This weekend I’ll be back in Michigan for a wedding, and I’ll see a bunch of old friends and the children they’ve produced. So of course my suitcase is full of brightly colored kids’ books! I love giving books as baby gifts and please-like-me-toddler-of-my-dear-friend gifts. And, as a former children’s bookseller, I have a lofty book-choosing street rep to protect. Here are a few trusty favorites that I’ve wrapped and shared over and over – and lo and behold, they all carry subliminal messages about how awesome books are.
Bright colors, snappy rhymes, what more could you ask for? Well, amazing vocabulary-building, for starters. And who doesn’t love the idea of a bookmobile visiting the zoo?!
Rocket is THE CUTEST. But reading isn’t so easy for him, at first. Luckily, he finds a chirpy little friend who’s happy to help.
A good one for preschoolers, since the story is a bit longer… This lion loves books. LOVES. But he has to learn a very important lesson about being quiet in the library. Then he learns an even more important lesson about when you need to find an adult and ask for help. It’s funny, the illustrations are frame-worthy, and the end always gets me a little bit misty-eyed.
(Hey, how about a sequel: Literary Agent Lion!)
