There is nothing more special than reading with your kids, yet there can be nothing more tedious than reading your kids a mediocre book after a long day. That’s how my girlfriends and I ended up having a conversion about really good (really good) children’s books while on a (no kids allowed) girl’s weekend. Today I’m sharing with you my favorite book and why. You’ll find the other children’s books that made our list below.
Growing up I was, and still am, a “feeler”. As an adult, I can appreciate this fact, but when I was a child I was labeled as “too sensitive”. Now, here I am as a mother, noticing that both my boys are “feelers”, and I’m going to make sure this wonderful quality is nurtured. That’s why I’d like to I introduce to you one of my very favorite children’s books, “Cookies“.
The premise of the book is that it introduces little life lessons with cookies. What I like about it is that it gives you real life examples that make it easy to talk to your kids about emotions and subjects that are otherwise very difficult to explain. For instance, being courageous is very hard to explain to a child, but when it’s put in the scenario above, it makes it easier to talk about. One of my favorite things to do is change the wording on the page to something that has happened recently in their lives, like this: “Courageous means, it was not easy for me to tell you that my friend was mean to me at school today, but I took a deep breath… and made the words come out.” At that point they smile and snuggle closer to me, and I tell them how proud of them for being courageous!
I will also change up the words of the book to explain little nuances in society. I had been trying to explain humility to my son after I overheard him tell someone that he was the best player on his soccer team last season (he was not, btw). So I was pleasantly surprised when I saw this page! I changed the words to say, “Modest means you don’t run around telling everyone you were the best on your soccer team, even if you know it to be true.”
On the other side of the page is proud. I love this, because it allows you to explain the difference between being proud and modest and how you can both at the same time!
This is the final page and I absolutely love reading it. It is my favorite page, because “I used to think I knew everything about life, but now I realize I know about one teeny chips worth.” It’s a wonderful reminder to me about what a glorious transformation becoming a mother has been to me. A big piece of humble pie that has left me a little wiser than I was 6 years ago.
Now you can see why, as a “feeler”, this is one of my favorite children’s books to read to my boys. You can imagine the wonderful conversations about feelings and emotions that this book starts!
Here are the other books that were the favorites among my friends, which I purchased and my boys loved!
- River Royals, of course! This book was written by two of my dear friends and received a mom’s choice award! It combines geography and patriotism with a special life lesson mixed in. The colorful illustrations are wonderful.
- The Day the Crayons Quit – After purchasing this book based on my girlfriend’s recommendation, my son made us read it to him every night! I love the witty writing. It’s a joy to read!
- Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus and The Pigeon Needs a Bath– My youngest son (who is really playful) loves these books, because he gets to have fun yelling at the pigeon! It’s the cutest, and, bonus, I love reading the voice of the pigeon.
- How Full is Your Bucket? For Kids– If you have an older child who “Cookies” may be a little young for, this is another great book to help talk about emotions. We refer to our “invisible buckets” now to help us talk about our feelings. ex: “My bucket is about half full today, how full is yours?”
- Christmas Cookies– More “bite size” life lessons but tailored to Christmas time scenarios!
I love to give books as gifts or just as a thank you. I’ll order them on Amazon and have them shipped to my friends houses, or I’ll give them as birthday gifts. I’d give “Cookies” to all of your kiddos if I could, but I can’t, so I’ll just share it with you all instead.
Please tell me, what are your favorite children’s books? Which books do your children love? What books should I buy for the years to come?
