Kids are the Future

We all know the saying that kids are the future: grownups and ruined this world and it is up to the next generation to fix everything b/c it is too late for us to do anything.  I'm note sure that I buy this sentiment, but I do think we have a responsibility to educate out children so that they are less likely to make the same mistakes that have been made in the past.  And what better time to educate than right out of the womb?  Children's books are a great avenue to teach about life lessons, morals, and just plain old life in general.  Vibrant pictures, words than rhyme, fun adventures - there is no limit to the imagination.  My two favorite children's books that I this week read were "Round the Garden" by Omri Glaser and "Chickens Aren't the Only Ones" by Ruth Heller.  "Round the Garden" is a great story to read to young children and also makes a great first reader book.  It is short and simple yet very elegant.  It detail the cycle of water from land to sky and back to land - where clouds and rain come from and how it all fits together to water a garden.  "Chickens Aren't the Only Ones" is great for a little older audience as it is quite a bit longer.  This was a fun book to read with lots of rhyming and was packed full of information.  Both books had very different illustration styles, but I enjoyed them both and didn't think they were too cluttered or too bare - just the right amount to enhance each story.

In reading these books I began to contemplate on what makes a good children's book.  Children's books can be realistic or purely fantastic and both styles can tell the same story - relay the same message.  I think the most important characteristic is that it is fun.  A fun story, fun pictures, or fun words.  I don't think you need all of these for good book, but at least one is necessary for a kid to enjoy the book enough to sit through a reading - or to read it themselves.  Of those I think that the language used is important because it is through these books that we are teaching our children how to express themselves through words.  I think it is important that books have some sort of rhythm to them (like Dr. Seuss) or that introduce new or more difficult words or ideas here and there (as both stories mentioned above did).

I then ask myself what would I write about were I two write a book.  It would have to be about amphibians as they are my true love.  I think it would be aimed at a slightly older group 4-6.  And it would have a conservation message.  "The Adventure of Sally Salamander and Tod the Toad."  Fun names are important.  I'm not too sure what they would do.  Perhaps they would travel across the land in search of a new pond and encounter obstacles on their way.  Would they look like actual species, or would they be your generic toad and salamander dressed in fantastically bright colors?  I don't know.