Books like Rumi—Poet of Joy and Love
By Rashin Kheiriyeh
For families who want their child's first introduction to poetry to come with real wisdom attached, this is a gentle way into who Rumi actually was before he became a name on a quote card. Warm, reflective, richly patterned, quietly profound.
A discarded robot with a broken heart gives shelter to an exhausted bluebird in the empty space where his heart used to be, and carries her south with the last of his failing strength.
A tree loves a boy so completely that she gives him her apples, her branches, and finally her trunk, asking nothing in return as he grows old.
A parent shares a string of tender wishes for a child — to find wonder in flying birds, to know love as vast and constant as the moon loves the sky.
A quiet meditation on the everyday moments — love and loss, hope and joy, wonder and mystery — that thread through every single life, shown through glowing art and spare text.
Imprisoned with her family at a WWII incarceration camp, a young woman finds a small library and, in it, a quiet friendship with a man who checks out an armful of books every single day.
A lion finds an injured bird in his garden after its flock flies south without it, and quietly takes it in, tending to it through the changing seasons.
A boy named Eli grows up on his grandparents' farm, learning to love the barn, the fields, and the river that surround him — then shares those same places with his baby sister, Sylvie.
A gentle tour through nature at dusk, as mother animals — owl, fox, whale, and more — each tell their babies just how deep and boundless their love runs.
A gentle picture book imagines Cat Heaven, where beloved cats run through fields of sweet grass, play with favorite toys, and are cared for by angels who rub their noses and ears.
An old woman is too busy sweeping her house to join the three kings on their journey to find the Christ child — and has searched for Him every Christmas since.
A gentle picture of what heaven holds for dogs — endless fields to run in, fluffy clouds for sleeping, and biscuits no dog can resist.
A young girl emigrates from Taiwan to America with her family, leaving behind her beloved popo, and stays connected across the ocean through visits, calls, and memories as she grows up.
