To celebrate Mother’s Day, we show 3 ABC moms talking about their favorite books they read to their kids.
Sophie
“What my daughter and I loved about Sandra Boynton’s books is that the rhythm of the text works so well together with the words. The Going to Bed Book is very sweet and flowy while Barnyard Dance makes you literally stomp your feet…it often made us laugh out loud. As you can see we read them over and over again…plus some original artwork by my daughter!”
Renata
“Both books are very, very close to our hearts. The Star People, by S.D. Nelson, is a Lakota story about a brother and sister; Sister Girl and Young Wolf, who get lost during a fire in the prairie. The night sky shows them the evening stars dancing, the Star People, who in Lakota tradition are seen as their precious ancestors. Their recently deceased grandmother comes to help them go back to their parents. That story brought tears to my eyes because my own grandmother passed away in Brazil, ad I was not there to giver her my last kiss. But with this story, I understood I could always look up to the sky and talk to my grandmother.
The Last Wild Witch, by Starhawk, is a lovely story about a wise woman who lives in the forest and gives soup to people who have lost contact with nature: “Have some soup, she would say, and that is all that she would say.” This line was our catchphrase. My daughter knew it by heart; that sentence is still our private joke.”
Lília
“I originally read The Secret Garden to my daughter in Portuguese, as a way to keep her understanding the language and because I always loved this story. Sara is a lonely girl raised in India until her parents die in an accident and she has to go live in England – a place she’s never been before – as a warden of her English uncle – a man she didn’t know existed. She suddenly needs to learn to become self-suficient in a totally new and disconcerting world. She is prohibited to go to certain areas of the house, but starts exploring their home anyway because she hears wailing noises from time to time. She finds out she has a cousin – an invalid boy her own age – and that their mothers were identical twins. Sara also discovers a key and a door to a secret garden, which becomes her secret place. There she learns how to take care of the plants, how to help her cousin to become stronger and how to heal herself and those around her. It’s a story about finding yourself, learning to trust others and fight for your dreams.”
