Welcome to Book Blogger Appreciation Week! I hope you will take time out to look at some other book related blogs. You may just find some great book recommendations for yourself, as well as your children.
When I decided to host a giveaway for this special week, I decided to choose a book within a category that means a lot to me: diversity, tolerance, and global awareness. After all, what do books, blogs, and bloggers have in common? They're diverse in so many ways.
I like to think of the 3 B's as a garden of reading. Just as there are so many shapes, sizes, and colors of fruits and vegetables to choose from, there's also a wide variety of books, blogs, and bloggers. While we open our mouths and eat healthfully, we also need to open our minds to some extraordinary reading materials and the people who write them. While food nourishes our bodies, books nourish our souls.
Children need books just as much as we do. When children are able to place themselves in the shoes of different book characters, it helps them to develop a deeper understanding of others, but also of themselves. Sometimes, book characters can even guide them in ways that the people around them can't.
If we want our children to develop empathy, cultural awareness, and acceptance of others, we need to start reading a wide variety of books with them from a very early age. There are so many genres to choose from, and we should encourage our children to try them, just as we encourage them to try different fruits and vegetables.
Have fun reading many different types of books with your child! Your enthusiasm is the secret ingredient to the magic of reading. It matters more than the content of any given book.
As your child develops a love of reading, there are so many great books that can open the window to a much larger world. Some of them are like works of art, and leave you thinking, reflecting, and remembering...They are truly unforgettable.
One such picture book for me is one I've mentioned previously, Henry and the Kite Dragon, by Bruce Edward Hall. What do kites and pigeons have to do with conflict resolution and cultural understanding? This children's book will not only have you thinking, but you'll want to create some artwork with your child after you read it! It's most appropriate for children in grades 1 through 5, but people of all ages (including teenagers) can learn from this one.
One lucky reader will win a hard cover copy of this masterpiece of a picture book! In celebration of our global community, anyone in the world can enter this giveaway. All you have to do is leave a comment below (please leave me your email address when you submit it) by Tuesday, September 22nd. Please tell us why you have a special interest in this particular book.
Why would you like to read Henry and the Kite Dragon? What other books or blogs will you plant in your garden of reading?