Joy of reading:
today I want to start by talking about it.
What is it for you? Perhaps it is to gain knowledge, to be opened up to a new world, or to come up with some inspiration. Perhaps, if reading a picture book, it is to please your eyes with beautiful illustrations.
These are commonly experienced by reading print and digital books, however, there are many other joys reserved for print books only. For this, I would always favour print books, no matter how much our everyday life is to be digitalised.
For example, I can easily go back and forth between the pages at my own pace; sometimes slowly, some other times quickly jumping from one to the other.
Other joys can be materialistic. I like the texture of books bound in fine paper, warm colours printed on them, and smells of ink and paper that become peculiar with age.
And this precious book by Dahlov Ipcar, an American painter and author, gives me such joys of good quality.
I found this book at a tiny bookstore in a quartier I used to live in, at the historic city centre of Bologna. A girl at the store recommended it to me saying it was her favourite, and immediately, it became mine, too.
What makes this book special is in how it is made. Originally published in 1960 using a hand-picked colour palette and traditional printing techniques, it had been out of print (and the artist's lithographic plates were lost long before) until being reprinted in 2014 faithfully restoring the artistic quality of the first edition.
I can spend hours looking at these colourful pages filled with animals illustrated in warm tones of old-time, just like when I find myself in front of stunning masterpieces inside art museums. It simply makes me happy. There aren’t many books like this.
So, it was natural for me to pick this treasure as the first book to read aloud to my new-born son in the past winter, although the book targets children much older than his age. It doesn't matter if he understands nothing. What matters is to share with him what I enjoy.
The book is written in simple but rhythmical narratives. The protagonist, a little boy, tells how much he likes animals while imagining all the dream jobs he can think of to be surrounded by various kinds of animals. He may even teach readers some names of unfamiliar spices!
However, I believe the best thing this book tells us is to imagine and dream of doing something based on what we love, and perhaps to suggest that we actually do it. It’s a simple thing but we may forget it as we grow up.
Not everyone may make his dream job come true, but we can always remember a little passion in our life and teach our kids the same. I want to cherish this book for years to come with my son.
The author must have been the boy in the book who says “ I like animals,” because pretty much all her works feature animals. Now it is my little dream to find and read other classic books by Ipcar, unfortunately many are out of print, and also to see her original artwork.
About today's book
I like animals
Written and illustrated by Dahlov Ipcar
Published in 1960 and reprinted in April 2014 by Flying Eye Books
Also published in French as J'aime les animaux and in Spanish as Me gustan los animales
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