rides the Waves of Life. In the new picture book, Mop is a curly-haired surfer kid. Like any elementary school-aged kid, Mop is still learning the ropes. Still, it doesn’t help when his classmates say he looks like a poodle.
Carlie Statsky
Jaimal Yogis and Kai
The book is beautifully illustrated by Matt Allen. On one page, when Mop makes a mistake on a math problem in front of the rest of his class, the words “shame” and “anger” crest like waves in his curly hair. But, as in his favorite pastime, Mop realizes he can fight the waves or let them pass over him.
“He just makes what I do better,” Yogis says of the new book’s illustrator. “For Mop, I illustrate it with stick figures.” But, the author admits, he had grown attached to his stick figures — at least, until he saw some of Allen’s work. “This is better,” Yogis remembers thinking. “This is the guy to do this.”
“One of the beautiful things about children’s literature is you really can just get back to basics,” Yogis says. “What is important.” And in Mop Rides the Waves of Life going with the flow doesn’t necessarily mean taking the easiest route. Sometimes the choices are hard — like learning to pause and consider before speaking or acting, appreciating the natural cycles around us, or just learning to apologize.
“I still felt a little bad. But I knew bad wouldn’t last,” Mop thinks after Izzy teases him for making fun of Mop’s math mistake and mop of hair. “I’m not Einstein,” Mop tells Izzy. “I’m just Mop. And I’m still learning.”
When Izzy apologizes to Mop during recess, Mop realizes he needs to apologize to Toby. By taking a moment to pause and consider why he lashed out, Mop finds a way to talk to Izzy about her words. It sets off a chain reaction of empathy. First, though, Mop has to pause. He has to admit that math isn’t his strong suit and that he wants to grow, and he must make himself vulnerable by apologizing to Toby. “That wasn’t in the first draft that I wrote,” Yogis says of the apology. “I didn’t do the right thing in the first draft. This isn’t all about Mop. It’s about Toby, too.”
None of the decisions are easy, just as none of the characters sail flawlessly through the school day. They make mistakes, but they create a framework for dealing with those mistakes — and the ones they will inevitably make in the future.
What Mop and his classmates learn — what we can all learn — is that life presents endless challenges and equally innumerable opportunities for growth. Learning to recognize when we’re wrong is an invaluable tool.
Thank you to Cotton Tails, the place to find unique children's clothing and shoes, located in the Laurelwood Shopping Center, and Literacy Mid-South for sponsoring this children’s book review! Learn more about the various programs offered by Literacy Mid-South by visiting their site literacymidsouth.org and following them on Facebook and Instagram @literacymidsouth.