The Book Basket: A Gentle Introduction to Difficult Occasions
Books for March 2024
Hello friends,
Easter is so early this year. I’m having trouble wrapping my head around it. As you look towards next month, you might be helped by some picture books along the way. You can refer to my post from last year on this topic as well as this post from a few years back on Story Warren.
This month, instead of revisiting those selections, I’m providing you with a list of books that might help your little reader buddies through hard times. This topic was partly inspired by the Story Warren post by the same name, but also by the fact that it’s February. My mother’s birthday is today; next weekend we will mark two years since she died. My kids lost a dear friend at the tender age of twelve during the month of February. These events, along with others I won’t mention here, have given February a dark and stormy reputation in the life of our family.
I am so thankful that the daffodils begin to bloom in Charlotte in February.
I hope that you won’t need these books, whether in the month of February or any other month. But they’re here if you need them. Perhaps more than any other collection, I’d encourage you to preread these before sharing them with little ones.
See you in March!
A Chair for My Mother, Vera B. Williams. This book tells about one family’s discipline of saving up for a soft chair for their apartment after a fire destroyed their previous home. This is a Caldecott Honor book filled with colorful illustrations.
Goodbye to Goodbyes, Lauren Chandler. A warm retelling of the story of Mary, Martha, and their brother Lazarus. Jesus reminds the sisters that he came in part so that we could say goodbye to goodbyes forever. Part of the Tales that Tell the Truth series, from those good people at The Good Book Company.
Ida, Always, Caron Levis. Based on the real polar bears at the Central Park Zoo, Ida and Gus, this book is the story of saying goodbye. Ida gets sick and dies, and Gus has to learn to live without his friend.
Sonya’s Chickens, Pheobe Wahl. For children, often their first encounter with death comes in the form of the loss of a beloved pet. Sonya loses one of her three chickens to a fox. Her family helps her mourn the loss.
Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge, Mem Fox. I covered this one in my author feature on Mem Fox. It couples grief over lost memories with the tender care of a little boy.
Two books I’ve used to talk about 9/11 are The Man Who Walked Between the Towers and Fireboat: The Heroic Adventures of the John J. Harvey. Those are discussed in further detail right here.
A note on purchase links: I’m a happy supporter of independent bookshops, so the links I provide will almost always go to my affiliate link at bookshop.org. For my local readers, I heartily recommend you buy them through our favorite, Goldberry Books, but you might have a shop closer to you. Of course, you can always find these selections on That Big Website That Ships Quickly, But Not As Quickly as It Used To, and Remember How They Sucked Us All In By Being a Bookstore to Begin With? I’m also a big fan of saving money and patronizing your local library. Happy reading!
Daffodils in February. It seems so odd to my seasonal sensibilities, but every time I see them here in Charlotte, I realize how much I need them.