Good Books for Good Kids: The Earth is Our Mother
I have been known to hide my children’s books from them. My girls have a preference for doggerel, and each child has at one point fallen in love with an insipid, poorly-rhymed, awkwardly-rhythmed book that I have then had to read to them approximately 1,000 times an hour–”I’m Sally the Cow/I eat grass and hay/I sit in a field almost all day,” etc.
Fortunately, my kiddos have a voracious appetite for books, and there’s room for me to intersperse my own choices. Children’s literature is also terrific for introducing and reinforcing a value system to children, and so I’m always on the lookout for pro-breastfeeding, pro-babywearing, handicraft-oriented, environmentally sound books to positively reflect the same values that I try to model and teach. Here’s a set that encourages respect for the Earth as a nurturing entity:
