Christmas Shopping? Don’t forget the emus, wombats or elephants
November 8th 2006 04:31
Christmas gift suggestions from Oren Arnold:
‘To your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To all, charity. To every child, a good example. To yourself, respect.’
Wouldn’t Christmas shopping be easy if we all followed this advice!
But let me change just one phrase for you – ‘To every child, a good book’- This does not change the concept, just the shopping list.
It is simply mind-boggling the variety of toys a child can receive as gifts nowadays. Mind you, it has been a few years since there have been young children in our family, but this year marks the first for 10 years or more, so I’m already jotting down titles that will be purchased. You simply cannot buy a child a better gift than a book. They seldom break (themselves or the bank), don’t need batteries, they grow with the child and they can feed something so special – imagination. And there is nothing growing more steadily in a child at Christmas than their imagination! There is a huge selection of great children’s books to choose from, but if you want something really special, for that ultra-special child, I’ve got a few suggestions for you.
There are two titles by Sheena Knowles and illustrated by Rod Clement that should be in every Australian child’s library. Edward the Emu and Edwina the Emu. Edward is the zoo’s resident emu, but he is becoming bored with being an emu. Nobody likes the emus. So he escapes his hold and tries being a lion, a seal, even a snake. This is all fine until he over hears someone say the emus are the best. Pleased with this, he heads back to his pen to find a surprise – he has been replaced! The story is told in rhyme and is great fun to read. The illustrations are extremely well done (on an adult level), yet simple enough for a young child to decipher.
Edwina appears at the end of the Edward’s book, and then she takes over in the second title. In this story, she leaves Edward minding their eggs while she looks for other occupations. It mirrors Edward’s attempts at reinventing himself, but remains light-hearted and of course, ends happily. You honestly can’t go wrong with either of these titles, and they can be bought for any child aged 0-6.
And if you’re looking for a seasonal title you can’t go past Mem Fox’s Wombat Divine. This is a beautiful Christmas tale about a group of Australian animals preparing for a nativity play. There seems to be parts for all the animals except Wombat. He is either too sleepy, too fat, or too slow. But in the end, he becomes the most important performer of all! Again, the illustrations are great, the story is just the right duration for infants and pre-schoolers, and in all these titles there are subtle lessons to be learnt, maybe not in the first reading, but definitely in successive ones.
And then there is Dr. Seuss’s loveable Horton. The good-natured elephant stars in Horton Hears A Who and Horton Hatches The Egg.
These two books go back a long way, but I still read them to children and they are always enjoyed. They relate with Horton, who will risk anything to save a speck of dust because - ‘a person’s a person, no matter how small’ and will stay on the egg because - ‘I meant what I said, and I said what I meant, an elephant’s faithful, one hundred percent.’
Although none of these titles are new, they are all still in print, and on their way to being children’s classics, so you shouldn’t have any problems finding them. And don’t let anyone make you feel slack about giving children books for Christmas. They get more plastic, sweet, electronic and commercially marketed products than they know what to do with. A well chosen book is pure magic in a box full of glitter, and there isn’t a kid alive who won’t end up cherishing such a gift.
‘To your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To all, charity. To every child, a good example. To yourself, respect.’
Wouldn’t Christmas shopping be easy if we all followed this advice!
But let me change just one phrase for you – ‘To every child, a good book’- This does not change the concept, just the shopping list.
Image: kanganonline.com
Image: kanganonline.com
Edwina appears at the end of the Edward’s book, and then she takes over in the second title. In this story, she leaves Edward minding their eggs while she looks for other occupations. It mirrors Edward’s attempts at reinventing himself, but remains light-hearted and of course, ends happily. You honestly can’t go wrong with either of these titles, and they can be bought for any child aged 0-6.
Image:memfox.net
And if you’re looking for a seasonal title you can’t go past Mem Fox’s Wombat Divine. This is a beautiful Christmas tale about a group of Australian animals preparing for a nativity play. There seems to be parts for all the animals except Wombat. He is either too sleepy, too fat, or too slow. But in the end, he becomes the most important performer of all! Again, the illustrations are great, the story is just the right duration for infants and pre-schoolers, and in all these titles there are subtle lessons to be learnt, maybe not in the first reading, but definitely in successive ones.
And then there is Dr. Seuss’s loveable Horton. The good-natured elephant stars in Horton Hears A Who and Horton Hatches The Egg.
These two books go back a long way, but I still read them to children and they are always enjoyed. They relate with Horton, who will risk anything to save a speck of dust because - ‘a person’s a person, no matter how small’ and will stay on the egg because - ‘I meant what I said, and I said what I meant, an elephant’s faithful, one hundred percent.’
images.bestwebbuys.com
images.bestwebbuys.com
Although none of these titles are new, they are all still in print, and on their way to being children’s classics, so you shouldn’t have any problems finding them. And don’t let anyone make you feel slack about giving children books for Christmas. They get more plastic, sweet, electronic and commercially marketed products than they know what to do with. A well chosen book is pure magic in a box full of glitter, and there isn’t a kid alive who won’t end up cherishing such a gift.
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