This is an autobiographical storybook about the Buddhist and spiritual leader the Dalai Lama (the fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet). This is a role for which he was chosen when he was a very young child, around 1940.

We see that as a child he learns from his parents, plays and does chores like any typical kid. We also learn a little bit about Tibet through some of the images, and also about Buddhism. He goes through a ritual to be chosen as the Dalai Lama, and tells about his life as a monk and how he needs to live away from his family.

The subheading of the title includes the word “lessons” and the Dalai Lama encourages us to treat each other well, be attuned to our connection to nature, and how to be self-reliant, which are things we can all learn to be better at. We also learn some things about him that one would not associate with a monk or the Dalai Lama, such as how he likes to study the mechanical nature of things like watches and movie projectors.