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Fresh Look - Fantastic children’s books
June 19, 2007

Last week, I suggested a list of summer readings for big people. What about the little people? Summer is here, no doubt they would prefer playing in the pool to reading books. Still you maybe able to sneak in one or two books in the afternoon when they take a little break from the sun. I always search for books with interesting story lines, awesome artwork, and worthy (but not preachy) messages. Here are a handful of books that the little people and the big people in our family all love:

- by Dr. Seuss (for Ages 0 - 99)

What else can I say about The Lorax other than that it is brilliant! We read this to our daughter when she was 3 months old and we still read this to her now she is almost five. At different ages, she gets different things – at 3 months, it was beautifully arranged sounds to her ears; at age 2, she began to appreciate the images, especially the colorful Truffula trees and the adorable Barbaloots; now she asks almost profound questions, such as “why couldn’t Onceler only cut half of the Truffula trees?” In her mind, that way, everyone would be happy. Perhaps children do know the best. A friend of mine first read this book at age 34 when it was given to his son as a present. He told me, “better late than never.”

– by Graeme Base (for Ages 2 to 99)

I truly do not understand how Graeme Base could be unknown in our household for so long. A couple of months ago, by accident, we “discovered” Graeme Base. Now we are the biggest fans of his books. For every page in The Water Hole, we linger over the intricate and mesmerizing pictures for more than thirty minutes. My almost 5 year old calls them “magical” and she is right. Ostensibly it is a counting book, but to say this a counting book is like to compare Mona Lisa with a postcard. On the first page, the water hole is large and clear and it attracts 1 rhino and 10 frogs. As the pages move on, more animals come but frogs start to disappear and the water hole gradually becomes smaller and murkier. The message of water conservation for all creatures in this world is so subtle yet so obvious. Lest you think this is for young children, Graeme Base cleverly hides a dozen of animal images in the background on each page. We fight to see who can find all the animals. Even my two year old enjoys counting the animals. I simply cannot praise this book enough. I think my daughter summarizes it the best – magical!

– by Graeme Base (for Ages 2 to 10)

After I finished the last page of the book, my daughter said, “Snortlepig is my favorite animal. I will forever and ever love him.” The premise of the book is fairly simple: Uno moves to the forest and he is surrounded by 100 plants and many imaginary animals with tongue-twisting names, include the common Snortlepig. Then more people move in, build houses, and turn the place into a big city. Slowly the plants and animals disappear. Eventually with only bare buildings, gray skies and no trees, people abandon the city, leaving behind Uno, his little garden and the Snortlepig. Slowly the forest grows back and animals all come back, except the Snortlepig. It teaches a gentle lesson to children that some valuable things may be lost forever if we do not treat them right. On each page there are many fantastically illustrated plants and animals to look for and count. The color scheme changes along with the story line. Judging from how frequently that my daughter picks out this book to read on her own, it is easily one of her favorites. And it certainly is mine.

I have to stop the urge to list all of Graeme Base’s books. Not only are they all tremendously imaginary and brilliantly illustrated, they have multiple levels of depth. So children at different ages derive different meanings and enjoyment from the same book. Do check them out.

– by Alvin Tresselt (for Ages 4 to 10)

This is a tribute to the life of a handsome mighty oak tree. Starting from its glorious youth, the tree demonstrates its majesty in maturity, approaches gradual decline, and eventually succumbs to its final decay. Then new lives sprout vibrantly where the mighty tree fell. With simple yet poetic words and beautiful artwork, the book describes the interdependence of plant and animal lives and presents a very realistic natural world to the young readers. Interestingly the book title used to be “The Dead Tree”. This new edition maintains the original text but owns a different title. The book is fairy factual, yet there is something very poignant about it. I’ve always found it somewhat bewildering that some parents try to “protect” their children from the concept of death. I contend that the perceived protection short changes children’s intelligence and resiliency. Multiple pre-school teachers have told me that my daughter is a very sensitive child compared with her peers. Yet she has always embraced natural lifecycles as a part of the world she lives in. In fact, this is a great book to teach children lifecycles in the natural world.

– by Brenda Z. Guiberson (for Ages 2 to 8 )

This is a marvelous book about the life of a Saguaro cactus. It presents simple facts but reads like poetry. And the colorful artwork brings the desert scenes to your reading room. Who knew that the Saguaro cactus lived to 150-200 years! Who knew that a little book with a cactus as the star could capture my toddlers’ attention time and again? My 2 year old is not able to understand the chronological lifecycle of the cactus yet, but she loves to point and name the animals – an owl, a jackrabbit, a woodpecker. And my 4 & ½ year old is able to grasp the concept of interdependence between animals and plants and how these life forms adapt to the desert environment. As for me? I love the illustrations and the fact that this is one of the few books that I can read to them at the same time.

Happy Reading!

CindyW at Organicpicks

Copyright 2007 Organicpicks