I went to my cousin's house during the holidays, and as soon as I entered the door, I heard her training.
"Every time I finish playing with the toys, I don't pack them up and throw them all over the floor." While she was huffing and cleaning up, she accidentally stepped on her daughter's beloved wooden doll.
The 5-year-old girl immediately cried into tears, crying and saying, "Mom hates!" ”
In fact, in the eyes of children, each toy has a special meaning:
Toys are like children's best friends, a faithful playmate;
When children project emotions on the toy, the toy will be given life, it has a personality, a temper, an emotion, and even "pain", "sadness"...
What bothers many parents is that not every child knows how to cherish toys. I love to play, but I don't have the sense of storage, and when the toy is destroyed and lost, I cry and regret it.
Love and cherishing are topics worth learning for a lifetime. Give your child the enlightenment of love early, and he will know more about what true love is than his peers and learn to cherish everything he has now.
Today I will share with you a set of picture books on the tip of my heart, telling the touching story of the little girl Mary and her beloved teddy bear meeting, separating, and reuniting half a world apart.
Another letter from Sam McBreeney, author of Guess How Much I Love You.
"Pampered Bear"
A heartwarming story, an encounter that spans time
On a snowy Christmas Eve, a little girl meets a bear in the window. Just look at the cover and you know that this is a story that is perfect for telling children on a winter night.
Remember the romantic conversation about the brown rabbit in Guess How Much I Love You?
The little rabbit said, guess how much I love you; the big rabbit says, I can't guess this.
The little bunny said, I love you all the way to the moon. The big rabbit smiled and whispered, I love you, all the way to the moon, and then come back here from the moon.
It's so beautiful, so healing. What Grandpa Sam is best at is to depict the emotions between parents and children in a delicate and moving way, so that people will remember it once they have read it once.
This "Pampered Bear" is what he brought to the children, another story full of love and warmth.
Chen Sai, the chief writer of "Sanlian Life Weekly", wrote in the translation postscript: The parting, frustration and pain in life often do not come as promised, but suddenly come.
Just like the little girl Mary and her teddy bear in the story, who were supposed to be together, fate suddenly separated them and didn't reunite until decades later.
Among them, the thoughts, worries, and teddy bear's tossing and turning encounters contain too many requests and helplessness in the world. Only cherishing the present and cherishing every emotion is the best explanation for yourself.
Reading it is like opening up a "folding world" for children, so that children can follow the development of the story, see the wider world, and see different people and things.
Love, part, cherish, wait... There are the aesthetic romances of fairy tale worlds, but also the difficulties and obstacles of the real world.
It will teach children that true love is not selfish possession, but gentle care.
It deliberately allows children to perceive setbacks and losses in order to better understand the joy and beauty of reunion.
Children's book promoter A Jia said that this story allows children to stand in the position of the bear and observe what love is and how to love from the perspective of a bystander. Rich in connotation and far-reaching meaning, it is like opening a window of life for children.
Wang Yuwei, a Chinese teacher, said that the story hides the wisdom of waiting and love, and the process of finding the bear is also the process of children learning to express love and cherish love. Particularly impressive.
Unlike the sweet, childish, superficial story, it describes to the child what life and love are like with a wait and reunion that spans decades. Time passes, sorrows and joys are mixed, and many children will experience emotions in the process of growing up, which are all in the book.
It is destined to be a book that will be read in the arms of all parents and children.
Parents who like "Guess How Much I Love You" directly close their eyes. Produced by Grandpa Sam, it must be a fine product.
Parents who hear the author's name for the first time must not miss it. Not only will children be fascinated by what they hear, but parents will also follow their thoughts and cherish everything they have in the moment.
A small video was specially taken, and everyone can click to feel it
The soundtrack specially invites young composer Hu Weihang to create works to help children understand the story from all audiovisual and multi-angle perspectives.
Children aged 3 to 6 years old are recommended to read parent-child, and 7 years old + children can read independently and can read for many years.
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Based on a true story
It's a very substitutionary read
The story begins with an ordinary encounter.
"Fifty years ago, maybe sixty years ago, a little girl named Mary Rose bought a teddy bear from sixpence in a piggy bank."
She caught a glimpse of the brown teddy bear on the high counter.
It was the first toy she chose herself, so she also invested more love and attention.
She was pleasantly surprised to find that when she lifted the teddy bear's body up, he would let out a "roar" sound. So she named him Grouly Bear.
As if giving a name to a toy, it is endowed with emotion and soul, no longer an ordinary toy, but a part of our lives.
To distinguish herself from other teddy bears, Mary also had her mother sew the Letter G on one of his feet and the letter B on the other foot.
In this way, howler bears became Mary's close friends. She had played family games with him, and she had taken him to see the sailboats in the pond.
How much she cherished the roaring bear, that is, she would rather wade through the mud than get dirty with the roaring bear.
But even though Mary loved the Roaring Bear so much, one day she lost him.
Mary accidentally dropped him off the train, and roaring bears began a half-century-long wandering journey.
The story was inspired by the author Sam's wife and her teddy bear.
Grandpa Sam used warm brushstrokes and a shallow tone to tell the story of this encounter and parting. Ordinary is like something that happens every day in the daylight.
We met a favorite toy, and then one day, suddenly lost it.
I believe that reading this, every child will have a deep understanding. I will also think: where did the toy we lost go?
Every encounter and destination of the roaring bear will firmly grasp the child's eyeballs - in the process of reading, the child has used the roaring bear as a beloved toy that he has lost.
This is destined to be a story that keeps the child's eyes open, and as the story progresses, all the child's attention will be focused on the story.
As many parents say, every time you talk about "Pampered Bear", the child will ask like the first listen: What about later? It's not that they don't remember the storyline, but every time they listen to it, it's as fresh and moving as the first time they listen to it.
A really good story should be like this, often read and always new. Even if I turn to the edge of the page, I still want to read it again.
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It's emotionally rich and meaningful
Teach children to love and cherish
Children who know how to love and cherish will have a great increase in happiness index.
So, what is true love?
The author Sam did not answer this question directly, but used the encounter after the roaring bear to let the children feel, compare, and think.
A boy bought a roaring bear because he thought he was cheap.
The boy named him "Bargain Bear", a name that also seems to determine its fate.
The boy treats him very casually, accidentally dropping him into the soup and making him stained;
While climbing a tree, he fell on a sharp branch and punctured his belly.
The boy liked him, but he liked the other toys as well. The Roaring Bear had never been the most special one to him.
Therefore, when he felt that the roaring bear was too dominant, he did not hesitate to sell him.
Roaring Bear spent an unknown number of years in a second-hand toy store, and he met the third little master, a pair of twin brothers.
Although they like to roar at the bear, they use him as a substitute for football.
After the disaster, none of them wanted to keep the roaring bear, but let their mother sprinkle anger on him. Let the roaring bear be abandoned again.
Until one day, the fourth owner of the Roaring Bear, a girl named Veronica, saw him.
She loved and cherished the roaring bear, and she bathed him, blew dry carefully, and put him on a high shelf.
But the girl's two younger sisters found him, and in a tug-of-war, the roaring bear was torn in half...
Later in the story, there are not many spoilers here. From these encounters with the roaring bear, the child must have understood who is the one who really loves the roaring bear.
The brilliance of the whole story is that the author does not give the roaring bear human emotions, no matter how it is treated, he accepts it all, without sorrow or joy.
It also gives children a whole new perspective on reading – when we have affection for a thing, the lifeless roaring bear can also become emotional.
When the roaring bear was dropped on the train, his figure looked so lonely and sad.
Roaring Bear sat in the toy repairman's warehouse, his eyes full of loneliness and anticipation... It turns out that it doesn't take magic to make a toy emotional and lifely.
This, too, is the power of love.
It also makes children understand that having something not only means spending money to buy it, but also means investing in emotions, long-term companionship, and cherishing with heart.
As the translator Chen Sai said: Reading this story together can talk about cherishing with your children. Cherish people, but also cherish things; cherish the present, but also cherish the past and the future. Start by being responsible for a doll and understand what responsibility is.
Love, cherish, patience, responsibility... We expect our children to understand and learn the precious qualities that are all present in this story.
Reading such an emotionally rich and meaningful picture book to a child is better than reading 10 story books.
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Grand Prize Illustrator with Picture
Beautifully framed, gift-giving is suitable for self-preservation
The book's illustrations were created by the renowned British illustrator Sam Arthur.
He has been a twice-nominated for the Kate Greenaway Award and has won the Children's Book Award for the Red House.
In this "Pampered Bear", he intuitively and accurately conveys the author's deep emotions with a delicate and realistic, bright and warm picture narrative, which enriches the deep connotation of the story.
When the author writes his inner narration for the roaring bear, the teddy bear in the picture, which is crowded in a pile of debris, also reveals a stubborn little eye.
Fits the text of the book just right:
"Someone will pick me up soon." Roaring bears may have told themselves that. He tried to open up a little, to see the bright side in everything.
When Mary reunited with the Roaring Bear, the overflowing joy and emotion jumped on the paper. Every frame of illustration carries a strong sense of emotion.
Through the encounter of the little bear, "The Pampered Bear" tells the deep life issues such as love and separation, frustration, and pain, and is a rare masterpiece in the children's book industry. It is worth reading and re-reading for children.
Such a high-quality picture book is really to read one book, one less. It is recommended that all parents give their children a collection. You can read it at the age of 3+ and can read it until you grow up.
Cultivating children's aesthetic ability, empathy, and learning to love and cherish, starting from this romantic and moving, tragic and joyful story.