Day 21: Not Just For Babies

    When you think back to when you were a kid what memories come to mind. Do you think about freshly baked cookies cooling in the kitchen, family gatherings around a fire or waking up early on Christmas morning to glistening freshly wrapped presents?
    For some of us, these childhood memories are punctuated with stories. Think about it... mom or dad would sit at the end of the bed, reach over to a collection of books we were too young or in some cases too lazy to read ourselves and transport us into a different world of polished and beautifully illustrated characters. For a moment we were flying beside Peter Pan or Falling down the rabbit hole to Wonderland and at that moment we were truly happy.
    Below I have included a few of my must-haves for both young readers and for those young at heart to include among their collections. In today's society, it is too easy to let our children fade into technology. Never stop making connections and share with them the beauty and wonder of a  goodnight story.

      "This story of only 338 words focuses on a young boy named Max who, after dressing in his wolf costume, wreaks such havoc through his household that he is sent to bed without his supper. Max's bedroom undergoes a mysterious transformation into a jungle environment, and he winds up sailing to an island inhabited by malicious beasts known as the "Wild Things." After successfully intimidating the creatures, Max is hailed as the king of the Wild Things and enjoys a playful romp with his subjects. However, he starts to feel lonely and decides to return home, to the Wild Things' dismay. Upon returning to his bedroom, Max discovers a hot supper waiting for him."

    "A young boy, lying awake one Christmas Eve, is welcomed aboard a magical trip to the North Pole . . .

Through dark forests, over tall mountains, and across a desert of ice, the Polar Express makes its way to the city atop the world, where the boy will make his Christmas wish."

     "In a great green room, tucked away in bed, is a little bunny. "Goodnight room, goodnight moon." And to all the familiar things in the softly lit room—to the picture of the three little bears sitting on chairs, to the clocks and his socks, to the mittens and the kittens, to everything one by one—the little bunny says goodnight."

     "The book follows the lives of a female apple tree and a boy, who develop a relationship with one another. The tree is very "giving" and the boy evolves into a "taking" teenager, man, then elderly man. Despite the fact that the boy ages in the story, the tree addresses the boy as "Boy" his entire life."

     "Knocked from her mother’s safe embrace by an attacking owl, Stellaluna lands headfirst in a bird’s nest. This adorable baby fruit bat’s world is literally turned upside down when she is adopted by the occupants of the nest and adapts to their peculiar bird habits. Two pages of notes at the end of the story provide factual information about bats."