Todd Parr Children’s Books

(RaisingX.com) We first received Todd Parr’s This Is My Hair as a gift for Xavier. You can’t help but laugh when you see the kid like style, animation, and colors. Immediately, Xavier was drawn in by the colorful pages and oversized pictures.

But, the bright colors and funny pictures aren’t the only or even the best thing that Todd Parr books have to offer. While, Xavier was flipping from page to page exploring, I was loving the message. They are simple fun kid friendly prose, with lessons teaching acceptance, environmental stewardship, and love. With quotes like:
“Peace is keeping the water blue for all the fish.” The Peace Book
“It’s okay to come from a different place.” It’s Okay to Be Different
“Some families have one parent instead of two.” The Family Book

With so many kids coming from different places and backgrounds it is great to see an author using his talents to help kids feel good about who they are. His books all feature characters of different shapes, sizes, and colors. Your child will probably find things in the book s/he can relate to. We hope it will never be an issue, but we know that being biracial Xavier probably will face some awkward situations. So when reading to her “no matter how your hair looks, always feel good about yourself”, I feel like maybe I’m already helping her love who she is. It sounds kind of silly, but in a lot of ways many of the things we are most self-conscious about are.

The great themes would be lost if the books didn’t hold little people’s attention, so Todd Parr combines these with a goofiness even our 20 month old giggles at. Mixing in humor like:

“It’s okay to help a squirrel collect nuts.” It’s Okay to Be Different

“Rubbing noses feels good.” The Feel Good Book

I am pretty sure that you will find yourself smiling along with your little one. A favorite of X’s dad is “This is my hair after my brother cut it” from This Is My Hair (picture a long haired kid with the right side of his head shaved). He especially likes this as he remembers being grounded after cutting play dough out of his little brother’s hair.

In Todd Parr’s books you get a wonderful mix of learning and fun for your child to grow up with! I think his books are what children’s books should be and after we received the first one as a gift, I went out and bought five more! You can check out more titles by Todd Parr here. Or, just check out www.ToddParr.com to see his other projects as well as fun activities ideas.

5/5 monkeys

www.raisingx.com

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