Children's Books You Would Like to See

amother

Papaya

Wed, Jun 29 2016, 11:19 pm

gold21 wrote:

I guess I would want to see books about struggles that regular kids go through all the time

When kids make fun of you, and how to deal with a bully

When friends fight, and how to be a good friend and be mevater

When school is hard, and how you should feel good about yourself even if youre struggling in school

When you have allergies, and how to deal with feeling different during lunch time at school

When youre having bad dreams and bad thoughts, and how to think good thoughts

When you move to a new neighborhood, and how to deal with all the changes

When your family setup is different than your friends families, and how Hashem gives you the perfect family for you

Etc...

You hit the nail on the head

Everything out there is so 'happily ever after' for lack of a better phrase.. in the frum world
No one see the stuggles people went through to get to the place they are in now
All the books on gedolim ... only show greatness not the struggles they had to get to that place of greatness. Then lehavdil you read about famous baseball players and their struggles are written in the book. No one thinks that they were born baseball players.
Children (and adults) need to see that real people have real struggles...and by overcoming the hardship they attain greatness

gp2.0

Thu, Jun 30 2016, 11:28 am

I want books that I'll enjoy reading! Fun illustrations with lots of detail. Rhyming is ok if done really really well. I like books that introduce big concepts without a moral and books that are just a joy to read over and over. The best books are funny books. Some of our favorites:

Wild about books by Judy Sierra

carnivores by Aaron reynolds

I'm a shark by bob Shea

The astonishing secret of awesome man by Michael Chabon

The book with no pictures by b.j. Novak

The princess and the peas by Caryl hart

More books I'd like to see:

Books starring fathers and their daughters
Books starring girls having epic adventures
Books that are just fun, about dirt and mud and messes and "bad words" that kids get a kick out of. For example, a quote from the astonishing secret of awesome man (something like this, don't remember exactly) "fighting all those villains made me tired. Super tired. Pooped. I love saying pooped." 😂😂😂😈😈😈

bigsis144

Thu, Jun 30 2016, 11:48 am

amother wrote:

Yes! A "like" is not enough!

I guess I don't "need" too many frum books because I'm fine with reading secular books to my kids most of the time, and I understand why frum authors stay away from the silliness -- and sadness -- that gp2.0 describes. The frum book audience is so small and so insanely nitpicky that the effort in breaking the mold is often a huge risk for authors.

- "How dare you imply that Rosh Yeshiva X read the newspaper as a young man???"
- "You can't ever, ever have a child character say that they hate their teacher!!!"
- "My child learned the word "nincompoop" from your book! Such nivul peh! How dare you?!"
- "Dragons are g0yish."

So I read them Mo Willems (his Elephant and Piggie books are AMAZING) and Kevin Henkes (books that don't bang you over the head but definitely deal with kids' feelings like a new sibling or being embarrassed of an unusual name) and others.

LiLIsraeli

Thu, Jun 30 2016, 12:03 pm

gp2.0 wrote:

I love this post.

I also want to see more books that don't have a moral or a lesson to teach. If it does teach middos then it really needs to be subtle. Nobody likes to be bonked over the head with a mussar lesson. A book that inspires a love of reading for the sake of reading, not for what we can learn from it. A book that is fun to read - I love rhyming books when they're done well! A book that uses word play and tongue twisters and REAL kids, not little tzadikim. A book about normal kids dealing with normal situations.

This is a secular book but my kids loved it! We read it a couple of years ago but my almost 6-year-old still talks about it. It was a subtle metaphor about opening yourself up to new experiences and being accepting of other people. https://www.amazon.com/Scribbl.....43038

Rubber Ducky

Thu, Jun 30 2016, 12:10 pm

I'd like to see series books, especially ones geared to boys, like the old Cheery Bim Band books.

I'd also appreciate more Jewish ethnic diversity. I know frum Jews are who are Asian, biracial, Hispanic... I rarely see ethnic Jews in frum books set in the USA except in an occasional token "we should love all Jews" page as part of a larger midos book... GAHHHH!

amother

Silver

Thu, Jun 30 2016, 12:17 pm

Books about not peer pressue not doing what the jonses do
Books for 10 year olds about bot needing what everyone has
At 4 years old they are not rhinking of how many dresses they have

also books on different levels there r so many short simple ryming books for 3 year olds but than they get to long mine like dina dee but I skip out aome details because they are too long they seem to be a real hit because
They go through the childs feeling
The pictures are detailed and also show feelings
The topics are cheereful not heavy
What I don't like about it is its some more for a older 5 or 6 year old that likes to be read to
Children do things meant for adults
Sometimes they go off tangent
So something similar with those corrections

They started to make easy readers but we need more on diffent levels to like level 1,2 and 3 -all seem to be on one level and maybe the books can follow the first and second grade text books

For older children Its very hard to find books for 10,11,12 years old that is not too short. Vocabulary is age appropriate but the story is still about family and fun and some small pictures. The only book (non jewish) that comes to mind is Ramona-on the young side but ok . Mine was not interested in reading about adoption, holocaust and similar topics.she was not the only one in her 5th grade class that still loved books with some pictures that was light reading but not too short and age appropriate vocabulary

amother

Gray

Thu, Jun 30 2016, 2:02 pm

there is a lovely lovely book indirectly about 9/11. its called something like the man who walked btween the towers about someone who walked a tightrope between the two. it was such a beautiful story, almost magical. I loved how the book was able to touch on a sad topic without becoming too heavy. I loved how the book showed how one man's dedication to his craft could be so all encompassing. I definitely don't want my kids being tightrope walkers but the theme and the story were beautiful.

I wish something like that could be done with jewish topics, that there could be some way to highlight the dedication that great men and women have in order to accomplish but with being inspirational instead of shoving-down-your-throat.

I wish books could highlight faith in that kind of way. I'd love to read a book like that to my kids. I'd love books that subtly demonstrate people's faith to hashem and to the ideals we believe in without having a tone that is so morally superior.

sky

Fri, Jul 01 2016, 10:19 am

Ruchel wrote:

Tznius sci fi or fantasy
Male version of wonder of becoming you

I think Yael Mermelsteinis trying to work on kosher sci fi\fantasy.

Not sure if her first try fits the bill, its for teens -
https://www.amazon.com/Face-Mi.....12929

she also has a serialized story in the Hamodia right now about jewish life on another planet in the future - it will probably come out in a book when it is done.

there are also some ideas in this thread:
http://www.imamother.com/forum.....26624

amother

Slateblue

Fri, Jul 01 2016, 11:15 am

As an author of kids' books, I understand that Jewish publishing houses are incredibly timid and operate under very strict restrictions. Although they have gotten better and continue to improve, you cannot expect them to publish books depicting flaws in Frumville. Luckily there's a big wide world of children's literature.

BasMelech120

Fri, Jul 01 2016, 1:22 pm

amother wrote:

Good point. And I've been facing a lot of obstacles with publishing such stories in Jewish mediums (such as Binah Bunch, etc.). For example, I submitted one story about a realistic challenge with illness that one sibling was facing with his brothers diagnosis, and they said it was 'too sad'. That's why I think that books would be a good idea since parents will be able to select books/stories that are applicable to their situation or that they feel will help their child grow.

BasMelech120

Fri, Jul 01 2016, 1:24 pm

amother wrote:

Rather than focusing on 'depicting flaws', I think newer books should be able to openly discuss certain important issues in a respectful way while providing real-life advice to children on how to deal with said situations.

amother

Beige

Fri, Jul 01 2016, 3:41 pm

Volunteer wrote:

There's a series of board books by Fiona Watt called "That's Not My ___." Amazon link
For example, one title is "That's Not My Kitten," and each page has a textured area , and a line of text that says, "That's not my kitten, its ears are too soft [with a soft area]. That's not my kitten, its paws are too rough [with rough area]... its bell is too shiny, etc." The last page says, That's my kitten, its tummy is so fluffy [fluffy patch]."

There should be one that says "That's not my rabbi" with pages like, "That's not my rabbi, his knitted kippah is too rough; his black hat is too soft; his bekishe is too silky; his car is too shiny... etc, That's my rabbi, his beard is so fluffy."

Just a joke

Lol
I love those books! Especially the kitten one- I rub my one years stomach and tell her how fluffy she is and she's giggles like crazy- ahhh!! Its adorable!

amother

Slateblue

Sat, Jul 02 2016, 2:05 pm

BasMelech120 wrote:

What you call "certain important issues" is what frum publishers call "depicting flaws." Hence the problem.