Adults, in our frenzied and too busy lives, need to hear - and ponder - the answers to Nikolai's questions. And the most important thing is to do good for the one who is standing by your side.'Ĭhildren are not the only ones who need to read this book. The most important one is the one you are with. Leo explains: 'Remember, then, there is only one important time and that time is now. Instead, through an incident that happens where Nikolai helps an injured mother panda and her cub, Leo helps him understand he has already found the answers to his questions. In the manner of a Zen master, Leo (named after Tolstoy, of course) declines to answer. So, the boy turns to Leo, a wise and ancient turtle who lives alone in the mountains. Their responses are comical but less than satisfying.

The questions are: When is the best time to do things? Who is the most important one? What is the right thing to do?Įach of his animal friends has an answer. He wants to be a good person but doesn't 'know the best way to do that.' He believes if he could find the answer to three questions, then he would always know what to do. On the first page, you see Nikolai standing in shallow water at the edge of a sandy beach, flying a red kite. Instead of a czar, the main characters are a young boy named Nikolai and some animal friends. Muth wanted to tell this same story to a younger audience. Muth is based on a short story of the same name by Leo Tolstoy in which a czar looking for answers to 'the three questions' unknowingly rescues someone trying to harm him.īy saving his enemy, he comes to understand the best way to live his life. I have discovered a book published early this year. They are books to be read again and again.Īnd there are new layers of meaning to be discovered as one grows into adulthood. 'The Velveteen Rabbit,' 'The Giving Tree,' 'If I Found a Wistful Unicorn,' 'Hope for the Flowers,' 'The Little Prince' and 'The Missing Piece Meets the Big O' are a few of my favorites. Many of them have a message for adults, as well.

Some of my most treasured books are written for children.

The three questions muth