Kids Book Pick: Chocolate Box Charm in a Cozy Tale
Children's picture book recommendations for preschoolers and beyond
Children’s Library Book Picks is a weekly newsletter featuring one favorite children’s picture book from the library stacks. It is enthusiastically approved by a journalist, bibliophile mother and her preschooler son.
My son and I rent a stack of 10 or so children’s books from the library every week. As I’ve already expressed, not all children's books are created equal. Here is our pick of the best.
Chocolate box charm in the cozy tale
“Cocoa Magic” by Sandra Bradley and Gabrielle Grimard
This story has all the charm of a gold-wrapped chocolate box, which it happens to feature. The sweet characters are drawn with doll-like rosy cheeks and smile dimples, dressed in 1920s garb in a charming village setting. The main character, Daniel, secretly delivers prettily wrapped chocolates to his sad or lonely classmates with the help of his chocolatier uncle.
What I liked: The illustrations are the star. With beautiful artwork that envelops the reader in cozy feels, I closed the book thinking of cold holidays, the smell of coffee and a beautifully wrapped truffle. (Sigh). The story also illustrates acts of kindness in a way little ones can understand. This is particularly useful this week, as I try to teach my son what love looks like. Love is kindness. Kindness is sharing chocolates.
What my preschooler liked: The pictures of truffles on the opening page and many pages thereafter. He liked to talk about what flavors might be inside and admired the big bundle of gold-wrapped candies Daniel handed out to his friends. The love of this book intensified after I bought him a delicately decorated truffle at a chocolate shop and let him eat it the next time we read the book together.
