Book recommendations?

[kyrielle]

Not for me. For Drew. I have some criteria, though.

First, he's three, but he likes longer books - Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day is about the length (word and page count both) I'm targeting right now.

Second, it has to be a good story.

Third, it'd be nice if it included diverse characters (racial, gender, romance/relationships), and/or broader cultural exposure than white cis straight American. He gets *plenty* of exposure to that, and there's a shortage of exposure to other things for discussion.

Fourth, it would also be nice if they showed handling negative emotions well as far as actions. Not just handling badly and then censuring it, but actually handling it well. Acknowledged or not by the book/characters, as long as it's there.

Third and fourth are "it would be nice". I am still interested in good books that don't, or only slightly, meet those!

(There are limits. The book I encountered in the grocery store while browsing recently, the one about kids playing at being grownup, in which "mommy" was a little girl who cooked and cleaned and cared for the dolly-kids and every "professional" was a boy? Gag. Then again, that also wasn't a good story! Heh.)

Thanks.

[Edited to add point #4.]

Comments

[chemicallace]

I just read "The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs!" with my pen pal and that was cute and about the word length you're looking for.

[kyrielle]

Thank you! :)

Re: "Gag."

[harpie.livejournal.com]

My sons see that kind of a dynamic at my house. I really consider myself quite lucky that I've been able to stay home with them when they're so young. I would also be very happy for them if their future wives were raised to appreciate playing the role of a "mommy" for their families (if they choose to marry and have children, of course).

Re: "Gag."

[kyrielle]

And there isn't anything wrong with that, but *every professional in the book was a boy*. How hard would it be to have one of them, maybe the doctor (pediatrician) be another girl?

It's not my life, and I wouldn't want it, but some women do. Still, it would have been easy for the book to acknowledge other possibilities without even changing the story. Not that there was a plot as such anyway. It read more as a litany of "here is what mommies do".

Re: "Gag."

[harpie.livejournal.com]

That is pretty unrealistic. My older boy really enjoys "Miss Spider's New Car", "Thomas and the Magic Railroad", all the "little golden books". I would also recommend "Madeline" books, as they meet most/all your criteria, I think. I found them at the library, but my son wasn't into it though.

[kyrielle]

Thanks. I'll have to look at some of those (or "some more" in the case of the Little Golden Books, I've only looked at a couple).