#4: THE WONDERFUL THINGS YOU WILL BE
via youtube.com
by Emily Winfield Martin [published by Random House]
This book has been on the New York Times Best Sellers’ List for a whopping 133 weeks. The tag line on this book is: A celebration of future possibilities.
The Book and Story
This book would be super sappy if it were not so darn good. The author’s poetry expresses the myriad of loving things parents think of when they look at their children. The illustrations are beautiful and sometimes humorous. For parents who want to express and remind their children they love them, this book will be a great grown-up read to their children.
The book reminds us that even the tiniest baby is the subject of loving possibility: “When you were too small/ To tell me hello,/ I knew you were someone/ I wanted to know.” The book highlights all the potential seen in the daily things children might do, from working in the garden to playing with their Teddy Bears. The message is that any child can become “anybody/ That you’d like to be.” As a teacher myself, I have come to believe children of all ages need to hear such messages over and over. I believe that, if a child could hear everyday that they are uniquely gifted and valuable to someone, the incidence of bad behavior – from simply being mean to the horrible violence of school shootings might be lessened.
