I have a toddler and I’ve been reading to him from the day he got here. I have books in his crib, in my purse and all over the house. He was helping me turn the pages at five months! It was one of the best days when he brought a book to me. As we read some of the classics, I realized there’s a lot to be learned in those colorful pages:
- Poky Little Puppy– use all your senses to get the most out of dessert
- The Little Red Caboose– be happy with who you are because we all have a purpose. And there is help out there to find/accomplish your purpose.
- Hungry Catepillar– if you do nothing for a solid week but eat stuff you’re not supposed to eat- you will be big and fat.
- Going on a Bear Hunt– You can’t go around it, above it or beneath the obstacles in life. You have to go through it.
Whadaythink? What’s your favorite children’s stories? And did they teach you any truisms?
My favorite picture book (leaving Pooh out of the discussion for the moment) is (as I think you know) The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton. Never really thought about the lessons; I only know it always makes me cry, and I don’t know exactly why. I guess you could glean:
1) Houses are people too. They have their own personalities, and they “belong” to certain places and certain people.
2) Life in the big city ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.
3) Make things to last, hold onto them, and they will enrich your life.
I like that story a lot! I think there’s something in there about staying true to yourself and it all working out… Her stories are gorgeous.
My children always loved “I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always”. It’s about a mother son relationship over the years. Now Gary reads it to Ryder. I also liked reading Runaway Bunny and Goodnight Moon. I kept all 3 books. So glad I did….
It is GREAT you kept those books. Oh- some of those make me CRY. I barely manage through “Runaway Bunny”. There’s one called “Mama One, Mama Two” and it will take a few tries to make it through a reading without bawling. Guess How Much I Love You…
My mother loves the I Love Your Forever book. When I finally read it, it creeped me out that his mother stalked him with a ladder, but her intention was sweet.
My mother kept all of our children’s books. I’m reminded of different pages from different books all the time. In fact, the weeping willows in front of my office building reminded me of a Little Golden book about trees that my mother bought for me when we visited my grandmother. It showed an illustration of children sleeping under the branches of a weeping willow, which created a canopy around them.
Whenever I’m in bed on cold mornings, I’m reminded of another book about chipmunks that lived under the stoop of a family’s home. The last image is the two chipmunks snuggling together in their nest. Remembering that story and image always makes me feel warmer under the covers.
There’s one I used to get for the foster kids called Mama One, Mama Two. Oh, I cried every time we read that book.