International children’s book day

Today is the International Children’s book day. It is celebrated on the 2nd April, on (or around) Hans Christian Andersen’s birthday. The idea of the day is to inspire the love of reading and to call attention to children’s books. What a nice idea!

I think everybody has held at least one book in his hands. I can’t be sure at what age I touched my first book. Probably far too young and I am not sure those books had a good life. Several years ago I found in my parents’ house a travelling guide of Chios, the island we come from, that was full of irregular lines with pen and I asked my dad about it. He answered that it is a book I had put my hands on when I was young…

Trying to think of books that I read as a child, there are a few that I can mention. Naturally I grew up with Aesop’s Fables. My parents have recorded my trials to start talking and in one of these recordings I am trying to narrate the story of the fox and the crow: the crow has found a nice piece of cheese and the fox that is hungry tries to get it from him. The fox manages by flattering the crow about his nice voice and as he tries to sing, he drops the cheese.

Another book I am sure I read early enough was Τα ψηλά βουνά by Zacharias Papandoniou. The title means “The high mountains” and it is a classic greek children’s book. I am not sure it is translated in English.

I started learning and talking English really early in my life. I am not sure anymore which was the first English book I read but I remember one vividly: Now You Can Read About Things That Go. It was presenting all means of transportation, from bikes to spaceships, by starting from their early editions and finishing by what the authors considered as future editions. It is there I first read about Laika, the dog that flew to space, and then the humans that followed. I still remember how impressed I was when I read about Valentina Tereshkova, the first female to go to space in 1963. Yes girls can do it too!

I still enjoy reading children’s books. In 2016 I read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll in the Penguin Classics edition (I do like Penguin Classics!). An amazing book, which probably I should have read quite much younger, but maybe now I could appreciate the writing of Lewis Carroll more profoundly. It made me feel like a child again and to try to think out of the box. We all know the Alice in Wonderland part, but I enjoyed the part of Through the looking-glass much more. It is definitely based on no-sense elements, but not at all stupid. Alice is challenged with things she doesn’t understand but that may make some sense if you follow a more unconventional way of thinking. I loved the example of the flowers talking: “Are these the only ones? No. Why the rest do not talk? Because they are on soft soil, so they are asleep, while these ones are on hard ground, so awake”.

Which children’s book has made a deep impression on you? I would love to hear your answers.

Ποιο παιδικό βιβλίο σας έχει εντυπωσιάσει ή σημαδέψει; Ποιο θα προτείνατε;

Welches Kinderbuch hat euch am besten gefallen? Ich würde mich über eure Antwort freuen.

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