A Few Happy Books for Gift-Giving This Year, for Children
Robin Schachat
Well, this year has been different. One thing that has happened is that families are doing more as units – more dinners together around the table, more game-playing in the evening, more gardening, more reading. And that means a lot of dreaming up ways for your children or grandchildren to keep amused at home. That, in turn, means more books with ideas for such amusements. Let’s start there.
The Unplugged Family Activity Book by Rachel Jepson Wolf is one of this year’s choices. It is arranged into activities according to the season. In spring, family members go on a nature scavenger hunt (but you could design one of these any time), make floral arrangements to leave as surprises on neighbor’s doorsteps, candy violet blossoms, plant trees….Summer is for regattas of boats made from leaves and sticks in a local pond, growing and eating salads, homemade ice cream recipes….In fall, move on to homemade acorn necklaces, planting bulbs, creating a waxed garland of autumn foliage to decorate the house, and building a gratitude tree….Winter finds you on a moonlight nature walk, making bird feeders from cones, creating homemade scented play-dough….And these are only a few of the many, many activities offered for family time together. A great book, especially for this year!
Another fun book for outdoor activities, many of which may amuse older children playing without immediate adult supervision, is Forest School Adventure by Naomi Walmsley and Dan Westall. This book is specifically aimed at developing children’s outdoor skills and sense of fun. Tapping a birch tree for syrupy sap, learning to weave a climbing rope from grass, building a pot from clay you find yourself, creating natural camouflage, building a shelter in the woods, learning to light a fire without a match and how to keep it going? Lots of fun stuff here, and each lesson designates the age group to which it is aimed.
For children of all ages (I am keeping it for myself), is Wake Up, Woods, a charmer with poetry, illustrations, and plant explanations copyrighted by the Indiana Native Plant Society. It features many beautiful spring blooms, all of which are native here. It’s a lovely book and could be the start of spring walks and scavenger hunts for you and your kids or grandkids. Perhaps it would even be the start of a new garden, selecting and planting some of these beauties together!
My next selection is a book written, with help, earlier this year by a fourth grader, Sophia Spencer: The Bug Girl (a true story). It begins when as a second grader Sophia and her mother visit a local butterfly conservatory (CBG has one, hint, hint – another family activity), where Sophia becomes fascinated with insects. She sets out to learn more and more about them, and some of her friends shun her as “ew, a bug girl”. But Sophia’s mother saves the day, and Sophia develops a world-wide circle of similar friends, and emerges from the bad time like a butterfly from a chrysalis. At the story’s end, Sophia describes her favorite insects and explains facts about them. It’s a beautifully illustrated, charming book at many levels.
Finally, let’s move on to the actual gift-giving season.
A book for older children – or even adult friends, in my case – is The Return of the Light, Twelve Tales from Around the World for the Winter Solstice, by Carolyn McVickar Edwards. The deepest dark day of the year, the Winter Solstice and its theme of the passage of seasons have inspired folk tales across the earth. Here are a dozen selected from China, Uganda, Italy, Polynesia, and even tribes of the northwestern United States. Definitely fun reading for teens who want to know more about other cultures, or just want a book to disappear into on a cold, dark winter day, this one also lends itself to reading aloud for younger children.
And for reading aloud to younger children, I will recommend one other that has a garden-themed title, but truly is not a garden book. It begins “This is a story about wishing. It is also about a doll and a little girl.” This is Rumer Godden’s The Story of Holly and Ivy, an old-fashioned Christmas tale written in 1957 (you may find it dated, but I suggest you read it as a story of the past, like A Christmas Carol). The newer Viking edition is illustrated by Barbara Cooney, a multiple winner of the Caldecott medal, and it might make a Christmas story your little girl will not forget. This one is for romantic little girls.
Enjoy shopping and reading!