The Book of Love
Books of love, books about love, they come out with abandon at this time of year just in time for the big celebration of love. What is love? How do you find love? How much do you love me? These are questions and concepts that all humans struggle with so it's only normal that the youngest of us do too, even if they can't express it yet.
Reading stories about love provide a unique opportunity to model the story in love and to tell our children just one more time, how much we love them. It can also be a chance to show them how we see them giving love in their everyday lives.
Every year since my husband and I have been together, even way before we even had kids or were married or anything, I gave him a children's book on love that could work for a couple. Then when we had kids, I started to include them into the tradition as well. Here are some of my favorite purchases:
Written and Illustrated by Emma Dodd
This is one of my all time favorites. If you've ever seen an Emma Dodd book you would recognize it immediately because of her large use of foil in her illustrations. The silver of the water the elephants play with is stunning and makes it feel extra special as any good book with great illustrations does. The story is about a mother elephant wrangling her active young child elephant all the while telling them she loves them - always. There are rhyming (nose - toes) and opposites (dirty - clean) throughout the story and it's a perfect read for babies through toddlers.
Written and Illustrated by Scott Campbell
Hug Machine is for all those happy, joyful, big personality, physical touch kids out there. This is a kid who sees the need to go and hug everyone and everything they can identify. From inanimate objects to people in the neighborhood and everything in between, it all deserves a hug from the Hug Machine. It's all wrapped up with the perfect ending.
Written and Illustrated by Sophie Beer
A day in the life of a family, your family and my family. A sweet book to show different kinds of families doing the things every family does from waking up in the morning, baking a cake, chasing away monsters, and goodnight kisses. These bright illustrations filled with color, life, and love on every page are perfect for kids of various ages and stages the only format is a large board book though.
Written by Eileen Spinelli, Illustrated by Paul Yalowitz
Mr. Hatch leads a fairly solitary existence in his small town. He passes by people as he goes about his daily life never getting to know them. Then one day a heart shaped box filled with chocolates is delivered to him by his local postal worker and it has a note that says “Somebody loves you.” His whole world changes with the one simple thought. He begins to wonder who sent it and starts to see the people around him who care about him, who he cares about in return.
This is a wonderful book picture book for older picture book fans.
ages 3-8
