Notes from Nana & HOORAY for Books: Sons

Mississippi Mom’s poignant post “BRAVE” was sheer poetry as she wrote about her young energetic son’s fearless actions and how courageous she must be raising him.

Please DO take time to read “Five Minute Friday.”

Nana was reminded of that time in our young son’s life that I called the “more courage than sense stage!”  He tried to jump into the deep end of the Sun Villa swimming pool before he learned to swim! Enthusiasm must be tempered with reason.

But to encourage you Moms, note this: Today our son is a father, a wonderful Dad. He and our lovely daughter-in-law are raising our two dear granddaughters! Our daughter and her husband are the parents of our dear grandson. Each of these wonderful ones gives Nana and PawPaw such joy and feelings of gratitude to God for the many blessings of their lives. I salute each of you who bravely and lovingly choose to raise children.

Our young son climbed trees, built models, played basketball and football. He looked like a racehorse as he ran track. He loved hiking trails on our family campouts. He creatively engineered his train tracks to go up the stairs of our two-story house and rolled his marbles down the track.
So when his older sister had a Drowsy-sleepyhead baby doll, I bought our son a boy doll, “Raggedy Andy.”

Our son was five when I met Charlotte Zolotow and bought her book William’s Doll.  The father in the story bought his son trains and balls but not a doll. The grandmother bought William a doll saying he needed one to practice being a father. The New York Times, School Library Journal and the American Library Association all listed the title as an “Outstanding Children’s Books of 1972.”

Charlotte Zolotow, an American author, poet and publisher was born in 1915. She wrote books about tender feelings of children. Twenty different publishing houses printed her over seventy books. Look at all her titles and choose your favorites. Some of the references and illustrations of the older titles may seem dated but you will enjoy the emotion and honesty of the words. I especially like these books by Charlotte Zolotow:

•    William’s Doll, pictures by William Pene du Bois, Harper and Collins, 1972.
•    My Grandson Lew, (An Ursula Nordstrom Book), Illustrated by William Pene du Bois, HarperCollins, 1974. A sensitive treatment of the death of a grandparent. No one tells Lewis of his grandfather death when he was only two.  Finally someone tells Lew and they share loving memories.
•    The Quarreling Book, 1963, 1991, HarperCollins, with pictures by the late Arnold Lobel. Everyone in the James household is angry including the pets. Then everything changes.
•    The Moon Was the Best, Illustrations are photographs of Paris by Tana Hoban. NY: Greenwillow Books, 1993.

Thank you parents for having children because being a GRANDPARENT is indeed GRAND! Challenges are abundant as we lovingly seek to give our children and grandchildren ROOTS AND WINGS!

Hooray for parents! Let every day be Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.
And especially Hooray for grandparents! We love it all! Nana o/`

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