I teach Intro to Children’s Literature at a small community college in Ontario.
As part of the course, I ask students to tell me about some of their favorite or most memorable books.
I have a student who can’t remember the name of the book, but he provided me with the following information.
“I can still remember the content of my favorite childhood book….the one with the single mother and son going to the mall. There were six red apples, there was four orange carrots”. I remember the mother and son would essentially go window shopping after collecting the groceries, they would explore the other thriving sections of the mall for more educational opportunities before eventually ending the story at a children’s toy store. At the end, and this is the most important element, the child was given the choice of buying a wooden airplane or a wooden train or a plethora of other enticing things., Instead of being lured into buying something expensive, the child however settled on an inexpensive temporary red balloon.”
Thank you