reading for pleasure

 Dulcie and I enjoy reading most days.  I have a fairly substantial collection of picture books, but have been finding that most of them are a bit too wordy for Dulcie yet, so we tend to get most of her books from the library.  Some books she shows absolutely no interest in, while other books she really seems to love.  I love it that she has her own taste/interests already.  Her favourite book at the moment (and mine) is Me... by Emma Dodd, who overuses ellipsis nearly as much as I do...  We previously had You... (also by Emma Dodd) out from the library and it was really the first book that Dulcie showed any particular interest in.  Since then we've noticed (in hindsight) that a few of Dulcie's favourite books from the charity shop have been illustrated by Emma Dodd too, so it seems she is a bona fide Emma Dodd fan.  I'm not sure how much I would have been drawn to Emma Dodd if it wasn't for Dulcie's reaction to her books, but now I really like her too.  My only problem with her work is that I often can't read the last couple of pages of her books because I am sobbing by that time.  They really do tug at the emotional heartstrings, but I should point out for fairness' sake that since becoming a mother I cry at the most ridiculous of things.  I always have to bring hankies to Bounce & Rhyme in case they start singing Five Little Ducks.  By the time no little ducks come swimming back, I am in no fit state to see the song through to its happy conclusion.

 Me... is about a baby penguin being small in the big, wide, fast and scary world.  The page above is Dulcie's favourite picture of the little penguin.  She always smacks him (her?) as soon as we turn to this page and that is a major sign of affection from her.  I find this picture pretty adorable myself.  Just look at the fluffy little blighter struggling in that howling gale!  Aw!

This is my absolute favourite page.  It reminds me a bit of John Burningham or Brian Wildsmith or some other illustrator I liked as a child that I can't quite put my finger on, and it's so beautiful with the shiny silver touches and its grand scale.  The little penguin is barely visible down at the bottom of the left page.  Dulcie sometimes tries to pick him up from the page.

Dulcie didn't show any particular reaction to this page the first ten or so times that we read the book, but suddenly she started getting super excited every time we turned to it.  She always reaches up to whack the sun and then turns round as if she's checking I've spotted it.

 In fact she loves this page so much that she ate part of it.  Oops.

"Eating library books?  Who, me?!"

I'm really hoping Dulcie will follow in her mother's footsteps and become a bit of a bookworm, not only because it gives me another good reason not to part with all the books I've already read.  I'm sure she'll want to read them one day!

And a last interesting little point about Dulcie's taste (no pun intended!) is that she tends to love books about babies.  I find that very sweet.  Does she know that's what she is?  I think she must.