You Can Make Every Mom You Know On Your Christmas List Cry For A Mere 5 Bucks
I’m totally Oprah-izing Mommyish today by telling you one of my favorite things ever! Are you a mom? Do you have a mom? Of course you do, because you were not raised by wolves (unless, of course, you were technically raised by wolves and apologies to any readers who were actually raised by wolves) and if you don’t have a mom you know someone who is a mom or you have a daughter or an aunt or a sister or maybe you even know a single father who is raising a daughter. And you need to buy them a gift! Because it is the holiday season and you need to buy gifts and you don’t feel like making people decoupage tissue box holders. I am here to help you, by telling you about one of my favorite gifts to give ever and seriously, it is sold for five dollars! It is a beautifully illustrated book of one of my very favorite poems ever! And yes, you can sigh and say to me “I hate poetry so much! I hate it!” but you shouldn’t because a beautiful poem is a truly beautiful thing and this, to me, is one of the most beautiful poems ever.
”If I should have a daughter”¦”Instead of ”Mom”, she’s gonna call me ”Point B.” Because that way, she knows that no matter what happens, at least she can always find her way to me. And I’m going to paint the solar system on the back of her hands so that she has to learn the entire universe before she can say ”Oh, I know that like the back of my hand.”
The poem is entitled Point B by the American poet Sarah Kay, who is the founder of Project V.O.I.C.E., a group dedicated to using spoken word as an inspirational tool. The book, illustrated by Sophie Janowitz is available for five dollars on Amazon, but as we all know, prices could change at any moment. I’ve bought this book more times than I can count, and I have read it to my own daughter endless times. As a mom, I can’t help but get all weepy every time I read it, and if you don’t believe me and want to check out the merchandise before you make the purchase, you can read the entire poem here. You can also watch her do a spoken word reading of the poem here, during a TED talk she gave in March. I do suggest you buy the book, because it’s beautiful and makes a perfect gift and you will be supporting a strong female voice that deserves to be heard.
This is truly one of my favorite books ever, and because it is a poem, it isn’t a gigantic book so please don’t complain to me that it isn’t novel-length. I will suggest inscribing the title page with a nice sentiment and the date, and giving it to a parent you love this holiday season. Unlike Oprah, I will never suggest you buy someone a car. Unless you can afford it, in which case stick a copy of this book in the glove box.
(photo: amazon)
