Happy Valentine's Day!
Saturday, February 14th, 2009
A few days ago, my daughter asked to go to the library to get a book about Valentine’s Day. As a result, we came home with not one, but four great titles that have added to both our understanding and fondness of the celebration.
I love how Valentine’s Day—any day, really—provides plenty of opportunities to build on a child’s love of books. “Kids Heart Authors” day, happening today in bookstores throughout the country, is a testament to that, making the most of the celebration by bringing kids together with the books and authors they love.
In lieu of such incredible opportunity (no “Kids Heart Authors” events near us, unfortunately), our library books do a pretty good job of satisfying our book hunger and keeping us connected through reading: Valentine’s Day, by Clyde Robert Bulla let us know that most scholars believe that this “love-focused day leapt gleefully from the Roman holiday Lupercalia, a festival celebrated more than 2,000 years ago to mark the beginning of spring,” and told us how the tradition spread to other countries. Barbara Samuels’ Happy Valentine’s Day, Dolores, allowed us to bask in the deliciously complicated glow of sisterly love; Valentine’s Day, by Anne and Lizzy Rockwell, brought us close to a group of students making valentine’s for a classmate who is visiting family in Japan, and our favorite of the four books, Gilbert Oscar Twyman’s Stoneheart: The Real Valentine’s Day Story, introduced us to a two-year old girl who transforms a gloomy kingdom into a land of happy and loving people. Oh the power of children and the power of books …
For more reads about this special celebration see here and here. Happy Valentine’s Day to all!
