As the countdown begins to Christmas, our lives get wrapped up in finding gifts for people that we adore or are forced to be at least civil with. A book, as my column would obviously recommend, is one of the best presents for Christmas because giving a good read is like introducing your loved ones to a new friend who can help them improve, expand their horizon, and learn a little about themselves. Add to that, books are the best way to help your friends improve themselves without being too blunt about it. This is true though until you give them The Big Book of Hygiene and bundle it up with everything from The Body Shop. If they don’t read your present over the course of a year and become your frenemy, you can always make them feel guilty by asking if they read the book and say things like, “I love the chapter on different soaps! don’t you agree?”
For this season, I dug up three wise books that will be enjoyed by both kids and will make adults rediscover the kid in them. Cross your fingers and hope these finds are what you’d unwrap this Christmas Eve.
Giving a helping hand
My friend Ferdie Cruz, a Southridge teacher, pointed out that men, aside from their brains, are special creatures because of their hands. I remember this fact as I read the book Be Hands On! Inspiring Volunteer Stories Hands. This was compiled by Hands On Manila Foundation, a networking organization for people looking for that special social project to put their thumbs to good use.
As you go through the lives of the volunteers, you find out that our hands and how we use them make us different from other persons. ABS-CBN news anchor Karen Davila uses her hand to give medicine to austic kids, including her son. Thespian Carlos Celdran’s hands points the way as he tours people around Manila. While Gawad Kalinga volunteer Lorelei Dela Cruz uses hers to build and paint houses.
Ateneo basketball player Chris Tiu posts this in his blog: This Christmas, instead of giving gifts that will disappear after a few days, how about trying to give something that will truly touch the soul and inspire?
The wimpy way
Jeffy Kinley’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid and its sequel Rodrick Rules feature the wimpy ways of middle child Greg Heffley as he balances middle school, his two brothers, overachieving parents, and his geeky friend Rowley. As you read his journal that he writes in case he gets famous, you understand how this online comic strip from FunBrain.com gained a following, got published, became a New York Times best-seller, and eventually will be turned into a feature film for its juvenile sincerity.
Like Calvin and Hobbes, there is a little Greg in each of us who’d rather play sport videogames than the actual ones, doodle crass cartoons all day, think our friends are a little bit dorky, shudder at homework and science projects, and know that moms always drain fun out of everything despite their good intentions.
This book is a perfect gift for middle children because they can relate to all the mishaps of Greg as he gets bullied by his older Neanderthal brother and has to babysit his baby sibling. If you want to write a journal yourself — and not a diary because the latter will get you beaten up in the hallway, as Greg wrote — there is also the Diary of a Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself book that you can fill up and make your own comic strips on.
Harry potter prequel
JK Rowling’s Harry Potter may be over, but the magic lives on with her Tales of Beedle The Bard that was made to support the author’s charity called Children’s High Level Group for orphans and poor kids to live in better homes. This latest enchanting read from Rowling establishes her as a true wizardly writer. The spinoff brings out Rowling’s ability to make fairy tales for the modern world that can stand to be classics in the future. The stories from the yesteryear of Potter’s world, like any good story for kids, are simple, amusing, inciting curiosity and teaching deep insightful values. The uniting message from Rowling’s tales is that you don’t need magic to make life spectacular and magic is a responsibility rather than merely a fun ability.
Fans of Albus Dumbledore will be ecstatic that their favorite wizard is back to offer background notes about each story. He enlightens us on how these tale promote love between muggles and magicians.
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Learn more about Be Hands On! Inspiring Volunteer Stories Hands at http://www.handsonmanila.org.ph and http://chris-tiu.blogspot.com.
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The Diary of a Wimpy Kid is published by Hatchette and read more about Greg Heffley’s journal at http://www.wimpykid.com and http://www.gregheffley.blogspot.com.
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Know more about Scholastic’s Tales of Beedle The Bard at http: //www.jkrowling.com and http://scholastic.com.
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Send me gift recommendations at readnow@supreme.ph.