Lots of adults I know hated the question What do you want to be when you grow up?
I know I loved it as a child. I had so many dreams, and I loved talking about them. Sometimes, I delude myself into believing I always wanted to be a writer, but an old, old diary tells me that I once wanted to be a doctor and an artist!
Gawa’s Bag of Good Regards by Anushka Ravishankar and Canato Jimo is the story of a child who doesn’t know what he wants to be. But he does know what he wants to do. Unlike everyone else in his class, he doesn’t even want simply to say what the teacher wants to hear. He beams instead and says that he wants to carry a bag of good regards and distribute them.
Reading Gawa’s Bag of Good Regards as an adult is different, of course, from reading it with a child. If I read it with a child, I can’t help wondering what kinds of conversations we would have. What do you think good regards are? Who would you give good regards too? And would Gawa be some kind of superhero distributing good regards?
As with all the other Hook Books, I love how the text and the pictures go together. Full of colour and life, they invite the child reader into their pages. I flipped through the pages multiple times too, noticing details and smiling at how vividly imagination is portrayed. A sweet conversation-starter, Gawa’s Bag of Good Regards is a celebration of innocence and kindness.
| Title | Gawa’s Bag of Good Regards |
| Author Illustrator | Anushka Ravishankar Canato Jimo |
| Tags | Hook Book, Picture Book |
| Rating (out of 5) | 4 |
| Ages | 5+ |
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