Stories stimulate creativity and help children create a better world. Stories teach them new words and help to strengthen bonds between parents and children
This book was delivered to my house in 2011, whilst I was still living in Brazil, as part of a promotion run by Itaú bank, “Leia para uma criança”, or in English, “Read to a child”. My husband and I always tried to encourage our children to read. As my husband is English, we read quite a few books in English, but we always thought it was very important to read in two languages. Now, living in England, even more so.
At this time my son Nicholas was three and my daughter Sofia was only 8 months. I remember him perfectly always asking me to repeat a story, like it was a song. His eyes would light up when he saw Chaupeuzinho Amarelo (Little Yellow Riding Hood) face to face with the big, bad wolf. And history repeated itself with Sofia. We read them this book at different stages of their lives and, in all of them, the fun was evident.
Written by Chico Buarque and with wonderful illustrations by Ziraldo, I fell in love straight away. The book tells the story of a little girl who has a fear of fear, or in other words, she has a fear of feeling scared; “the fear of fear of fearing that one day I will bump into a wolf, a wolf that doesn’t exist” (excerpt from the book). It is a delightful story that speaks of overcoming fear. It is gripping and has a surprising ending.
I recommend this book for children above the age of three, when fear becomes part of everyday life and they begin to understand a little more about the outside world.
Hellen Candey, mother of Nicholas, seven, and Sofia, four. Part owner of ABCD Escolinha de Português (ABCD School of Portuguese)
