And BTW, I cannot spell narcissistic without spell check. Fortunately, there aren’t very many words that are similar so the spell checker has no trouble at all. Love the spellchecker. Nice spellchecker.

On to the point in a roundabout way. I have always loved polar bears. I think they’re awesome. Scary big, scary big teeth, but talk about perseverance. I’m a big fan of bears of all kinds, but the polar bear is just inspiring.

My mom knows this about me. So for my birthday she gave me a polar bear stuffie (almost wrote stuffed polar bear, not quite the same thing). So soft! So white! So pretty! Love it. I gave it a flamingo stuffie with a tutu for a buddy. They’re all set.

There’s a tag on the bear interfering with the the placement of the flamingo’s wings in the perma-hug I’m arranging. (Yep, I’m unable to avoid anthropomorphizing my stuffies, so they all get buddies and hugs.) What’s this tag? Oh, it’s a children’s book? Would it be good for my way-off future grandchildren? Hmmm, let me look that up.

On the Night You Were Born by Nancy Tillman. Reviews were mixed: some people loved it, others not so much…totally normal responses. But this book seems to inspire strong opposing emotions. It celebrates the birth of the child to whom you are reading. This is good! We want our children to feel loved and supported. But, according to the reviewers, it does so with extreme examples, like, the moon stayed up ’til morning just because of you. Also flowery poetry and very pretty pictures. One reviewer said “I liked the illustrations, but how does it not make a child narcissistic?”

I can see both sides and I’m torn. To buy or not to buy? When your baby is brand new, isn’t that how you feel about them, as if that child has hung the moon all by herself? Every child–every person–should feel they are amazing, unique, wonderful, special. On the other hand, by the time they get to be about seven, if that “you’re the center of the universe” message has stuck, boy howdy are those parents in for a rough ride. Not to mention the kid. Who’s going to tolerate that attitude in a playmate?

So, is this book doing your kid any favors? Yes? No? As I mentioned before, my grandkids are a far-off plan, so I have time for some more research. What say you? Who’s familiar with this book? Would you recommend it? Should I get it and then stop reading it to them at a certain age? Gotta read to kids, for sure, but it’s the better part of wisdom to choose those books with care.

Oh, and Happy Pi Day! I haven’t been much of a mathematician since before middle school algebra, but I appreciate those who are! Here’s the Wikipedia article on Pi Day. Also, there’s a website called www.PiDay.org. I couldn’t get it to load, but maybe it will be easier later or on another day. The could be overwhelmed with millions of people wanting more information about Pi!