The Postprandial Thoughts: Kidlit

I am a self-confessed bibliophile and addicted to C.S Lewis, Murakami, Gaiman, Ahern, Coehlo and others, but not one children's book in my collection despite of the known fact that I love children.

Early this year, I started hunting and collecting children's books with astounding illustrations, creative elements, heartwarming stories and whimsical story plots.The biggest influence being was my previous work in an early literacy project of Save the Children Philippines. While I was learning my way to the impact of early stimulation activities like storytelling and story reading to the development of infants and toddlers, I started to fall in love with "Kidlit" or kid's literature books.

My first books were Ian Falconer's "Olivia", "Olivia and Fairy Princesses" and "Olivia forms a band"; and it was love at first sight or should I say love at first lines:

"This is Olivia.

She is good at lots of things."

Who would not fall in love with a perky and smart piglet whose imagination compels her to invent, dream, be good at anything and impeccable in wearing people out (especially her mother). If I will be a mom, I would want to be Olivia's mom- simply because she allowed her child to learn and discover the world.The illustrations are very simple too- plain white/ black backgrounds, minimal elements and three colored palettes- very worthy of it's Caldecott Honor award.

This is Olivia working for the Tuberculosis systems in the Philippines.

Then, there are the "love" books: "Guess How Much I Love You" (Written by Sam Mc Bratney and illustrated by Anita Jeram) and "Mama, do you love me?" (By Barbara Joosse and Barbara Lavallee) which both described the unconditional love of parents. These books tell us that the parent's love has no boundaries even if we test its limits. "Mama, do you love me?" is one of my two board books and has very interesting and lively illustrations of the Inuit culture. Board books are advisable for babies or infants as this is the stage when the fine motor grip is not fully developed and they might not be able to turn the thin paper pages without literally shredding the pages.

"Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" by Bill Martin Jr., John Archambault and Lois Ehlert and "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See?" (Written by Bill Martin Jr. and illustrated by Eric Carle) and "A Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle are the concept books in my collection. Concept books are books that teach young children on early "concepts" of letters, objects, numbers, shapes, colors, animals, among others: "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" on A,B,C's, "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See?" on colors and animals (i.e. Purple Horse) and "A Very Hungry Caterpillar" on numbers and objects. What I like about Carle's books are its collage illustrations that are very simple, vivid, colorful and interactive.

Eric Carle's illustrations in "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See?" and "A Very Hungry Caterpillar"

A Kidlit library is not complete without a Theodore Geisel, popularly known as Dr. Seuss. To date, I have only one Dr. Seuss book: "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" that I bought as second hand since most bookstores sell new Dr. Seuss' books at 500-700 PhP rate (too extravagant for a whim). I got most of my children's books from my favorite online bookstore: Surprises Out of Boxes on a marked down rate.

Interestingly, this Dr. Seuss book also appeals to adults who are on new adventures and major life changes or for people just waiting...

"Waiting for a train to go

or a bus to come, or a plane to go

or the mail to come, or the rain to go

or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow

or waiting around for a Yes or No

or waiting for their hair to grow.

Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite

or waiting for wind to fly a kite

or waiting around for Friday night

or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake

or a pot to boil , or a Better Break

or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants

or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.

Everyone is just waiting.

My second hand book "Oh, the Places You'll Go! with a special dedication from a certain "Tito Bobby"

My “Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak, Robert McCloskey’s “Make Way for Ducklings” “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore” by William Joyce, "The Tallest of Smallest" by Max Lucado and my pop-up mobile book “Stellaluna" by Janell Cannon are fit for older children. The main consideration in selecting what book to buy is its appropriateness: content, age and language.

My Kidlit collection is relatively new; but more than its purpose as my happy pill during flu days and insomnia lonely rainy nights, I get to share this love to some of the kids in my neighborhood on weekends.