Sounds like such a cliché – doesn’t it? However clichéd it may sound it is the truth as far as I am concerned. Books have taken the position of a close friend in the past few years. More so since I joined Bookworm.
I have been an avid reader if one may call me that as I have been reading since my childhood. I was even a story reader to my children but I was exposed to this wonderfully diverse collection of children’s picture books only when I reached Bookworm. It was such an eye opener and ever since then, I have become an avid diverse reader. My children also have read many books in Bookworm and over the years, I have realised that there is a book for every situation in our lives. I am sharing a bit about how my reading helped me understand my children better. These books, these stories have been a support to me during various stages of parenthood and situations in my life.
I read the book ‘Owen’ by Kevin Henkes in Bookworm and how I wished I had read it when my son joined school, it would have made sending him to school much easier for me. I remember when he grew up and as an adolescent blushed and mentioned about a girl he liked, the book, ‘The Watermelon Route’ by Quentin Greban came to my mind. I brought the book home and my son and I bonded once again over this book. ‘The Story of Ferdinand’ by Munro Leaf showed me a mother who is calm and supports her son and lets him be. She accepts that her son is different from the rest and encourages him.
‘Olivia’ by Ian Falconer brought out the vivid shades that I could see in my growing precocious daughter. She was changing in front of my very eyes and I could not understand her changing likes and dislikes at times. She wanted to do so many things. ‘When Sophie Gets Angry, Really Really Angry….’ by Molly Bang and ‘The Paper Bag Princess’ by Robert Munsch came into my life at a time when my daughter had started displaying a temper and had declared that I as her friend and mother am gender discriminating when I mentioned that she would surely need someone in life to take care of her and be with her.
She decided at a very young age that she did not need any prince to rescue her as she was capable enough to not fall in trouble in the first place. It was amazing as I was actually getting to read books that at times mirrored my life in certain ways and helped me understand my growing daughter’s views.
Recently I managed to reread another book and I found it so apt for the situation that I was in. My husband suffered a mild stroke about a couple of months back and was in a critical situation for some days. The entire family rallied around and supported me positively. And I know for sure that our never ending hope and my husband’s strong willpower brought him back to us. ‘To Hell With Dying’ by Alice Walker has an old lonely man who is revived again and again from the brink of death by a loving family. This story also portrays hope and caring for one’s own and in a subtle way, encourages us to accept what life brings to us in a graceful manner.
Another all-time favorite book that always comes to my mind is ‘The Heart and the Bottle’ by Oliver Jeffers. It never fails to bring a mist of tears in my eyes as I remember my father and how I miss him at times.
‘PiggyBook’ by Anthony Browne is close to my heart as the mother in the book is just like me. She does everything for her family, children and home and is yet taken for granted at times. I completely empathize with her but I am still gathering courage to make the choice that she makes to bring her family to their senses.
Like I said at the beginning – a book for every situation.
‘Zen Ties‘ by Jon J Muth, a whimsical book exudes peace and calmness and settles one down and makes me feel good even if I just glance at the cover of this book in the library.
There will be many such books for sure that connect with our lives in myriad ways. Our lives are after all not made up of just one colour; they contain so many shades, so many situations, so many experiences. Most of us would connect with friends, guides or our support systems and share these experiences. I simply pick up a book from this vastly diverse collection of Bookworm and connect.