But, Why Picture Books?

If you hit up my bookshelf, you'll notice that most books I recommend aren't adult novels or even parenting books, but rather picture books. How observant of you!

Part of the reason is that I'm still building my repertoire of books I want to recommend — books are so personal, and it's hard to go back through my life to tell you about the ones that changed me forever. What if a book I love doesn't speak to you? How will that change our relationship?

The main reason, though, is that I simply adore picture books, for kids and adults. The books on my page have lessons that we're "supposed to" learn as kids and haven't been reminded of enough as adults. Somehow, we forget that it's okay to fail, that perfection isn't the goal, that everyone has worries, and that we're all special for some reason or another.

Picture books are great reminders that childhood lessons should remain firmly planted in us through adulthood. Reading them to my children was a tremendous joy, despite the fact that once you've read Two at the Zoo a billion and one times, your brain might start to bleed…

Here's the other important thing: when I had my children and started to parent them, I also started to re-parent myself. With the help of my husband, my therapist, and my incredibly supportive community, the journey of raising my kids has helped clarify my own identity.

In reading Giraffes Can't Dance, I was telling my two small humans that they should be proud of who they are and that they deserved to be loved for their genuine selves. It's a lesson I needed too.

When we read Ish, we were all able to let go of perfectionism (okay, so we didn't let it go, but we let it go-ish) and remind ourselves that sometimes close enough is all it takes.

The Color Monster helped us all sort out our feelings — emotional granularity is nothing to be trifled with. I got to talk with the kids about how each of those feelings showed up in me and remind myself that there's no such thing as a "wrong" feeling. With my kids, that was about telling them that everyone feels all the emotions, and it's what we do with them that matters. In the safety of my therapist's office, it led me to explore the difficulties I have expressing anger. I'm still exploring that, and I get to work it through as a mom, a daughter, a sister, a wife, a leader, a coach, and — wait for it — a whole human.

I intend to tell you about all the books on my bookshelf, and I wanted to start by telling you why they matter. Each of these books has meant something to me, both in my personal life as a parent and in my professional life as a coach. Watch this space to learn more about what each book brings to my life and my coaching practice.

Adult lessons are the same as kid lessons — shouldn't they be illustrated as beautifully?

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