I may not be an artist, but I am definitely a reader. And I’ve been doing my best to instill my love of books into Esmé.
When I was pregnant, she got to hear whatever I wanted to read. And for her first few months, I still had free latitude, though our selection was limited after moving to Mozambique and waiting for our shipment to arrive.
As she reached the “book in mouth” stage, board books, plastic books, and cloth books gained popularity, at least with her mother!
She finally started to respect books a little more – only tearing them when she wanted attention. Trying to expose her to all types of books, we’ve been working through the bookshelf over and over, reading the next four or five books in line every day. While she has clearly had her preferences (ones with animals and not too many words), she often patiently listens to them all.
So now is the moment this mother has been waiting for – when Esmé KNOWS what she wants to read and DEFINITELY wants to read it. She brings the same book to me over and over, and I drop everything to read it every time.
Last night I picked out four books to read before bed, and every time I started to read a different book, she pushed HER book back into my face again – “This one, Mommy!”
I think we’re about up to 142 reads by now, or close . . .
It's called Colors of Creation, by Thomas Paul Thigpen. As far as choices go, I can’t complain. It teaches colors using the story of creation, chronologically following the Biblical account for the most part. It rhymes, so I can memorize it easily and therefore read it upside down.
And the last page epitomizes some of what I want Esmé to learn as she grows up in Mozambique:
“God liked each color, fresh and new
the pale, the bright,
the dark, the light,
so people came in every hue,
and God said: This is good."
What more can you ask of from a book?
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