Episode 51: The Nostalgia of Reading & Books
A cozy episode for you! This week we're rewinding back to our childhood and the books and stories that were so memorable to us. We talk about how our childhood reading shaped us and our earliest memories. So here’s our childhood reading list, hope you enjoy!
Gabby mentions buying used children’s books off of www.thriftbooks.com
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Just As Long As We’re Together (Judy Blume)
The Parent Agency by David Baddiel
Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls
The Gruffalo
Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site
Thanks for tuning in and if you have books you think we should know about feel free to comment below or get in touch at hello@makinganeffortpodcast.com
Talk to you next week!
>>> Click here to read the computer generated transcript (note that the transcript isn't perfect)
Gabby: welcome to the making an effort podcast, the podcast, where you get to drop in on a conversation between two friends, discussing all the things they're making an effort with and some of the things they don't. And this week we are diving into nostalgia and happiness and all the things, and we're talking about our favorite childhood books.
And then we might end the episode with like a few books that our kids are enjoying now, or like the children in our lives are enjoying now. So if you're looking for your next favorite children's book, maybe you will find it here or you'll be reminded of a book that you really enjoyed yourself. Great. Mel: I, I don't know about you, but I was such a bookworm when I was young. Like, yeah, I don't, I don't necessarily remember books, which kind of makes me a bit sad. That makes me so quick. Okay. Here, may I, this is where, this is where my mind is at the minute I spend so much time reading to my kids and I'm like, I had this thought, like, I don't really remember the books that my parents read to me or even, I don't even remember them reading to me as a child. Uh, my dad used to make up stories and he would like leave a cliffhanger at the end of the night, like my fourth, my brother and I, and he'd be like, and then they climbed up to the top of the wall. And what did they say? You'll find out tomorrow night. Uh,
Gabby: yeah, that's
Mel: amazing. He does that. So I do that with Levi. Gosh, but was it like, I read her so many books and I am thinking well for flip sake, like she's not even going to remember. I know, but I know it's not the point. I know it's like really good and important and connecting and all out.
Gabby: But I mean, I will say I do remember everything like my mom, my mom was. Big into books. Like all, a lot of my early childhood memories with my mom were like us going to the library with a little red wagon and all of our like reusable cloth tote bags from like the nineties and just like going to story hours at the library and like, and I don't even necessarily always remember. Sitting down and reading, but I remember the books because I was like, there's something about that experience as a kid of just like the way you absorb a picture. Like, do you remember just like staring at a page for ages and like taking in every little detail and like. They're still our pages. Like when I open up books to read to Danny where I'm like, it feels like coming home because it's like a page that is so embedded in my psyche. You know, early Gavi memories. It's like this book is there.
Mel: Totally. It's no coming back to me that we, when we first moved to Canada, so it would've been it. We lived in an apartment and it was like around the corner from the public library. And so I do remember now, like spending a lot of time there. Yeah. Yeah. Libraries are the shifts. Aren't
Gabby: they? They're so amazing. Like we
Mel: do not use our public life. Really? Yeah. Like that is ridiculous. Isn't it?
Gabby: I'm feeling like. I mean, I don't know. I've recently started taking Danny now. He's usually too excited, um, about running around our public library has like a big indoor kids playground, which is amazing. I do take him there on rainy days pretty regularly, because I'm just like, there's nowhere else to go. Um, but. Yeah. Yeah. I think everyone, no, we do go to the library a lot. We do, actually. I will say that.
Mel: I think, I don't know. I think I just have lost, I don't know, uh, lost a bit of, um, connection to that service or something. Um, and I know it's there and I have been before and we are registered and we've. Borrowed books. But I think probably in the back of my mind, it's like, that's just another bit of admin that I'm going to have today. And I think that's probably what stops me from doing it. Oh, totally.
Gabby: I always say we definitely don't. Check out as many books as we do visit the library and read books there. All right. Okay. I can't, I can't cope with that either. Yeah.
Mel: As a resource, even for a rainy day, that's a great idea. I should take a photo cause you know, I'm Saturdays, Levi and Dave go to the football every single Saturday and eight and I have our girls day and that would be a really fun thing for us to do. Uh, Theresa is at the library. Bring a coffee. Yeah. Gabby: Well now what are some of the, uh, books that you have kind of ingrained in your psyche from childhood? And I feel like I have. I mean, I mentioned this disclaimer, before we started recording, but I'm going to mention it here as well. I think you and I are going to have not know all of each other's answers because of just different books and from different countries and different whatever. But I think a lot of it will overlap, especially
Mel: my older, I feel like mine are very, like, this feels very like, um, predictable. Okay. Let's do it for me. Um, And the era that I was like coming of age again, but I, I don't think that there's any book series that I Devard more or was more devoted to that on the Baby-Sitters club. Ooh,
Gabby: okay.
Mel: Yes. So I re I had every single book, all of the special. Oh, like all the different, like versions of things and read them in like read the whole thing through and then started, right. It's like day of watching the office and the whole thing through, and then start, start right at the beginning right away.
Gabby: I love that though. I love it. I still do that with book series, you know, de Ja I'm currently doing that with one of my favorite series right now. And is that like, Factor of like totally
Mel: read. I think it was one of those. It was one of those books for me that like as a new kid and a new player. So I only started reading those when I went to Canada at like eight or nine, but it was one of those like series of books for me that. It had all these different archetypes of like young girls. Yeah. And it was the for, you know, it was the first time that like, I really acknowledged that there was like different, you know, that different characatures of girls and that I might be able to fit into one of those where, you know, like in my head, as I read it, because I didn't, I didn't quite fit. As a newbie and scale, you know? So I was like, yeah. And the whole concept. And there's like, I mean, it's funny to think about it and in light of who I am now in that. It's like these entrepreneurial girls. Right. It's so funny. It's just so funny. Um, but I was totally captivated by it and just like, you know, because the Baby-Sitters club was all about like, you know, these four or five little girls starting a business and like take like looking after kids and all that. Like dramas that come along and the boys and, you know, all the like big issues that are woven in, like, it was my first, like first understanding about eating disorders, abide culture, like, yeah. Yeah. It was low loads of stuff. Those was big things. So I have such a soft spot for it. And Netflix has brought out a babysitter's club series and movie. Um, I'm going to probably force either to watch it and like a year or two, I can't wait till she's old enough to read Baby-Sitters club.
Gabby: I know. I feel like I actually missed the baby. I mean, I know what it is. And like, I've read a small handful of the books, but like out of order, you know, like I didn't sit down and like read the whole series. Um, but I feel like I missed out because it is such a cultural moment that is still. Today, like if it's on Netflix, you know? Um, but yeah, and that like little bit of like responsibility, like your early days of like having, you know, responsibility and looking after someone else and not being the kid, like session fun.
Mel: Totally, totally. Was I, uh, I absolutely loved it and I was obviously. Kirstie Christie Christie. Christie.
Gabby: Okay. Yeah. I I'm sorry. I don't know the characters enough to be like, oh Christy, are you serious? She's like the leader and, you know, going to be disappointing.
Mel: Christie is a later then there was Claudia who was kind of like, um, real alternative, like creative. She was the one that was like, Um, dress and cool. And like ahead of the curve and then Stacy and then Dawn. And then there was like the, like the, the little sisters as well, like Mallory.
Gabby: Oh yeah. Okay. Yeah, there was, there was like
Mel: Mallory and. And then there was Jessie who became like
Gabby: inducted in Atlanta
Mel: and then a boy, Logan who went, who went out with Dawn. I mean, spoiler alert for anyone who's thinking about startling
Gabby: only one boy.
Mel: All right. Yeah. Yeah. That's so
Gabby: that's so
Mel: fun. And there was always like, You know, Claudia had was Japanese. She had like real strict parents and like, um, I'm think, I think. Yeah, I think so. Yeah. Um, and then, oh, it was Marianne was the other one and she was kind of like, she, yeah, she was like really with, with not withdrawn, but like really shy. Oh, I just loved it.
Gabby: I love it so much. Is it, am I remembering this right? Like did every book kind of have like center on one of the girls a little bit more than the others? Like, you know, like there'd be
Mel: books sometimes, but a lot of them were like ensemble. Right, right, right, right. And actually it was Marianne that when I, with Logan, not Dawn, I forgot that. Right. Um, but yeah. Anyway, it was really, I know it was really. Oh, you've been talking about it. And I can just say, I really wish my parents had, had hung onto those bigs and I just, I can picture them all night. And they had like pastel covered all of them, different colors, pastel colors, and like drawings of the, of the like characters in the front. And,
Gabby: oh, so good. I actually do remember the covers were so good, like in, you would like try and figure out what the book was about based off of that. Right. Yep. Cause it was like clues to like what was, what the plot was for that. I keep wanting to say that issue, but no, their books,
Mel: like there's one here called boy
Gabby: crazy. Stacy,
Mel: the ghost at Dawn's house, Christy and the snobs.
Gabby: Oh my
Mel: God. So good. Okay. Okay. You go tell me.
Gabby: Oh, man. I mean, going back to like early, early childhood, if you are looking for nostalgia books, I actually do. I collect. Books for Danny and Danny's library. I say it's for it's for Danny. It's totally for me. Yeah. Where, like, I mean, there's plenty of amazing new books and we'll talk about those later, but I ha I do have a collection of like picture books from my childhood that I collect, like the, uh, Angelina ballerina series, the Eloise books, uh, You know, is she like stays at the Ritz Carlton. She lives in the Ritz Carlson and then visits different ones from across the, the world. Do you guys get the LOE series?
Mel: No, that she likes, I don't know. We probably did, but I don't remember.
Gabby: Um, she goes to Paris and London and Moscow, the madeleines series, you know, um, At, in, in a house, something in Paris covered in vines, lived 12 little girls in two straight lines. Um, loved all the Madeline books. Um, uh, and yeah, then there's like authors that you get really attached to. Um, Or like illustrators, um, like Tommy Depola dipolar w what's his name? I forget how you say it anyway. Um, I, but anyway, what I was going to say is I do have a highlight of a lot of those books on my Instagram page, um, and my highlights for children's books and they it's like a nostalgia city. So if you do, are looking for a bit of childhood nostalgia, um, Feel free to check that out, but I, I collect them. So I collect them usually off thrift books.com and. It's one of my favorite things. And like, I it's like Christmas when they arrive. Like I just like make a cup of coffee and I take the stack of books and I like go through each page. And I just like revisit, you know, six, seven year old Gabby
Mel: assess. When you were in his bag stone, like, would you
Gabby: move till I was seven? So we have a lot of early book memories from before. So all of our library memory, like all my library memories are for, from before I moved there. Um, but then we moved to Pakistan and we didn't have a library. And sometimes, you know, we, we could, we would get sent books for Christmases and birthdays, and my mom did pack like a ton of our favorites. Like we had 10 trunks for our whole family in like, that's all we had for family possessions. And I think two of those trunks were like children's books. Oh. Like it was a big deal. Um, but. Uh, I was very early, so there is a, this is really dorky, but I'm just going to share it anyway. Um, like, do you remember the books? So here, well, I'll, I'll start this with a question. Do you remember the book that was your first book you read by yourself and not your, a book your parents read to you. Do you know what I'm saying? Yeah.
Mel: I know what you're saying. Um, I don't think I can remember. No,
Gabby: well, mine was no, that's not a terrible thing. I just, I have this so crystallized in my head and it, it very much plays into what I enjoy reading today, which is cozy murder mysteries, because there was a series called the Mandy series and. And this is why it's dorky. It was like Christian girl, Victorian girl solves mysteries in her community. And they're not even murder mysteries. They're just like, oh, there was a noise in the attic, um, who took them to
Mel: Bibles from the church? Pew. Yeah,
Gabby: basically. But the, so my mom started reading. You know this book to me when I was seven and there's no pictures in it. It was like, you know, my, one of my first non, non picture books. And she would, you know, read as much as she could and then be like, okay, we have to be done and go to bed. And one time I was just like, I can't wait. Like I have to know what happens in this book. So I just picked it up and finished it. And that was like the beginning of my. I just picked the books up and, and read them myself. Um, which like, I mean, yeah, I think it was like seven ish. So I didn't know. I mean, yes, I did know how to read before that, but that was kind of the thing that propelled me into this is like, I need to know what happens. Mel: Oh yeah. You know, I remember so when I was, when I was young, believe it or not, I was really sure. Gabby: Like, I really actually struggle. I struggled believing it because you're telling me as a little girl. So Mel: like it is age, really shy five, six. So my parents sent me to, uh, what was called elocution lessons, which like speech and drama, basically. And what we would, what we would have to do and those, and still do, um, w what you still do in those classes is you get like a passage from a book and you have to memorize it. And then you have to kind of like, do like a performance of it, or not, not like a performance, but you have to recite it. So you do these, and then you do all these like festivals and recitals and all that kind of stuff. Um, so from like, my parents were like, we think this would really help her come out of her shell, which is so hilarious. Um, Um, and they sent me to lessons. And I remember for one of my kind of later on maybe a year or two in one of the passages that I had to memorize was from Charlie and the chocolate factory. Um, I know, and it was a scene. It was the scene where, um, Charlie comes, Charlie comes back with the golden ticket to grandpa Joe and grandpa George and grandma. I can't remember anyway, so it was that sane. So I had to like memorize that and I, I remember being like, I had the photocopied sheets, but I was like, I need to know more about this. So we ended up getting the big part of the library and I remember reading that and that would have been pretty early on. And that was the former before babysitter's club era. So, yeah, Gabby: that was a real doll. We're all doll. I mean, you could spend a whole episode talking about rural adult books, guys. Chris's favorite one of his favorite authors full-stop to this day, we have every rule doll book. Um, but Charlie and the chocolate factory, that was when my mom read to me and I have such vivid memories of. You know, the big reveal at the end with like the everlasting Gobstopper and like books like that, or there's like a twist and you don't see it coming. That is like my love language. I just, I, I remember all of those scenes from those early books of like what the big twist was. Totally. So hardcore. Oh man, that's a good one. Oh yeah. I
Mel: love Charlie. And the chocolate factory. I probably read that a million times as well. Um, I think at the same time, as I was like into the babysitters club, it was almost like a lot of the girls of my age, read those and then went on to like sweet valley high, right? Like goosebumps. And all of that, but I just like circulated back to the babysitter's club. I didn't want to, I didn't want to move on at all. That was also like playing with Barbies. Not appropriate.
Gabby: Yeah. Yeah. Same.
Mel: Hey everyone. We wanted to take a quick break in this episode and let you know that we have a Patreon page now. Uh, you know, we love, love, love doing this podcast each week and connected with you and our Patreon page is a way for you to get to hang out. Um, and for us all to be together even more and help us cover the costs of running the podcast. So we can keep our sponsored ads to a minimum it's just $5 or four points a month to access it. And we have some really exciting plans for spending more time with you guys there this year. So when you become a patron. You'll get access to our monthly, making an effort magazine, where we're going to be sharing all of our best recommendations for food and books and TV and music and what we're wearing and all that good stuff. You'll get a patron only extra video podcasts from us each month and an invitation to join us for our annual. Making an effort, virtual cocktail party, where we get to hang out together and meet each other more. So if you want to join the Mecca and effort gang, you can find a link to our patron and the show notes. Or you can go to www.patreon.com forward slash making an effort podcast. Can't wait to see you inside. Gabby: So my coming of age books that I really enjoyed were the Judy bloom books. Like I was a big Judy Blume girl. Um, and I read most of her. Yeah. She, I don't think they were a series as much as just like standalone, uh, novels. And I read most of those. And I remember those were like really impactful for me. Like just all those like early. Teen girl, dramas that you have with your friends, like, cause that's really what it comes down to. Isn't it like you and your friends are changing and growing up at different rates and you have to negotiate your old friendship with your new self. Um, you know, there's yeah. Like it is just such a, it's such a. And formative time in anyone's life. So to just have it in a book and be able to read about it happening to someone else is actually really important. It was for me
Mel: anyway, I found it really
Gabby: important. And then my best friend and I, from that same age, cause like we would have been 12. Um, we read started writing our own books and they were,
Mel: oh yeah, you did.
Gabby: They were, you know, we were, the characters were like loosely based off of ourselves and like, you know, how we saw ourselves or how we wished we were. Um, and then the. We had our crushes were like our love interests. And like, I mean, it was so sweet and like innocent and it was like, you know, nothing like it was not, it was not anything. Um, Immature pornographic. Yeah. But it was still like, ah, they held hands in the back of the card. Oh. You know, we felt like a really big deal to us at the time.
Mel: Yeah. I hope nobody ever sees this.
Gabby: We literally called it a burnable book because you were so like. Simultaneously obsessed with it and embarrassed, right. So
Mel: much. Do you know? What's really embarrassing for me. Is that what like, I, my, my mum was a massive Raider, right? Like a huge Raider, honestly. You would just never have really seen her without a book in her hand, but on her nightstand all the time. Um, she used to just always sit in our, like, you know, the good air quotes, good room, just sit in a cup of tea, read in a book Devard books. And I remember like when I was a teenager, she like, I would just read what she was writing because I like w it wasn't. I dunno if it was just like Braden wasn't ma a massive part of my teenage year. But I would just read what she was reading and she was always reading like some sort of like Christian Love, but right. If you go on the usual, so some sort of redeeming love or like a what's that author wrote all those books, Francine rivers,
Gabby: Francine rivers, Beverly. Beverly something anyway.
Mel: Yeah, yeah. At your friend's saying rivers, and then there was also, and I'm going to say, I really enjoyed these. There was also a bunch of like Amish setting. Yes. Hype. Gabby: Yes. Finish your story. That's Mel: it? That is the story is that my mom, like there was like dozens of face and it was all about Amish and love stories and like, It's really quaint, but, or like someone that's been extradited from the Amish community and you know, all of this kind of stuff. And I was like, obsessed. So that's really embarrassing to admit, but I was, I was really into those books whenever my mom was reading them, I would just, we would just like read them together or like pass them back and forth or whatever. I don't know.
Gabby: I, I don't think you should be embarrassed because apparently. A huge, huge industry. So a few years ago, Chris and I, we were in Colorado for something. Um, and we were, we met with some publishers who have a Christian there, some Christian book publishers for something, I don't remember, not for ourselves, just they were at an event and we were talking and we were like, so what is it. What books do you sell the most of, you know, starting conversation. And they're like, well, like our biggest by far, like nothing else even comes close to eclipsing is the Amish Christian romance novel category. It's like a multi million dollar industry. I believe this Chris is like, so like, I was so nice. I started like writing fiction myself. In 2020. I haven't got very far. I will admit that. But Chris was like, why are you wasting your time with all these? Right, right. I'm trying to write all these like murder, mystery novels. You need to be writing Amish romance novels. And I was like, Christopher, I cannot put my name. I would have to put a different name. It was like some kind of Ken name, like a ghostwriter. I don't know, like Samantha, um, uh, harassing. Yeah. Samantha rathers oh
Mel: my goodness. That is so funny. But I believe that it's a huge industry. Like my mom Devard series upon series of those books. I didn't get, I didn't read all of them, but she was up c'est with them. Unlike the church library, all like. Was always, it always had like Winton lists for these flubbing books, which is also, I feel like a big mark of purity culture. Yes. It's
Gabby: like not allowed to do anything. And it's like the sexual tension of like, yeah. We'll pray for you instead of doing you. Oh, my
Mel: word. So funny. So I feel really a little bit like. The, I didn't get the Judy bloom, um, of, you know, well, this is Gabby: my life. This is the best part of children's books is that if you choose to have kids or if you can have kids or whatever, you get to relive that a little bit through them, if they allow you. And now this is the downside is they don't always love all the same books as you do, but that would be a fun one to kind of like, I feel like there are books of Danny's that I. I don't know if he'll ever like, but I buy them for him. And then I'm like, I also just read them, like, I will sit down with a cup of tea and like skim through it, or like even, you know, like real doll books. Like there's some, like they're their children's books, but like I spent one Christmas just reading all of his books. We have like one Christmas break. Um,
Mel: I know my brother bought Levi, um, the full set of the famous five books. You heard of the famous five and he's not one bit interested, not one bit interested. So they're downstairs. Cause I refused to let them go. I'm like, no, maybe one day, maybe one day or maybe EDA will like them. And then he also has all of the rural dial books and he's, he said he's read some of those in scale. Um, so yeah, he's, I think he's enjoyed those, but he's read most of those in school. Like for class. Whatever like yeah. Literacy or whatever. Um, and what's the other series that I was thinking of? Why as well there was, oh, um, was the, the Chronicles of Narnia. That was such a big series for us as kids as well. And I think, I think that's the only one that I can really remember. Somebody reading to me. And also then like being so obsessed with the TV, like the British TV series of it. I don't know if you've seen it. Um, so it was like from like, from like the early nineties. Oh, I know this series. Yeah. And it's really like, no, when you look at it, you're like, whoa, this is Tara. This is really terribly done. Um, it felt
Gabby: magical,
Mel: but it was so magical at the time. Um, and I, and Levi has watched the movie like the couple of the different, different Chronicles of Narnia movies and stuff and loved them. So I would love for him to get into the actual novels, like the different novel sofa as well at some stage, because it's such a great adventure book. Isn't it?
Gabby: It is. I will. I didn't really, this is embarrassing to admit, but I'll just say it anyway. I really tried to read the Chronicles of Narnia books when I was. I don't know, 11 or 12. And I just found maybe because I was reading Harry Potter simultaneously, and Harry Potter is such an easy read and so fast paced. And the Chronicles of Narnia are a bit like more old school and the way that it's written.
Mel: Yes, because it is, yeah, it
Gabby: is. I found it really dense to read. Um, and that maybe, I mean, that could have just been my experience, but I remember revisiting the Chronicles of Narnia. As like leasurly reading in college and really enjoying them again. Um, not that you have to be college stage reading levels and , that's not what I'm saying, but that was my experience. Reading those books was like, I knew all the stories because of that series, the BBC series. But I think we read. Uh, language and the wardrobe as a family. And then that was the only one I could really get into until later on. But I mean,
Mel: yeah. And so, yeah, so I'm excited for what my, my kids are gonna enjoy reading. Like Levi's almost 11 and he, like, a lot of his friends are really into the David Walliams books. Um, Like obviously Harry Potter and stuff. And he hasn't really got into that and I've never read Harry Potter. No, he's watched all of the movies, but I, Harry Potter was like, you know, cause I'm a few years older than you. I feel like I missed that
Gabby: whole time. Um,
Mel: but, um, I reckon he probably will get into reading that soon enough, but he has loved, he has really loved the diary of a wimpy kid. That series and he has really loved David , uh, kids' books as well.
Gabby: Um, he, his books actually does remind that does ring a bell for me. So his
Mel: books are the parent agency person controller,
Gabby: uh,
Mel: the boy who got accidentally famous. Okay. Wait, that's that kind of thing. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and there, yeah, I mean, They're quite new. I think like 2016 has Ms. Books first started coming out that kind of time, 2015. So he started to read those and enjoy those, um, ADA who's almost six. Uh, she still gets booked shreds. Like most nights and she knows she can read most of the books that she has. It just texts us texts bedtime a little bit longer if that's even possible, because bed time currently texts are fricking long. Um, but we love, she loves like she loves the good night stories for rebel girls. So
Gabby: I've heard about this book, but I haven't read it myself yet.
Mel: So it was literally just like a compilation. And it's so interesting that she likes this because she's six and so visual should still be quite significant for her. Um, but she, so it's full of stories of like, just basically like a little. One page or two pages about women throughout, like throughout history. So like, and like loads of women that we would never even have heard of. Yeah. Which is cool. All of these kind of, yeah. Badass ladies. So she, like, she loves getting a rebel girls story and she always talks about how, like, mommy, you're a rebel girl or. Oh, I'm like, yeah. And she's like, am I a rebel girl? I'm like, yeah. She's like, I think I'm going to be a rebel girl. I think I'm going to have a big bite me. And I'm like, and you probably will. It might be like, uh, I pay like a Gabby: biography,
Mel: but I wild gr but I'm like, gosh. Yeah. So she loves that. Um, which I, I reckon like girls. And he edge up to like, I love, I love reading about them, the women in those bikes. Um, and then there, yeah, we also have a few, like there were, there were a few that were like really nostalgic and special for both kids when they were young. So, um, there's one called. People. Do you remember? Did you have the people, but no, I didn't. Here's a little baby. 1, 2, 3 setting on his high chair. What does he see people? Um, like I could almost recite it, so, oh my gosh. Effortlessly, because we've read it so many times, um, to the people book for very, very small kids. Um, and then. My kids also love the Julia Donaldson book. So room and the broom, the wheel and the snail. So Gruffalo, or that was books as well. Um, yeah. What about Danny? What does he, what kind of boosts is he into?
Gabby: Well, he's definitely a little bit younger than your kids. Um, but yeah, I mean, he, he loves any book. And I don't know if it's just like a sensory auditory thing, but he loves books that rhyme or that are like poems. So he's still like really enjoys, you know, Or at least. Yeah. So like goodnight, goodnight construction site. Um, a lot of the Oliver Jeffers books. I mean, I feel like he has like one or two new ones every year now, but, um, and they're always, so the humor in those are so, so great. Um, he loves like goodnight moon. We recite that together. Like every single night, um, Yeah. I don't know. He loves a rhyme that guess I, so I wish it was easy to really deliver when you're, you know, in the three to four year old book category. Um, so yeah, I'm trying to think. Oh, This is not around me book, but the other one, he really enjoys his, his Daniel tiger books, which are basically like episode recaps in like a paragraph
Mel: of like Paul patrol books like
Gabby: that. I'm like, I wish it was like cooler, but he really loves really, since Daniel tiger
Mel: doesn't need to be cool if he
Gabby: likes that he likes what he likes. Um, that's one of the ones that gets re read a lot.
Mel: There's some code books that we've got the kids, so he should get them like a couple of weeks for Christmas, like kind of special ones, like really beautiful hardback ones. Um, And there's a couple of that. I've been like big hits and really, really beautiful. Um, so the first one that I, I, we absolutely loved is one called the last words. Um, so it's by, uh, Robert. McFarlane and Jackie Morris, and it's all a bite, like words that have been taken out of the detection rate, but it's on there mostly nature. I think this is right. And they're mostly nature words. And so they thought it was like really sad that kids weren't going to be exposed to so many, um, So many of these beautiful nature books. Um, and yeah, so like it ha it like. Goes through different words within nature, like acorn and, um, fair is going to be
Gabby: taken out of the dictionary. I don't
Mel: know something about this. I might be MCing, NABA, ALP. I've met him at that bet dramatic, but maybe I haven't, I don't know.
Gabby: I, I believe so. There's
Mel: something about it where it was, this book was created on it's absolutely beautifully illustrated, but it kind of then gives you like a, like a poem, a. Word and what that bit of nature means. It's so gorgeous. So it's called the last words. And then there's this big that is currently obsessed with. Forever to raid. So I'm just like hiding it under the beds, but we do find it. Oh, that one's just not here. Um,
Gabby: it's called, it's called.
Mel: This is how we do it, right. It is absolutely gorgeous. Like it's probably one of the most beautifully illustrated. Books that I've ever seen. Like, I may, it is stunning and it's a day in the lives of seven different children from around the world. So it like gives you. Like what they, what their names are, where they live, who their families are, what, um, how they get to school, what their school is like, what their teachers like at what they eat for breakfast, what they eat for lunch, what they do after school, what they do, um, how they help around the hosts, all of those things from all. Seven different countries and it is so gorgeous. It is so, so gorgeous. It just takes so fricking long. Um, so it's called, this is how we do it by Matt lamb off. Um, and it's only a couple of years old, but it is really, really beautiful. So kids from, and there's a kid from like Uganda, Italy, Peru, Iran, India, and Russia, I think. Okay. So. Yeah, that's cool. It's really, really, really fun. And then yeah, at the end you get to see the real families that it's based on.
Gabby: Oh, that's even better. Oh my gosh. I love that.
Mel: Yeah. I love that. But I'm telling you, it takes a long time to rate. So if you like, if parents aren't there, here listening to this and they're like, oh, I'm going to get that. I want you to just proceed with caution and know that you're what you're doing is committing to your child being obsessed with that. And it taken 20 minutes to read it every single night. So don't, I'm calm. I'm
Gabby: for me, definitely. Still going to be ordering that book
Mel: for her. Yeah, that's beautiful. And then the other ones. That we love are the series of, um, Iggy Peck architect, Sophia Valdez feature, present ADA twist scientist, you know, those ones. Have you seen those? Yep. So obviously, cause it, uh, is ADA, she got that big from one of our neighbors for like a present when she was born and then we collected the rest of them and they are such Cola stories of like kids that do cool things in their communities. And. Yeah, I really, really love it. And then final one that I'm going to talk about is a book that our friends, um, Peyton Ava bought us called the color monster. Ooh. And it's like a popup book, but it's all about, uh, emotions that helping you to understand emotions, helping kids to understand emotions. And then there's a space at the, at the end of the book where they can like. Oh three, all the different colors and say which one they felt more or less of, like by pulling the thing, pulling up those cardboard. But, um, yeah, so it's really good. Kind of emotional intelligence, 1 0 1 for little ones. So
Gabby: that's really nice. I really liked that. Um, and I love children's books and. I know so
Mel: much. I think you have to go into it, knowing that you're going to be part, part of that, um, as a parent for a long time. So it should be, should really like the books that you're reading as well, because I agreed you're going to be involved in that for several years outside of fail. Abidance and I also love, I love like finding. More diverse books and not just about diversity, but from diverse authors and stuff like that. But we'll link all of this in the show notes, especially the Baby-Sitters club. Gabby: Uh, what is the one Stacey? The snobs coming right up Stacy and the snobs. Yeah. Um,
Mel: okay guys, uh, if you have. Uh, a little bit of nostalgia that we may have forgot about that you want to share about your books. You can always get in touch with us. Um, on Instagram, I'm a male ligans. Gabby's at gab Llewellyn and our email address is hello at making an effort, podcast.com. And we love hearing from you. Um, yeah. Uh, thanks for listening. Um, maybe this has inspired you to hit the library. Uh, if it does let us know, and we will talk to you again next week. Bye.
Gabby: Thank you. So, so much for listening to this week's episode of the making and effort podcast, it feels like such an honor to get to connect with you all every week like this. And we just want to say a massive thanks. You can always get in touch with. At our email address, which is hello@makinganeffortpodcast.com or you can get in touch with us individually on our Instagram accounts. In our DMS, you can get in touch with Mel at Mel Wiggins, or you can get in touch with me at gab Llewellyn. And if you're feeling really generous today, we would be so grateful if you took the time to like, and subscribe and maybe even leave a review and maybe even share this episode with your friends. Social media. Um, those kinds of things go such a long way for podcasters like us. And, uh, it would be such an honor to receive that from you. So thank you. And we will talk to you next week. Bye.
