Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.
Roald Dahl
Hey there, I’m Jane! This week I’ve taken over the blog to talk about my favourite thing: books. You probably already know by now –and if you don’t, let me introduce myself –that I’m the one in charge of teaching your kid/toddler the alphabet and vocabulary. And once they master that… it will almost be time for books!
We already introduced you to the stages of reading development, so this time, I will just share with you the books I –and the rest of the team –loved when we were kids. The books we always begged our parents to read to us over AND OVER again. Until we all learned them by heart.
Books We Loved, Still Love, And Will Always Love
The Little Prince
What can I say, we love classics. Written by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, this short book tells the story of a man whose plane crashes in the middle of the dessert, where he meets a young boy –the Little Prince –, who tells the aviator his life. It covers topics like love, friendship and nostalgia in an incredibly beautiful way.
The best thing about this book is that adults can enjoy it just as much as kids, if not more.
Oh, and it has wonderful watercolour illustrations drawn by Saint-Exupéry himself.
Where the Wild Things Are
This book, written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak, tells the adventures of Max, a young boy whose bedroom becomes an island inhabited by “Wild Things” –beasts –.
It’s super short –only 338 words –, and the illustrations (our header for this post, for example) are incredibly beautiful –adds Frida.
Oh, Mick also wants you to know that he loves the OST of the live-action film version of the book, written by Karen O. He really insisted, so it must be good.
The Borrowers
I think most kids dream with being tiny people living in a huge world. I myself am tiny enough to fit a smartphone’s screen, but some of my colleagues aren’t, and I can see a pattern here.
The Borrowers, written by Mary Norton, tells the adventures the Clock family, a tiny family who lives in the walls and floors of a house. To survive, they “borrow” stuff from the big people, thus the name of the book.
There’s also a live-action film based on the novel that kids usually adore.
Pretty much anything Dr. Seuss
I was going to talk about The Cat in the Hat, and I was like… “wait, Jane, are you just going to forget about all his other stuff?”.
Anything Roald Dahl
We love how he always told stories from the point of view of a kid. In his children’s fiction, kids are heroes who fight the old and the greedy. We can see that in The Witches, and in Matilda, for example.
The Famous Five novel series
Enid Blyton was just amazing at creating gripping children’s adventures. The best thing about The Famous Five was that we all had a character we felt most identified with. And also that one of the famous five was a dog.
So, tell us, what was your favourite book as a child? What book does your kid love and asks you to read to them all the time? Tell us on Facebook or on Twitter!