No matter when you get sick, there are small comforts to help you feel better: that cheerful glass of orange juice with citric tang, or the satisfaction of warm tea and toast, bland but with texture. Chicken soup is perhaps the most well known comfort food in the world, with a familiar taste that can be livened up with garlic or ginger to help make you forget for a moment that you’re not feeling well.
There are books, too, that can comfort when you’re sick. This is not the time to reach for edgy or deeply thought-provoking material. This is the time to enjoy favorites, or just sit back and take in color and sound, without too much mental work. And of course, you want a book that takes you away from your usual world, where you’re surrounded by medicine and the frustration of what you can’t do. You want a book that can take you to a world where none of that exists and good triumphs over evil, or magic happens, and other triumphs take the stage.
I tend to reach for my favorites when I’m sick: any of Jane Austen’s novels, or the Harry Potter series. Each, in its own way, takes me to another world and envelopes me in language that is alive and healthy.
So here are my picks for comfort reading for children who are down with a cold or the flu or otherwise not feeling their best. And as with all good books, these work during any season of the year. So if your children are blissfully happy, don’t just walk by these picks. They’re popular for a reason!
BROADWAY BARKS, by Bernadette Peters, illustrated by Liz Murphy (Blue Apple Books, 2008). This is a charming book by the noted Broadway actress, Bernadette Peters. Don’t be fooled by the pink and yellow cover into thinking this is only for girls. The story tells a heart-warming tale of an orphaned, but scrappy, little dog formerly called Douglas, searching for love and a home to call his own. Magic happens when a lady who smells good shows up in the park. The story is told from the perspective of the dog, which focuses on doggy appetites, such as a taste for biscuits and an interest in shoes. Illustrated with bright, showy colors and bits of newsprint and cursive writing, the pages will appeal to all young children. There’s humor in the story when the homeless dog (Douglas) takes the stage in the charity event, Broadway Barks, and tries to sing and dance.
Behind the fun and kid-friendly story is a true story, too. Ten years ago, Mary Tyler Moor and Bernadette Peters combined their love of animals and their profession as actresses to start an annual charity event to help homeless animals in New York City get adopted. The event is called Broadway Barks, and is an auction staged in Shubert Alley. (You can read more information about it at www.broadwaybarks.com.)
This book speaks to the need for love and the security of home, and of course, has a happy ending. And it comes with a CD of Bernadette Peters reading the book, with an extra bonus of a song she wrote to the scrappy dog, renamed Kramer by his new child owner. This book is an absolute gem. (Ages 4 to 8).
MIA, by Laurence Yep, and BRAVO, MIA, by Laurence Yep ((American Girl Publishing, 2008). Mia is a ten-year old redhead with a passion for ice-skating. Although all of her brothers play hockey, and Mia has grown up on the ice swinging a stick at a puck, she dreams of distinguishing herself in figure skating.
This book will take a child from the tropics to a new world where ice, the cold wet kind, is center-stage. Mia struggles to earn time on the ice by working at the skating rink. She knows kids and adults she gets along with, and she knows those she doesn’t. And then she has to compete in competitions, where her talents are put to the test.
A book series like the Mia books offers special comfort because you get to know the characters and the world they inhabit. These two books are the start of the series, and Mia is the “American Girl” of the year 2008. The American Girl Company has a doll named Mia, with red hair and green eyes, in skating regalia. But you don’t need the accessories to enjoy the books.
The fun is in experiencing someone else’s world, and their challenges, and having them succeed. And even children in the tropics will relate because of the essential human nature of the relationships and the challenges of competition told in these stories. (Ages 8-12).
PENDRAGON, THE PILGRIMS OF RAYNE, by D. J. MacHale (Simon & Schuster, 2007). There’s nothing like a future-world fantasy to make you forget where you are! Pendragon is a #1 New York Times bestselling series. The PILGRIMS OF RAYNE is book 8. (There is a book 9, RAVEN RISE, just released, that I haven’t yet seen.) I’m new to the Pendragon series, and started with this book. The mark of a good series is that each book builds on the previous books, but each book is a self-contained story. And this book satisfies those elements. I didn’t need to read all of the other books in the series to enjoy this one.
Pendragon is a Traveler, a special kind of person who travels between Territories, which are identified as places in time, marked by turning points at their start and end. Some worlds have more than one Territory. Pendragon travels between the territories trying to stop the evil Saint Dane from mucking up the turning points. He’s helped by his friends, Courtney Chetwynde and Mark Dimond, and of course other travelers and their acolytes along the way. Saint Dane, too, has picked up a powerful ally in the traitorous Traveler, Nevva Winter.
In this story, Pendragon and Courtney try to figure out how Saint Dane changed time and what was meant to be (Halla), and managed to introduce robots, not only to the Earth territories, but to other planetary territories as well, robots that eventually can form an army against the good guys. The story weaves back and forth between the Territories where Pendragon goes, and is told from different perspectives when Pendragon and Courtney get separated, each telling their portion of the story. The use of first person narrative keeps the reader involved and lends immediacy to the action.
As in any good adventure, there is a lot of action, but it’s easy to follow and doesn’t strain the brain. The author, MacHale, does a good job of building suspense and keeping the ending a surprise. At 547 pages, this is a book that can provide a lot of reading time, but never a dull moment. Perfect for comfort reading anytime! (Ages 12+).
