30 Dec Books, Books, and more Books!

This fall I became a grandmother for the first time. For those of you already in this special club, you know how precious it is to hold your grandchild for the first time. When I had my first child, it changed my relationship with my own mother because I finally understood her love from a new perspective. Seeing my own child become a parent is surprisingly satisfying. I knew he would be a fabulous dad, and he is. He’s sweet and tender, playful and attentive, patient and loving.

One of the many happy traditions my son is carrying on is his love of reading. His wife is a huge reader, too, so as part of a baby shower, everyone gave a gift of a book.  As I look at the stack of books they received, I see lots of the old favorites that my own kids loved such as Dr. Seuss, Goodnight Moon, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and Richard Scary. I found some wonderful new gems, too. Here’s what my new grandbaby has to look forward to.

The travel themed Easy Rider, written and illustrated by William Wegman (Dial, 2014), is a whimsical blend of photographed dogs and line drawings. The simple rhymes include planes, trains, and automobiles of course. But the traveling dogs also ride hot air balloons and even skateboards.

This Is not My Hat, written and illustrated by Jon Klassen (Candlewick, 2012), has a slightly dark humor in the simple story. A small fish has stolen the hat of a big fish and has pages of justifications why it’ll work out for him. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t. The understated drawings and muted deepsea colors tell their own portion of the story.

My favorite among the new finds is Doley the Guatemalan Street Dog, written by Jill Brazier and illustrated by Marcio Díaz (Artworkz Press, 2012). It’s a quirky tale of a street dog with text in both Spanish and English. The story is gentle and sweet—who knew that street dogs could have such charisma? It’s the lush and colorful illustrations, though, that draw me to the book over and over.

My new grandchild will easily be hooked into reading with these wonderful books. And now I have the fun excuse of lingering in bookstores that much longer.