Last year we experienced the tremendous joy of our first grandchild and, believing passionately that there are only a few things more important that growing up a reader, at Christmas we gave her a parcel of books. They were not baby books as such (she already, thankfully, had a basket full of them) but what I thought of as 'books that she can grow up with and through'. (See my post from December 2017.) This summer we were equally thrilled by the birth of our second granddaughter, so have been eager to do the equivalent for her. After much enjoyable searching and reflection, there are the books I have chosen.
Two things I would dearly love our granddaughter to grow up with are a deep love of the natural world and an equal love for language and poetry. With the parents she has, I think there is every chance of both, but hopefully these two volumes will help a little too. The first was an easy and immediate choice, The Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane & Jackie Morris. Robert Macfarlane is undoubtedly one the the greatest (nature) writers of our generation and Jackie Morris is one of my all-time favourite children's book artists, far more than simply an illustrator. As a result, this volume is quite simply one of the most ravishingly beautiful and inspiring I know. The writer's 'spells' and the artist's large-scale images are together an irresistible invitation to get to know and appreciate the natural world around us.
The anthology I Am the Seed that Grew the Tree compiled by Fiona Waters and illustrated by Fran Preston-Gannon is a superbly rich resource of nature poems by a diverse range of fine writers. It serves both my aims here perfectly . Hopefully, with these books, our granddaughter will be able to revel in looking at the stunning images and hearing the evocative language even before she is able to read for herself.
Related, although slightly different, the wordless picture book Footpath Flowers by JonArno Lawson and Sydney Smith is another kind of poetry. It is essentially the poetry of ideas, of thought, expressed through simple but telling images. It speaks of finding beauty in small things as we move through life, and of making our world better through simple giving. It is deeply touching and conveys a most important message to grow up with. Our granddaughter will perhaps be able to access this book a little earlier than the others here, but hopefully its simple images and honest sentiment will last a lifetime.
Another thing I would wish our granddaughter to grow up with is her full inheritance of Folk and Fairy Tales from across the world. This collection is only one of many wonderful ones I could have chosen. However this particular edition of East of the Sun and West of the Moon edited by Noel Daniel is distinguishing by the most stunning art work from justifiably renowned Kay Nielsen. Her luxurious, almost Beardsley-like, Art Nouveau images make this another ravishing volume, a delight in its own right and a superb invitation to dream and to wonder.
As children's author Cornelia Funke recently wrote*, even though many Fairy Tales do not reflect the social attitudes we look for today, they 'still enchant profoundly. For in their imagery of monsters and magical things they preserve many forgotten truths. Sometimes we lost the key to decipher them, but the images keep their power nevertheless '. Fairy Tales are an important part of our cultural and literary heritage. Children need to know them, even though they do not need to think or behave like some of the characters in them. A girl cannot understand that she need not be a fairytale princess unless she knows what a fairytale princess is in the first place.
And on which matter, my last choice was as easy to make as it is important to give. Last year I gave my first granddaughter the unspeakably wonderful and rightly trendsetting Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls by Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo (illustrated by a host of contemporary female artists from around the world). When a follow up '2' came out from the same team it was a must for our second grandchild. The two cousins are close enough in age that hopefully they will share and compare some day. I inscribed last year's gift with, 'Be a rebel,' so I just cannot resist signing this book from Grandma and Grandpa with, 'Be a rebel, too.'
Note:
In Through the Water Curtain & Other Tales from Around the World, Introduction, page 12 (This is itself a fine book that I hope to review in full very soon.)