Love is in the air!

We are getting ready for Valentine's Day here at GMPL!  Amid the school parties and sugar highs, we wanted to give kids a few other reasons to love Valentine's Day. Kids can celebrate the power of friendship with these special, heart-warming books:

Up first is Friends: True stories of Extraordinary Animal Friendships by Catherine Thimmesh (HMH Books for Young Readers)

This beautiful book shows odd pairs of animals displaying affection for each other.  Each picture is accompanied by a sweet little poem and a brief history of the animals shown. Your heart will grow three sizes just looking at these pictures.

"Friends can be different-

with stripes on their face;

or friends can have 

fingers

to touch and embrace...

but it doesn't matter- 

not in the end-

because deep where it counts,

one knows a true friend."

Thimmesh, C. (2011). Friends: The Stories of Extraordinary Animal Friendships. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

 Another book that shows how far friends will go to be together is Eric Carle's latest, Friends (Philomel). 

Using his trademark collage art work, Carle lets the true beauty of friendship shine in this book.  After his friend moves away, the boy in our story takes action and journeys great lengths to be reunited with his friend.  After learning that the book was inspired by Carle's own relationship with his wife, I love it even more!

My favorite book of love and friendship has got to be Sandra Boynton's Your Personal Penguin (Workman Publishing).  

This super quirky board book brings a smile to my face every time I read it.  In case you thought this book couldn't get any sweeter, you were wrong.  Davy Jones, of The Monkees, used the words from this book to record this awesome song.

This Valentine's Day, nothing would be sweeter than sharing books you love with your little ones.