Books for Babes

Today was our weekly library trip.  There are so many things that I love about the library.  I love the way it smells like the pages of both new and old books, the silence in the quiet corners where people read and study, and the chatter in the children's section where little ones excitedly search the shelves for new books and parents read them aloud.  As a teenager I would go to the library with the specific intent of finding the most beautifully illustrated and enchantingly written children's books that I could.  Later, in college, I took a children's literature class and loved every moment of it.  Now I look forward to our little library trips where I can watch my children carefully scan the shelves for the books that they love most.  For Emma it is fairy tales full of magic and romance and happy endings.  For Walker it is stories with silly pictures and outlandish plots, usually involving monsters or other beastly creatures.  I often add my own books to their bags that I know they will enjoy and that I know I will enjoy reading to them.  The other day I was purusing the board book section looking for a book to bring home for little Lillian when I came across one called The Very Best Daddy of All .  As I read through the little book tears stung my eyes and I quickly stuck it into my bag to read to the kids later that day.  These were the pages that I thought so touching.

 

You have to love those good Daddies!!

 

I love so much that children' s books can evoke emotion with their words and pictures and I love even more that my children are beginning to understand that.

 

We found an old nursery rhyme book that used old art from the 19th and 20th centuries as illustrations.  The kids were full of giggles as they looked at the old pictures and listened to the old nursery rhymes.  They found these to be particularly hilarious.

 

 

I love children's books!!