My Favorite Children’s Books: Part 3

My Favorite Children’s Books: Part 3

This post is part of the Favorite Children’s Books series.

 

This is the third installment of my favorite children’s books. Looking for Christmas gifts for your little ones? I think these books would make perfect gifts!

 

A particular theme that I love in children’s books, or in general, is turning mistakes or weaknesses into strengths. I’m a big fan of the message that encourages creativity to reframe seemingly negative experiences into positives. I know I need to hear this often, and it is never to early to instill this reframing skill in our kids.

 

By the way, some of the books recommended in my previous posts (here and here) are on sale on Amazon like Rosie Revere, Engineer and What Do You Do With An Idea. Also, use Honey to track price changes on books and everything else you’re shopping for. It’s great for the holiday season!

 

As usual, help me find more fantastic children’s books by commenting your favorites.

 

This one is an interactive book that shows you and your little ones how oopsies, like torn paper or a smear, can be turned into a beautiful creation. I love the message. And seeing the message illustrated visually just impresses the mind that much more.

 


 

In my house, this book guarantees a laugh from my son. For that alone, I’d read it a hundred times. But this too is a beautiful story about seeing ourselves in new light. As an added bonus, it also rhymes and rhythmic. I can’t get enough of books with rhythm!

 

True to the title, this book’s cover is not shown in this post’s picture (see above). Written by B.J. Novak of The Office, with mischief, this book makes you say whatever it says out loud, no matter how ridiculous. It’s a super fun read. Also guarantees a laugh.

 

Nothing too deep here. But the pictures are funny. And I guess underwear is just funny. 

 

Eraser is feeling invisible and unrecognized, because her job, though important, is invisible. She erases the mistakes of others. Again, it’s about finding your individuality, reframing weakness into strength. 

 

What are your favorite children’s books? Shoot me your favorite titles!

Product links on this post are affiliate links, which means I get credits if you purchase products through them. Would appreciate it if you do!

My Favorite Children’s Books: Part 1

My Favorite Children’s Books: Part 1

This post is part of the Favorite Children’s Books series.

 

Now that I have a little human, a non-negligible percentage of my time is spent thinking about how to build a quality library for the little one. Being quite ignorant on what books American babies grow up with, I’ve been browsing through the children’s literature corner of bookstores and libraries. Thanks to the digital collection of the Chicago, Denver, and the High Plains Public Library, one can sort through a bunch of books in a short time before deciding which ones to own.

 

I’m starting this Favorite Children’s Books series to record the various children’s books that I love and share with you what I’ve found. These are, to me, the loveliest ones that I would not tire reading over and over again.

 

I should mention that these are my favorite children’s books, not to be confused with my kid’s favorite children’s books. Who knows what he will like. These appeal to me for their timelessness, beautiful illustrations, and humor. If you have your favorite titles, please help me discover more children’s books by listing them in the comments!

 

If you haven’t already, take advantage of your local library! I use the Libby app to manage multiple library accounts.

 

1. Rosie Revere, Engineer; Ada Twist, Scientist; Iggy Peck, Architect

Top of my list is Rosie Revere, Engineer. Because, engineer. Ada Twist, Scientist is a close second. I love this series by Andrea Beaty! Rosie, Ada, and Iggy are second graders in Mrs. Greer’s class, and these books tell the stories of their explorations and discoveries of their natural talents. The plots, rhymes, and illustrations are winning all around. And I’m looking forward to meeting more of the second graders in the class!

 

2. The Llama Llama Series

I LOVE the Llama Llama series! Believe it or not, the first time I heard about Anna Dewdney was when NPR did a piece on Ludacris rapping the Llama Llama Red Pajama book: Hip-Hop Artists Rap Beloved Children’s Book ‘Llama Llama Red Pajama.’ It’s a pretty funny piece. And of course, I fell in love with it when I checked it out myself. They are so fun to read! The three titles above are my favorites so far.

Here’s another NPR piece on the author: Anna Dewdney, Author of Beloved ‘Llama Llama’ Children’s Books, Dies

 

3. Sidewalk Flowers

This is a lovely, lovely picture book. Without using any word, it conveys the inner life of a child beautifully. It actually reminds me of being a child, when a few things capture my attention and the rest of the adult world seems to disappear into the background. This book does this with the colors and black-and-white contrast.

 

4. I Wish You More

With few words, this books captures the wishes and prayers a parent would have for a child, a friend for a friend, a beloved to a beloved. Concise, but full of meaning.

 

5. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to School…

This is an adorable story of a boy with very active imaginations, explaining why he is late to school. Along the vein of ‘my dog ate my homework’. It’s hilarious!

 

What are your favorite children’s books? Comment with your favorite titles!

Favorite Books Lists

2023: Best Books of 2023 Part 1

2022: Best Books of 2022 Part 1, Best Books of 2022 Part 2.

2021: Best Books of 2021 Part 1, Best Books of 2021 Part 2.

2020: Best Books of 2020 Part 1, Best Books of 2020 Part 2.

2019: Best Books of 2019 Part 1, Best Books of 2019 Part 2.

2018: Best Books of 2018 Part 1, Best Books of 2018 Part 2.

2017Best Books of 2017 Part 1, Best Books of 2017 Part 2.

2016Best Books of 2016 Part 1Best Books of 2016 Part 2.

2015Best Books of 2015 Part 1Best Books of 2015 Part 2.

 

*Amazon Product and Bookshop links on this blog are affiliate links, which means that each time you purchase something through those links, I get a small commission without you paying any extra. Of course you don’t have to use them, but if you want to chip-in towards content creation for this blog, I’d really appreciate it!

 

Home-Longing: Thoughts on Home and What It Means. A Prequel.

Home-Longing: Thoughts on Home and What It Means. A Prequel.

“Home is where my best shoes are,” said Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, tongue-in-cheek, once in an interview.

 

Where is home? Not so simple a question to answer anymore, for many. It throws another shade of complication for those who have left the country of their birth, for one reason or another, and stayed out for a while.

 

I’ve been thinking about home a lot lately, not only in terms of locality, but also in terms of identity. For home is tied to identity, to personal anchors, to our origin and who we are. It’s precipitated by several things. One, I’m nearing that point in my life where half of it is spent in a country that’s not my origin. All this time, I’ve always called Indonesia home, and America is the place I live in.

 

I left home when I was 17. But now, I’m almost here for equally the same amount of years, and certainly I’ve spent all of my adult life here. And so it’s come to a point where I’m not exactly Indonesian–in contemporary terms–anymore, since the Indonesia I experience and I imagine is more than a decade old. Yet I’m definitely not American, culturally, although a lot of my neural DNA is probably American by now.

 

Two, I am now bearing a child who will be culturally different, of a different citizenship, of a radically different time, from me. I suppose this is true for practically every parent–there’s always a cultural gap between different generations. In my case I mean culturally different literally, geographically.

 

It’s a kind of double identity crisis. Now I have to think about who I am and who this child is going to be. How will this new identity evolve? So far I’ve gotten away with calling Indonesia home even though I’ve married and even owned a house. Yet the saying starts to feel out of place now that I’m becoming a parent, tasked with the responsibility of creating a home, being a home, for another human being.

 

The truth: I don’t have an answer to Where is home? I say, “I guess, Colorado,” to get people off my back.

 

Home-longing, is this non-descript feeling, a craving for belonging and kinship. It’s a bit of a nebulous question, and in the search of hopefully-less-nebulous answers, I’ve been drawn to authors who write eloquently about being outsiders, about experiences of being displaced and removed from your people, and about reconciling the experiences that you belong, yet not, to two worlds.

 

This is sort of a prequel to what I suspect will be a series of articles about identity, home, and belonging. Along the vein of last year’s articles, A Child of East and West. There is no answer yet–one of those “I write to find out the answer” type-thing. But my search and discovery have led me to hang out with these books so far.

 

 

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Have you ever felt a longing for home and belonging? Have you lived in a different country from your birthplace? What are your experiences finding out what home means to you?