Today I’m excited to bring in the second in our installment from Melissa at BabyCastonOnBoard. She frequently travels for work. While away she finds books for her, now toddler, son, Aiden. She shares them with us in her column, I Explored, Now He’ll Explore: Souvenir Books for Aiden. Her latest trip took her to London. Read on to see what she found for her son:
Image used with permission. Photo by: Baby Caston on Board
I recently spent several days in London for a meeting I was planning. Whenever I go on a business trip I try to buy at least two local books for my toddler, Aiden. I hope this will foster a love of adventure and, of course, reading. I usually try to get something fun and something classic just so I can build his library.
Waterstones Bookstore
Image used with permission. Photo by: Baby Caston on Board
There was so much to see in London. I spent a lot of my free time wandering around. On one of my walks, I found myself passing a huge bookstore called Waterstones. I figured it had to have children’s books so I walked in and was blown away by the options on the second floor. I really had no idea how many English authors there were. So many of my favorite stories growing up were in this shop and I had a really hard time deciding on only a couple of books.
The Adventures of Paddington Bear
My first thought was The Adventures of Paddington Bear by Michael Bond. I traveled to Paddington Station and walked through many of the destinations in the stories so it was at the top of my mind. We have a big book of Paddington’s stories and in preparation for the trip, I read Aiden these stories at bedtime so I got a small Paddington book. This was one of two fun souvenirs.
Peter Rabbit, A Big Box of Little Books
For the second fun souvenir, I decided to get a set of mini books from Beatrix Potter called Peter Rabbit A Big Box of Little Books. Beatrix Potter is a classic and we don’t have many of her books yet. Also, Aiden is obsessed with tiny books. He has a set of Sesame Street mini books he received for Christmas and all he wants to do is pull them out and sit on my lap to read them. In the Beatrix Potter set there are 9 small books with the short stories of Peter Rabbit and his friends. Another cool thing about the books is that if you flip them over the back covers the books make puzzle pieces that, when put together, create a picture of Peter Rabbit. I planned to save this one for his Easter basket.
This is London
The third book I decided on is This is London. This was my classic choice. In the store, there were small handwritten notes from the shop owner about many of the books and this was recommended as a London classic. I love that it includes many of the sites I visited and modes of transportation. Aiden is really into cars and trucks right now so I knew this would be a good choice.
As expected, Aiden loves the Beatrix Potter mini books and I have read him the This is London a few times too, though I expect I will grow into it. These are great books for children and a wonderful souvenir idea if you are ever in London!
Thank you so much, Melissa. I’m sure Aiden enjoyed those classic London books. Some of these exact books are not available in the U.S., here are the closest equivalents. The Adventures of Paddington Bear, Peter Rabbit, and This is London.
