Se7en + 1 and A Child of Books…

I promised a week of books for our readers, settle in and enjoy… here come a series of book posts, beginning with a hugely anticipated, fills your heart with hope, kind of a book. I have been looking forward to reading A Child of Books since the beginning of the year… and it has finally arrived.

Before we get onto the book we have to ask the question, “Which book made you a child of books?” If you search for the hashtag #achildofbooks you will find hundreds of folk declaring the book that made them a child of books.

A Child of Books by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston: There is a reason that this book has been so much anticipated… it is quite the most exquisite picture book, a story that captures the heart of little people and intrigues the minds of grownups. Really this book is a triumph. It is at first glance a dreamy story of a little girl, who comes from the world of stories… she invites a friend and they go off on an ethereal adventure past the serious people that have forgotten the world of books, over mountains, past castles, on top of clouds… you explore the world of stories and finally reach the key. Along with the lyrical words are the most incredible collage illustrations, created using the words from classic books. Here comes the intrigue, for example the ocean she floats on is a collections of quotes from The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle, Robinson Crusoe and the Swiss Family Robinson… the mountain they climb is from Peter Pan… all in all 40 classic children’s books were used to create the illustrations. You have to meet the illustrator, Sam Winston, over here and the author and see some of his remarkable illustrations, who has written so many favourite books, Oliver Jeffers over here.

Not to mention, this book arrived by special delivery… Yes, we get a lot of packages, but not a lot of them say “SPECIAL DELIVERY” on them!!!

I was sent this absolutely stunning book lover’s gift, packed with the most adorable goodies for a book lover, we were intrigued… stunning notebooks, amazing little post-it-notes, a feather pen, a sweet smelling candle, and tea of course… all sorts of things to help you enjoy your reading experience and then of course a special book… A Child of Books. The gift came via The Book Case, which is a subscription box for book lovers… have you ever heard of such a thing? If you are looking for an extra special gift for a book loving friend then this is the way to go… a delightful box filled with themed bookish love and a hot off the press book, is shipped each month.

So I asked my favourite people, which books made them a child of books? Which was the book that turned them into book lovers and I thought they would all stumble and not be able to come up with just one book… but there was a spontaneous one title answer from each of them…

And for myself…

Forget the movie, read the book (which is true for every book ever!!!). Harriet the Spy was more than a book for me… it was the book in which I became me, I was the kid in jeans with a notebook, that roamed the neighbourhood with a notebook and pencil… not to mention so many tomato sandwiches. The thing is before I read it, I was the kid who did whatever the world presented to me, wore the clothes my mum bought, played the games we all played, read the books that I was told to read. Harriet the Spy gave me an opinion, that I didn’t know I had before I read it. In an age where little girls hardly wore trousers, let alone jeans, this was huge… Harriet the Spy was life changing for me, this book was my key to the world. After I read this book I became me, well me with a strong streak of Harriet.

So I am wondering does everyone have a book that turned them into “A Child of Books.” Stop by and leave a comment if you would like to share your own magical book…

This is not a sponsored post, I was not paid to write it and opinions expressed are as usual, entirely my own.