THE BOOK I WOULD WRITE ...IF I WERE TO WRITE A BOOK
by Naomi Mautz When our children were born, my husband and I joined the ranks of parents all over the world and began to partake in the time honored tradition of bedtime stories. I myself am I book junky. There is never a time when I am “between books”. In the midst of reading one book, there are literally handfulls of others waiting in the wings. As soon as I am nearing the end of a book I have a new one on hand (literally on hand- like in my purse or on my bedside table) ready to sub-in. Naturally, this love for reading is something I want to pass on to my children. It is something I love sharing with them as we snuggle up on my husband and I’s king size bed at night to discover new adventures together. There is a plethora of bed time story choices available. I have logged many hours in the children’s section of the local bookstore, keeping an eye out for new stories to bring home and share. At some point when the kids were little I developed an urge to write my own children’s book. I became frusterated with the options that were out there. There are many that are very sweet and cute and fun but they all seemed to be missing something. I wanted my kids to go to bed at night with a confidence in their worth, their treasured individuality and a sense of being completely, utterly and unconditionally loved. A huge part of my own love for books is my love for poetry. There is something about the written word that is so beautiful. The way a writer can take the simplest idea and write it in such a way as to envoke powerful emotions of beauty that can haunt your soul is magical to me. I tell my kids how precious they are and how much they are loved all the time, but I wanted to be able to communicate that to them through the poetry of the written word. I know I am a huge nerd but I do believe there is something transcendant in posessing a tangible poetry of words not just spoken but written down in order to live into the future. Okay, so back to my point... Now that the kids are a little older, we have been able to graduate from Goodnight Moon and Where the Wild Things Are to more substantial chapter books. We love to read the classics like Black Beauty, Treasure Island and The Narnia series. We read through a couple of chapters each night and the kids have fun predicting what will happen next. On nights when we all just want to get to bed we have a collection of favorite 5 - 10 minute bed-time stories that are
well known and loved that we pick from. It is on these nights that the lingering desire to be able to write my own book resurfaces. Now, like every other mom on the planet, my time has become a very precious commodity. At the end of the day after homeschooling, managing my photography business, keeping the house from becoming condemned and keeping everyone fed, clothed, clean and alive, sitting down to write a children’s book is a pipe dream at best! A couple of months ago, while prowling the shelves of the bookstore I came accross a book with the most beautiful cover. I took it from the shelf and began flipping through it. I found myself staring in wonder at the artwork that graced the pages. After gawking at the pictures for several minutes, I began to actually read through it. By the time I was finished I was in tears. It was literally THE most beautiful children’s book I have ever read (or seen). I scooped it up and proceeded to the checkout counter with a skip in my step. Not only had I just found an amazing new book to share with my children, I had found THE book, the one I always wanted to write for them! Only this one was much more beautifully done than anything I could have created. The book was a hit with my kids and it has become our absolute favorite bedtime story! The kids love looking at the amazing illustrations and I love watching their little faces as they absorb the awesome message of love in the words. The book is called, Wherever You are My Love Will Find You, written and illustrated by the ridiculously talented Nancy Tillman. Chances are, most of you with children already own the Nancy Tillman collection but if you do not, I must insist that you proceed to your nearest bookseller and purchse the entire collection! Nancy Tillman has illustrated several books by other authors and her artwork itself is enough reason to buy a book regardless of its literary content, but the collection of books that she has written are absoluetly beautiful! Her collection includes, Wherever You are My Love Will Find You, Tumford the Terrible, The Crown on Your Head and The Spirit of Christmas. They are all absoluetly precious books that feature the important message to our children that YOU ARE LOVED. Thank you Nancy Tillman for writing the exact book that I would write if I were to write a book for my children. *****
SKIN DEEP EXPOSURES
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