i will FORCE eiley to love books.

Today I read Eiley a book about a princess who wears pretty dresses, glittery shoes, and a tiara and has a dog named Sparkles. She goes to a ball and dances with a prince. The end. Seriously, the major conflict in the book is her painful decision of which gown to wear, and (spoiler alert!) she lets her freaking dog choose in the end. Now I'm not saying that children's books need to have some incredibly deep moral message or anything, but...come on. I'm thinking about throwing this book away.


I love books of all kinds, and I'm guessing that love stemmed from a love of children's books. But honestly, I can't think of any specific favorites I had as a child. I recall reading Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day from time to time, and I know I appreciated Jack Prelutsky's The New Kid on the Block, and I must have read several Dr. Seuss books. But none of those were ingrained in me. Maybe my parentals can chime in here and tell me something I'm not remembering. 

Anyway, what I'm getting at here is that I want to have a book that I read with Eiley. A favorite. One that we read so often and with such joy and love that I memorize it without even trying and the sight of its cover when Eiley is 57 brings her mind so fully to her happy childhood that she'll run to the post office and send lots of presents to me and Jeff in our retirement mansion. I thought I might choose Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss because it would be fun to master those tongue twisters, but after a third read I found it obnoxious. Bummer. 


Ideally, I'd  like this magical book to rhyme and be subtly sentimental. Really, I'd like someone to have illustrated the Fresh Prince of Bel Air Theme by now. Since that hasn't happened yet, I'm accepting actual children's book suggestions. Ready? Go!