{"id":3663,"date":"2018-11-19T15:48:40","date_gmt":"2018-11-19T15:48:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress-255815-3383686.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=3663"},"modified":"2023-12-14T11:51:30","modified_gmt":"2023-12-14T11:51:30","slug":"the-childrens-books-that-make-us-cry-and-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.korukids.co.uk\/blog\/thoughtful-parenting\/the-childrens-books-that-make-us-cry-and-why","title":{"rendered":"The Children\u2019s Books That Make Us Cry And Why"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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For me it\u2019s the timeless Peepo<\/em>. For my husband it\u2019s How To Be A Lion<\/em>, the delightful story of a lion called Leonard being true to himself and refusing to eat his best friend, a duck named Marianne (yes, we suspect the author is a Leonard Cohen fan). We all have books that move us when we\u2019re reading to our children, usually at bedtime when the day is slowing down. Having the time just to read is as important to me as it is to my son. Focusing on that one thing for a little time makes you more open to feelings that are often crowded out by to-do lists or the stress of work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Koru Kids spoke to parents and writers about the books they read or have read to their children that move them the most, and what it is that makes these books so powerful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Books About Love<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A favourite with many parents is I Love You To The Moon And Back<\/em> by Amelia Hepworth, illustrated by Tim Warnes. \u201cIt\u2019s the perfect bedtime story, going through the events of the day and bedtime routine\u201d says freelance children\u2019s book writer and editor Rebecca Lewis-Oakes, who reads it to her toddler daughter almost every night; \u201ccertainly for the first six weeks I couldn\u2019t finish it through the tears, especially up to the line \u2018I love you to the moon and stars, my precious little one.'\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robert Munsch\u2019s Love You Forever <\/em>is about the ageless and transforming power of love across the generations, with its tender lines \u201cI\u2019ll love you forever, I\u2019ll like you for always, as long as I\u2019m living, my baby you\u2019ll be.\u201d \u00a0Publisher and mother-of-one Isobel says: \u201cI\u2019ve never managed to get to the end of the story without crying. It\u2019s absolutely heartbreaking and even just describing the story brings me to tears. It perfectly captures that fierce protectiveness a mother feels for her child and knows she always will.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Books That Bind Us To Our Families<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes books stir us because of the memories they bring even more than the stories they give us. Mother-of-two Olivia has loved Goodnight Moon<\/em> by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Clement Hurd, since she was read it when she was small. \u201cIt was read to me by both my parents and ties me both to my geographically dispersed sisters, who also read it to their small sons, and to my North American heritage. I\u2019ve known it by heart for years but find it calming and meditative, even though I have read it virtually every night for four years. My daughter also loves that I now read it to the baby, and I missed it for the year where she was \u2018too old, Mummy,\u2019 and he wasn\u2019t born yet,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Books About Friendship<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Children\u2019s book critic Imogen Russell-Williams recommends The Girls<\/em> by Lauren Ace and Jenny Lovlie. The story follows the friendship of four girls who first meet under an apple tree. It is \u201cthe warmest and most exemplary portrayal of female friendship you could imagine,\u201d Imogen says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I asked my husband Daniel why it is that he likes How To Be A Lion<\/em> so much, and the friendship and independent spirit at its centre were two of the reasons he gave. \u201cLeonard stands up to the other lions who want him to eat Marianne the duck and join them in being fierce, and through Leonard's courage and his words, he ends up showing them that they don't have to act tough if they don't want to, that there are many ways to be a lion. The heart of the story is so moving to me because its ideas of independence and being yourself are exactly the sort of thing I want our son to grow up with confidence in, and because it's about something that's difficult for a lot of boys as they get older: the pressure to conform, to hide sensitivity, to be something they're not.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Books That Reflect Our Stories<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lynsey Pollard, director and founder of littleboxofbooks.co.uk, says the book she found most moving to read to her son was I Love You Honey Bunny<\/em> by Christine Swift, illustrated by Sarah Wade, which describes the love and care between a mother and child. \u201cI initially hated it because it felt really cheesy and not something I would ever read, but my son loved it and I think it's because it just features a mum and her child. I was a single mum at the time and it was the only book I could find that resembled our family unit. He recognised that from a really young age and used to pretend it was us,\u201d she says. That her son identified so strongly with the bunnies in the story helped inspire Little Box of Books, which is aimed at more children seeing themselves and their families in the books they read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Books That Are Comforting To Read<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is where Peepo, <\/em>a story by Janet and Allan Ahlberg following a baby and his family through their day, is so special to me. There\u2019s a rhythm to the poetry that makes you take it gently as the book and the baby\u2019s day draw to a close. I can\u2019t read it without remembering my mother reading it to me, along with Each Peach Pear Plum, <\/em>also by the Ahlbergs. My favourite verse to read is about the baby being carried up to bed: \u201che sees the landing mirror with its rainbow rim, and a mother with a baby, just like him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tom, a father of one, loves reading Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes <\/em>by Mem Fox and Helen Oxenbury to his son. Showing different babies all over the world in cheerful illustrations, the book finishes with a kiss on the end of the narrator\u2019s baby\u2019s nose. Tom says he likes it \u201cbecause the rhythm and the repetition is very gentle and soothing but also because of my son\u2019s reaction to it. He loves having his fingers and toes counted and quickly learnt to anticipate the kisses at the end so that by a couple a pages from the end he is already looking up waiting for his nose to be kissed. Just the sight of his little face looking up and trusting completely that he is going to get nose kisses gets me every time,\u201d Tom says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have suggestions of your own, please add them to our Bringing Up Great Kids<\/a> Facebook page. We look forward to hearing about your favourites, and have added links to the books mentioned in this piece below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I Love You To The Moon And Back<\/a> by Amelia Hepworth, illustrated by Tim Warnes (ages 0-3)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Love you Forever<\/a> by Robert Munsch (ages 0-5)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Goodnight Moon<\/a> by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Clement Hurd (ages 0-5, though 30 and 40somethings tell me they still love reading it too)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Girls<\/a> by Lauren Ace and Jenny Lovlie (ages 3-7)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How To Be A Lion<\/a> by Ed Vere (ages 2-5)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I Love You Honey Bunny<\/a> by Christine Swift, illustrated by Sarah Wade (ages 0-3)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peepo<\/a> by Janet and Allan Ahlberg (ages 0-4)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ten Little Fingers And Ten Little Toes<\/a> by Mem Fox, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury (ages 0-3)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Subscribe to the Bringing Up Great Kids newsletter to receive great content like this monthly. Subscribe For me it\u2019s the timeless Peepo. For my husband it\u2019s How To Be A Lion, the delightful story of a lion called Leonard being true to himself and refusing to eat his best friend, a duck named Marianne (yes, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":3669,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[143],"tags":[161],"hashtags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.korukids.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3663"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.korukids.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.korukids.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.korukids.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.korukids.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3663"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.korukids.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28217,"href":"https:\/\/www.korukids.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3663\/revisions\/28217"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.korukids.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.korukids.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.korukids.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.korukids.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3663"},{"taxonomy":"hashtags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.korukids.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtags?post=3663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}