An Alternative to Red Hearts

Still relevant four years later 🙂

Dianne Wolfer's avatarDianne Wolfer

Junior school teachers are probably helping their students make heart cards this week. As I walked past a mass of commercial ‘Made Somewhere Else’ heart stuff that may end up in landfill, I thought that a wonderful alternative present for a loved one, is a book celebrating love, not just romantic love… And that got me thinking about picture books with themes of love. Two favourites came to mind immediately; Old Pig (Margaret Wild & Ron Brooks) and Samsara Dog (Helen Manos & Julie Vivas).

I love both of these books. Both honour selfless love (perhaps that’s the best kind) and loss. Both are also anthropomorphic. I love animal stories too. Animal characters cross gender and racial boundaries. For me, they strip away the ‘trimmings’ and help young readers find the core of a story.

Love. There are so many other wonderful picture books on my shelves celebrating love; in glorious shades…

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Author: Dianne Wolfer

I am a children's author. My latest titles are 'Munjed Al Muderis from refugee to surgical inventor', a Chinese language edition of 'The Dog with Seven Names' and 'In the Lamplight' the third title in the award-winning 'Light series'. You may also be interested in my other website, www.animalswhotalk.com, which celebrates anthropomorphic characters in literature.

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