First Ever Books: A Chronology

Kimi’s book collection when he was younger was just a maximum of 6 books kept in a cube in a shelf. These were just word and counting books mostly given by loved ones. Though small in number, they were all put into good use as majority of them are now tattered.

At first, we bought him two small board books about animals and everyday objects. He liked it as much as he wanted to munch on it. It was so funny. Now, these books are still in rotation in our shelf. Lately, whenever these books get picked for read-aloud, he would grab the book and let me know that he will be the one to read the book to me. It is so adorable to see how the tables are gradually being turned.

I remember buying him his first ever picture book entitled The Little Lion Who Lost Her Roar by Jedda Robaard. It is about a young lion who is looking for her lost roar from unlikely places only to find out that it is within her all along. I love the message of the book as much as the flaps that are in it. I wanted to expose Kimi early on to the reality that he has a voice and that voice is unique to him. He does not have to attune it to anyone else other than his own truth. More so, he does not have to wait for an external thing or another person to validate his voice/opinion. He can be confident in his own voice. And I think this book is a subtle way of imparting the message to him. Since I bought this when Kimi was still a baby, most of the flaps are now torn. Nonetheless, I loved reading it to him.

I think we bought him his very first counting book next which features characters from Eric Carle’s books. It came with a magnetic drawing board that Kimi loves to use now to practice writing letters. I found it too massive for Kimi so I cut it in half and separated the book from the drawing board.

The first ever hardcover book I bought him was the The Flag Book by Lonely Planet Kids. I bought this as he started his huge affiliation with anything flags when he was around 2 years old which I wrote about in another blog post. It is his most beloved book and I think the book that is most used.

One day while I was browsing an online bookstore, I found this book called Kindness Makes Us Strong by Sophie Beer. The happy-looking and sunshiny cover is what has gotten me attracted to it. The illustrations are quirky and captivating. But more than that, the title is already a powerful message in itself. I want Kimi to know early on that being kind is not an act of weakness but a strength that could change the lives of those people that he meets and would definitely help to make this world a nicer place to live in.

Sophie Beer also has these two other books called Love Makes A Family and Change Starts With Us that are looks so worthy to look into.

I also love wandering around Aldi as there are times that they release nice picture books for kids for more than half the original price. I found this book collection called the The Feelings Series by Trace Moroney which is perfect for introducing him to the different emotions and feelings that we are bound to experience in this life. I picked up Kind and Love just to complement the Sophie Beer’s book that we already have. These are all perfect as I want our home to be filled with love and kindness so for these words to be scattered around our home would perfectly act as a quick reminder to be more loving and kinder as much as we can.

As you can see, his book collection is a mishmash of what our likes are and the things, concepts and values that are most important to our family. It is hard to pick books from a plethora of choices but I think knowing my family’s values and interests is a good baseline for me in coming up with a collection that we would all enjoy. I try to be intentional with what I put in our house and that includes the books that I buy for Kimi. Books for me should extend our knowledge, inspire, complement and highlight things I want to foster in our home. If the message does not ring well with me, I do not even consider it.

Now that Kimi is getting more interested with the spoken and written word, our book collection is already growing. I will constantly share with you here our book haul and the books that we thoroughly enjoy. Until then!