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One of the genuine joys of becoming a parent (of which, obviously, there’s loads) for me has been a reintroduction to the world of children’s books. There’s so many incredibly delightful yet thoughtful and nuanced books out there for every age range. Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t remember them being this good back in the 90’s.
As parents, we’ve all got our favourites that we love to read to our kids. Maybe it’s the funniest ones that we can narrate with a cast of funny voices, or maybe it’s one that hits us right in the feels.
At the moment, I’m loving The Girls, written by Lauren Ace and illustrated by Jenny Løvlie. It’s a simple story of four girls who meet when they’re young and grow up together, sharing in the ups and downs of life. Whatever’s going on in their lives, they always come back together under the same tree they played under when they were little. It’s beautifully illustrated, and something about it stirs something in me—it makes me hopeful for the wonderful friendships my daughters might start to forge in the near future, and they might carry them through the rest of their lives.
The floor is yours, lovely people—what’s your current favourite children’s book that you always want to read again and again to your kids?
Current favorite for both my four year old daughter and I are the Pig the Pug books. They’re simple, funny, they rhyme; they’re overall just every entertaining books. My daughter takes pride in the fact that we’ve read all of them (thank you public library!).
As I wrote in the discussion thread on Exploding Unicorn by James Breakwell:
"Oh, there were plenty, as I always read a lot. But my favourites from the times of my kindergarten and primary school were those three (translation of their titles in the brackets, mostly mine. And I'll give a short synopsis of some, because it's unlikely they were translated into English):
+ "Lion Day-by-Day Bible" (pol. "Biblia | opowiadania na każdy dzień", which can be translated back as sth like: "the Holy Bible: stories for each day").
+ "Porwanie Baltazara Gąbki" (pol. "The Kidnapping of Baltazar Gąbka"). This was a novel by Stanisław Pagaczewski, telling a story about how the Wawel Dragon and cook Bartolomeo Bartolini go on a journey from Kraków to find the former's friend, famous scientist Baltazar Gąbka, who was researching "flying frogs" and had gone missing in the "Land of the Rainers" (Kraina Deszczowców). They are followed by a spy from that land called "the Mysterious Don Pedro". After finding out he was kidnapped by the ruler of that country it becomes a rescue mission.
+ "Pan Samochodzik i templariusze" (pol. "Mister Automobile and the Knight Templars"), a novel by Zbigniew Nienacki. In the summer of 1964 the title character, alongside three boy scouts is searching for the Treasure of Templars, after hearing in the news rumours that a part of it could be hidden somewhere on current territory of Poland. His biggest adversaries also looking for it were Danish treasure hunters, cpt. Petersen and his daughter Karen, as well as their "translator" mr. Kozłowski. The name of the title character comes from his car, which was an amphibious vehicle with an engine taken from crashed Ferrari 410 Superamerica, built and recorded in the will to him by his uncle."
"Love You Forever" is the classic of all classics to me. Terribly heart warming, and also opens the door to the discussion that yes, you grow up, move out, and start your own family. We grow old, and eventually pass.
After years of reading it to my kids, I can do it without crying, so that is a plus!
Current favorite for both my four year old daughter and I are the Pig the Pug books. They’re simple, funny, they rhyme; they’re overall just every entertaining books. My daughter takes pride in the fact that we’ve read all of them (thank you public library!).
As I wrote in the discussion thread on Exploding Unicorn by James Breakwell:
"Oh, there were plenty, as I always read a lot. But my favourites from the times of my kindergarten and primary school were those three (translation of their titles in the brackets, mostly mine. And I'll give a short synopsis of some, because it's unlikely they were translated into English):
+ "Lion Day-by-Day Bible" (pol. "Biblia | opowiadania na każdy dzień", which can be translated back as sth like: "the Holy Bible: stories for each day").
+ "Porwanie Baltazara Gąbki" (pol. "The Kidnapping of Baltazar Gąbka"). This was a novel by Stanisław Pagaczewski, telling a story about how the Wawel Dragon and cook Bartolomeo Bartolini go on a journey from Kraków to find the former's friend, famous scientist Baltazar Gąbka, who was researching "flying frogs" and had gone missing in the "Land of the Rainers" (Kraina Deszczowców). They are followed by a spy from that land called "the Mysterious Don Pedro". After finding out he was kidnapped by the ruler of that country it becomes a rescue mission.
+ "Pan Samochodzik i templariusze" (pol. "Mister Automobile and the Knight Templars"), a novel by Zbigniew Nienacki. In the summer of 1964 the title character, alongside three boy scouts is searching for the Treasure of Templars, after hearing in the news rumours that a part of it could be hidden somewhere on current territory of Poland. His biggest adversaries also looking for it were Danish treasure hunters, cpt. Petersen and his daughter Karen, as well as their "translator" mr. Kozłowski. The name of the title character comes from his car, which was an amphibious vehicle with an engine taken from crashed Ferrari 410 Superamerica, built and recorded in the will to him by his uncle."
"Love You Forever" is the classic of all classics to me. Terribly heart warming, and also opens the door to the discussion that yes, you grow up, move out, and start your own family. We grow old, and eventually pass.
After years of reading it to my kids, I can do it without crying, so that is a plus!
Any Little Critter book. I loved them when I was young and my boys love them just as much.