I believe in having a childlike
attitude towards life, and enjoy popping into children’s bookstores to sniff
out good books with the intensity of a dog sniffing the ground on its walk. Children’s
books have a way of telling us much with great simplicity and it takes a gifted
storyteller to deliver a story that has different layers of meaning for both children and adults.
SHY caught my attention one
afternoon. Something about its size and hard cover belies its demure title – it
is bigger than most books. As a book lover, I was immediately drawn to the
first sentence: “Shy was happiest between the pages of a book.” It goes on to
describe a giraffe who, in spite its build and bearing, liked to read about
birds but never got to befriend any because it was too shy.
“But Shy had never actually heard
a bird.
None of his books could sing.”
To younger children, the books talks about getting to know
someone of different ethnicity or ability.
To preteens, it can introduce the topic of having friends
of the opposite sex.
For adults, we can reflect on meaningful friendships that we can open up to without fear.
Most children books have no page number and it took me just
a short time to browse through the book at the store. So I will not give away
the ending. But it is one that rewards opening the windows of our lives to let
others in – whatever our age.
Where
you can get it: Books
Ahoy! at Forum Galleria (about $31), and Book Depository (about $21).