Three Beautiful Books

If you plan to give the gift of a book, here are three suggestions. 
  

The Bat-Poet, by Randall Jarrell. Randall Jarrell was a poet who built himself a eyrie of stone on the Pacific Ocean's coast in California. The story of the book is that of a bat who wakes up one day and the tells all his bat friends about the new reality he has experienced. The story is one of those that children will love and adults will see deeply into. It includes both the prose story and poems. Illustrations by none other than Maurice Sendak. A small book of 48 pages.

Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd. This is a children's book, but the words are so beautiful that it is really an illustrated poem. If you ever want to feel that the world is filled with beauty and love and is safe and warm and full of wonder, then read this book-poem. The words when read aloud (especially when read to a young child all tucked into bed) flow from the mouth and hang, luminescent, in the air. As long as hearts can experience and express such simple beauty, so long will humanity walk the path accompanied by angels.

 The Giving Tree, written and illustrated by Shel Silverstein.  Unconditional love.  An apple tree loves a boy and the boy-grown-up.  This book of 64 pages is not just the tree's story of unconditional love.  It is also the story of the transformation of the young boy.  It is a story appropriate to these times when we seek to live sustainable lifestyles as stewards of the earth.  Our most precious possession is that which loves and sustains us.  A book told in simple language, The Giving Tree reminds us of the power and gifts of giving.

Although I have supplied online buying links, you may want to first try your local neighborhood bookstore.

Copyright 2009 by Thomas L. Kepler, all rights reserved