Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/reading-matters-celebrating-childrens-books-about-hope/5025834/
During the last gray New England winter, our seaside town was brightened by lights, and on my walks, I noticed that many homes offered the same wish spelled out for the future: HOPE. A dream of brighter days ahead is also the theme of many beautiful new children’s books that came out of the dreariness of 2020.
Rainbows have always been a sign of hope, and early in the pandemic they were popping up in windows everywhere—painted rainbows, quilted rainbows, simple as well as very fancy rainbows. What is more beautiful, and hopeful, than the colors of the rainbow? These pictures were a way for young children to deal with a strange new world, and to express belief that pandemics, like thunderstorms, will come to an end someday. Two new books celebrate this gesture. In The World Made a Rainbow, we see 2020 from a very young child’s perspective: “All of the world had to stay home today. I wished that it didn’t.”
The World Made a Rainbow by Michelle Robinson, illustrated by Emily Hamilton (Bloomsbury, 2020. Benefits Save the Children.) Ages 3–7.
New activities like FaceTime, long walks and sharing memories help her look forward to sunnier ...