A Friendly Book Series: Love, Real Love
It’s time to resurrect #afriendlybookseries with one of the best topics in the world: Love
But the love I’m talking about isn’t mushy gushy. It isn’t the love of lovers. While we may want romance for our children eventually, what we really want is for them to know Love, real Love. More than we want them to feel an affection, we want them to know how to ACT love. The books I am sharing this week are books that put on love-in-action and parade it across the page in shades of curiosity, hospitality, generosity, acceptance. This is St. Valentine at his best, romance in the back seat; principles, promises, and goodness steering us home. These are books that show more than they tell.
**Click Pictures or Links to Purchase; scroll to the bottom for pricing on all**
We Are all wonders // RJ Palacio
Donald Winnicott famously said that “It is a joy to be hidden and a disaster not to be found.” And for people with differences, minorities, or the differently abled among us, it is SUPER hard for people to SEE them because they don’t LOOK past the skin. But you - you’re gonna get this book and start talking to your kid about A LOVE THAT DOES THE HARD WORK OF SEEING.
So cheers to doing the hard work of love, learning to actually see another person, helping them feel seen, and then teaching your kids the value in looking past it all to give anyone and everyone a witness. // Knopf Books for Young Readers
**Click here to purchase We're All Wonders
**We’re All Wonders by @wonder_movie RJ Palacio / @aaknopf books**
The Journey // Francesca Sanna
Her Right Foot // dave eggers
As my friend Nancy says, sometimes Love’s greatest act is Radical Hospitality. So when building out #afriendlybookseries all about Love, Real Love I couldn’t not include these two books—books that I believe pack an incredible 1-2 punch for any child or adult. “Her Right Foot” is a book of wonder and a reminscent joy about the radical hospitality that founded America. Reading it with my daughter was one of the first times I openly cried about something so real and tender in front of her. Kind of like Santat’s “After The Fall,” I put Her Right Foot under my bible and read it several times a week for a month. I still can't say I know what exactly it was healing, but the Love in this book worked like a salve on something hurting and neglected — maybe my patriotism...if my patriotism is even a thing worth saving. “The Journey” has a similar story of hospitality and the community that it takes for any immigrant (or emigrant for that matter) to have a New Beginning. These books are also my pick for @kidlitpickstheme of the month #kidlitpicks_newbeginnings. For more great childrens book recommendations, visit @readingisourthing @kidlitcrafts
Chronicle Books (HRF) + Flying Eye Books
Malala's Magic Pencil // Malala Yousafzai
Next in our #afriendlybookseries about Love (Real Love) is Malala’s Magic Pencil by Malala herself. And incredible women with an incredibke story, Malala realized earlier than most that sometimes one of the greatest ways to love (to really love) is to use your VOICE. Raising awareness, speaking bravely and honestly when necessary, and using your privilege where others have none.....THAT IS LOVE. / Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
My Two Blankets // Irena Kibald + Freya Blackwood
Lucy Rescued // Harriet Ziefert + Barroux
Next up in our #afriendlybookseries are these two precious books, one about a girl that persists in trying to understand a scared and lonely puppy, the other is about two girls persisting in meeting, seeing, and understanding. // With a book series all about Love, Real Love, its good to be reminded that beyond the fairy tales THERES A LOVE CALLED PERSISTENCE. // May our children persist in a curious love that pursues understanding despite all odds and all differences. // My Two Blankets by Irena Kibald & Freya Blackwood @hmhbooks // Lucy Rescued by Harriet Ziefert and Barroux @blueapplebooks
Here We Are // Oliver Jeffers
How about LOVE AS ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP? Absolutely! and this book does a great job without being proselitizing or political....and that matters. There’s no judgment or condemnation here, just good old fashioned, tender-and-true, love of the earth. More please! (And of course @oliverjeffers illustrations make me want to paint my house and turn his books into giclees) #afriendlybookseries / Here We Are by Oliver Jeffers and @penguinkids @penguinrandomhouse / Penguin Random House
Honorable mentions for planet love - Wishtree (middle grade)
LOVE // Matt de la Peña
Love is just so much more than an affection. “I love you,” is a promise to welcome, stay curious, and to speak up, out, for. Love is a promise to see, loving the earth is a promise to tend.
This has been a great #afriendlybookseries about Love, Real Love. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! Love is one of your child's most fundamental needs that they look to you to provide for them, teach them, and practice for them to see. The simple act of looking up + giving your child your gaze is truly life-giving. Love often + love well.
XO, Katie
To Purchase any of these books straight from Amazon, click below!
(they are affiliate link which means you're supporting the website by buying now)