Children's Book Week 2016 Recommendation: CHOOSE YOUR DAYS by Paula S. Wallace

Children's Fiction (ages 3-7)
Paula S. Wallace
Choose Your Days
Cinco Punto Press
Paperback, 978-1941026380 (also available in hardcover and as an ebook), 32 pgs., $8.95
April 12, 2016

When Corky was born, Old Bear, "keeper of time and keys," gave her a calendar, a "To Do" list, a "Dreams" list, a key and the instruction to "Choose your days, make them sunny or grey."

Before you know it, Corky is an old woman. She asks Old Bear for more time: "For work undone. For play postponed. For music unsung." Old Bear reminds Corky that she holds the key.

This synthesis of Old World folktale and Native American parable from artist Paula S. Wallace is a tender but firm exhortation to use your time well, to fill your days with work and play. It may seem counter-intuitive to tell a child that time is a finite resource but Wallace's distinctive illustrations combine with the text to create a positive encouragement to action and consciousness, and gentle reassurance that you hold the key to a full life. Choose Your Days is optimistic, dedicated to those "who have lived their days with courage, compassion, and curiosity."