NEW BEGINNINGS

January always gets me thinking about New Beginnings - a chance for assessment and resolutions, a time to appreciate the past year in retrospect and to anticipate the upcoming year and the change we will strive for in our lives.

Perhaps because we have also just celebrated Nativity, the New Year brings to mind new birth and hope.

These two children's books reflect that appreciation and anticipation of new beginnings - in the birth of babies...

JANUARY'S CHILD by Andrea Alban Gosline, illustrated by Lisa Burnett Bossi. 

"You were born in your very own month of the year and the world was waiting to welcome you here with daydreams and wishes and circles of love and in turn you brought a gift from above...." 

Every day is someone's birthday, which January's Child celebrates with creative attributes for each month of the year. More positive than the traditional "Monday's Child" rhyme, and geared for families to share among youngest and oldest members, this is a beautifully illustrated treasury, perfect as a gift for birthdays or new babies.

ON THE NIGHT YOU WERE BORN by Nancy Tillman.

On the night you were born, the moon smiled with such wonder that the stars peeked in to see you and the night wind whispered, "Life will never be the same..."

The sweet rhyming text of this book celebrates and praises the uniqueness of a newborn.  Creation - polar bears, giraffes, geese, the moon, the wind - is shown as jubilant in the poetry and rich illustrations of this beautiful book (also a wonderful baby shower or birthday gift)!