10 Things… The Life Lessons We Learned from Children’s Books

Share This… Not Your Oats & More   Some books will stay with you a lifetime, and most of them are the books you read in childhood. Beloved by generation after generation, these titles are worth revisiting in adulthood, to remind yourself of the journey and the lesson. Here are ten things we learned from our favourite children's books.  ____________________________________ Your imagination can take you anywhere “The books transported her into new worlds and introduced her to amazing people who lived exciting lives. She went on olden-day sailing ships with Joseph Conrad. She went to Africa with Ernest Hemingway and to India with Rudyard Kipling. She travelled all over the world while sitting in her little room in an English village.” Roald Dahl, Matilda   True friendships are life-changing "Why did you do all this for me?’ he asked. ‘I don’t deserve it. I’ve never done anything for you." You have been my friend,’ replied Charlotte. ‘That in itself is a tremendous thing.” E.B. White, Charlotte’s Webb   It's up to each of us to make a difference “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, Nothing is going to get better. It's not.” Dr. Seuss, The Lorax   Everything gets better “Somehow, something always happens just before things get to the very worst. It is as if Magic did it. If I could only just remember that always. The worse thing never quite comes.” Frances Hodgson Burnett, A Little Princess   There's no place like home “And Max, the king of all wild things, was lonely and wanted to be where someone loved him best of all.” Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are   You need a direction in life “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?" "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to." "I don't much care where –" "Then it doesn't matter which way you go.” Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland   Just because someone is louder, it doesn't mean they're right “Some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don't you think?” L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz   It's important to stay active “A bear, however hard he tries, grows tubby without exercise.” A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh   Hold on to the wonder of youth  “All grown-ups were once children... but only few of them remember it.” Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince   There will always be another adventure “And so for a time it looked as if all the adventures were coming to and end; but that was not to be.” C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe