Whine, whine, whine. Will I ever be happy?

Governor Blagojevich's wife, Patti, was on WBEZ this morning, talking about the plan to hand out books to all Illinois children under the age of five. The program will likely get started before the end of 2004. Okay. Fine. I am resigned to the the fact that this program will happen. (If libraries weren't in such dire straits and professional librarians weren't so desperately underpaid, I would even be doing the happy dance and celebrating such a positive program.)

But.

According to Mrs. Blagojevich, the first book given to newborn babies in the hospital will be The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper.

I have nothing against this book. It is a fine book. It is a classic. Kids love it. Fine. Another book to be given during that first year is The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter. I love that book even more. It is amazing and wonderful and fires the imagination.

But.

But.

But these are not appropriate reading for an infant! Give these books to the children when they are three or four. But when they are brand new people, how about giving them some of the truly amazing board books being produced for babies? I'm not just talking about Pat the Bunny, either.

Here are a few of the books (in no particular order) that I think would be best during the first year of life:
* Chicka Chicka ABC by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault
* Where's Spot by Eric Hill
* Black and White or Big and Little by Todd Parr
* Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
* Big Book of Beautiful Babies by David Ellwand
* My Very First Mother Goose: Humpty Dumpty and Other Rhymes illustrated by Rosemary Wells (seems the board books of these books are out-of-print -- the full size book will be good, too, but not so baby-friendly in terms of chewability)
* Good Night Gorilla by Peggy Rathman
* Jamberry by Bruce Degan
* Wow! Babies! or Grow! Babies! by Penny Gentieu
*My Colors / Mis Colores by Rebecca Emberley

There are a gazillion fun books out there for kids of all ages. As adults, sometimes we are so anxious for children to love the books that we loved that we forget about age appropriateness -- in terms of language, length, plot, art... If we are to truly create a state full of greedy, voracious readers, we will need to consider giving children the books that are right for them.