A Week of Children's Books. (With book reviews)

Hi, my name is Natacha and I'm a 25 year old who spent this past week reading kids books. Why, you ask? Good question. These kids books just so happened to have been on my bucket list. The reason as to why they were there in the first place is due to the fact that as a child I used to read tons and tons of books. I watched The Borrowers, and I watched Stuart Little. And yet, somehow I managed to have gone the whole of my childhood and unknowingly skip past them. I guess my usual books back then were mainly fantasy based, and now that I am older and much wider read I can appreciate all sorts of books. But, it's still hard to fathom that I had missed these so called children's classics. Not to mention the fact that The Little Prince happens to be one of my mum's favourite books, and now I understand exactly why. And so, this week I got to complete not just one, but five different bucket list goals. Feel free to watch the following video for more information and some quality b-roll.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFHF0-VCea0

#277 Read The Little Prince. ✔️

#916 Read Tuck Everlasting. ✔️

#407 Read Where the Wild Things Are. ✔️

#717 Read Stuart Little. ✔️

#801 Read The Borrowers. ✔️

- Below are the reviews of the books that I read. -

1. The Little Prince (Review)

The Little Prince was by far the most beautiful book I have read for a very long while. Both this one and Tuck Everlasting were hard for me to accept as being merely children's books. Their messages and topics were deep and philosophical. The Little Prince, to me, seemed more like incessant life lesson after life lesson rather than purely an adventure. Yes, there happens to be an adventure occurring, but there is so much more to this book than just that. This book teaches us about the beauty in simplicity. It teaches us about the deep rooted flaws within mankind. It teaches about how love is in fact a verb rather than noun, or an expression. The Little Prince teaches us the importance of being ourselves and not allowing the world, or in this case, worlds around us to change us and destroy our child like perception of all things, as perceiving things through the eyes of a children brings us less worries and a lot more joy. It is truly a beautiful piece of art. And I hope that when children read this book, that they are able to read and understand the messages and not just see it as a story, for it would be a huge loss.

It is difficult for me to pick merely one of my favourite quotes, so I will share the three that touched my heart the most.

Quote 1. "Exactly. One must require from each one the duty which each one can perform," the king went on. "Accepted authority rests first of all on reason. If you ordered your people to go and throw themselves into the sea, they would rise up in revolution. I have the right to require obedience because my orders are reasonable."

Quote 2. "Then you shall judge yourself," the king answered. "that is the most difficult thing of all. It is much more difficult to judge oneself than to judge others. If you succeed in judging yourself rightly, then you are indeed a man of true wisdom."​

Quote 3. "You are not at all like my rose," he said. "As yet you are nothing. No one has tamed you, and you have tamed no one. You are like my fox when I first knew him. He was only a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But I have made him my friend, and now he is unique in all the world." And the roses were very much embarassed. "You are beautiful, but you are empty," he went on. "One could not die for you. To be sure, an ordinary passerby would think that my rose looked just like you--the rose that belongs to me. But in herself alone she is more important than all the hundreds of you other roses: because it is she that I have watered; because it is she that I have put under the glass globe; because it is she that I have sheltered behind the screen; because it is for her that I have killed the caterpillars (except the two or three that we saved to become butterflies); because it is she that I have listened to, when she grumbled, or boasted, or ever sometimes when she said nothing. Because she is my rose."

2. Tuck Everlasting (Review)

This story was, I found, extremely philosophical, deep, and way too much of a mature topic for it to be considered a children’s book. The main topic of the book was concerning death, not just death, but the existential question is it worth living forever or is the 70, 80, 90 years of life that we’ve been given enough? Personally, even after reading this book I would still prefer the option of living forever, but I guess attempting to live until I’m 100 would be enough. If I live life correctly that is. Which is something that the book only partially touched on. One of the Tuck’s sons, in one way or another, knew what he was talking about when he mentions the fact that living forever is amazing as you get to visit all these different places, you get to experience all these amazing new things, you get to watch the way the world develops and changes unknowing which way the world might go. It’s exciting. However, something Tuck himself points out is that if life is done right, you can do all those things with the time that you have. Living forever, according to Tuck, is boring and means that you are no longer a part of the circle of life and it makes life meaningless. Which in some way I would agree, but also, the possibility of finding out that there is nothing after death, to me, is a lot scarier, and would make life a lot more meaningless (being a Christian I have my hopes and beliefs concerning this topic - as well as my humanly worries. As a philosopher on the other hand, I have many questions concerning existentialism, but shall not pose them here).

The story line itself was fun and I enjoyed taking this adventure. The protagonist, Winnie, though seemed a bit older than the mere age of 10 with the way she seemed to act at times. As for one example, at the age of 10 I never had a crush on anyone, I didn’t even know what a crush was - plus, it’s odd to think of a 10 year old having a crush on a 17 year old - which is something that occurs in this very book.

The following quote is one that sticker out most to me in this book. It made me feel a whole host of emotions. And, being the philosopher that I am, it took me for a roller coaster of thought through all the negatives and the positives of being part of the “wheel” of life. Especially, through the idea of having a wheel that is continuously spinning and never stopping - now that (the wheel) is something I wouldn’t mind jumping on to.

Quote:"Know what happens then?” said Tuck. “To the water? The sun sucks some of it up right out of the ocean and carries it back in clouds, and then it rains, and the rain falls into the stream, and the stream keeps moving on, taking it all back again. It’s a wheel, Winnie. Everything’s a wheel, turning and turning, never stopping. The frogs is part of it, and the bugs, and the fish, and the wood thrush, too. And people. But never the same ones. Always coming in new, always growing and changing, and always moving on. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. That’s the way it is.”

3. Stuart Little (Review)

I didn't really like the book version in comparison to the movie. Furthermore, the ending was open and abrupt, I hate open endings. That's basically all I have to say concerning Stuart Little.

4. Where The Wild Things Are (Review)

My favourite thing about children's books, I've found, is the fact that they always contain some form of metaphor at the end of the story. There's always a simple lesson to be learned. Even as an adult it's good to be reminded of the simple things, book to basics if you will. The lesson I learnt from Where The Wild Things Are, which I ended up reading to Georgia as we were snuggled up cozy on the sofa, was that there is no place like home.

No matter how annoying your family can get, no matter how often you get scolded by your parents, no matter how much you may want to escape, there is never a place like home. No one loves and cares for you the way your family will, no place will ever feel the way your home does. And thus, I definetely feel as though this would be a good one to hold on to for my future children. Not just for the message that this book had to share, but also, for the imagery as the book was so beautifully painted.

5. The Borrowers (Review)

I loved this book so much I purchased the rest of the collection. Sums it up really. Loved it!