Valentine's Day is observed with flowers and gifts. But very few know that some wonderful books, published around this time, have been written for children as well. They are not books for adolescents but books dealing with dreams and fantasies of children.
MOST OF wonderful children’s books, written over the years, have been published and marketed by Amazon, as a ritual to observe Valentine's Day as a day of romance. Earlier it was just a religious event. It is an adolescent event. But this event also involves a child’s mind and wonderful books have been published by Amazon since 2006.
One of their wonderful Valentine books is Day It Rained Hearts by Felicia Bond, which was published in 2006 just before the Valentine Day. Karen Katz’s Where is Baby's Valentine, was no less popular. But the most popular was The Biggest Valentine Ever by Steven Kroll and Jeni Bassett, which was published on the very first day of January, 2006. Three years later, two more books were published. Amelia Bedelia's First Valentine was written by Herman Parish and Lynne Avril in November 2011 was more a thunderous book and thousands of copies were sold in 2009. Heart to Heart was authored by Jane O'Connor and Robin Preiss Glasser and it saw the light of publication on Nov 24, 2009. The very same day Amazon published Happy Valentine's Day, Mouse, which got fantastic response from child readers. Interestingly most of these books have nothing to do with the original significance of Valentine’s martyrdom or sacrifice.
Originally, Saint Valentine's Day was an annual holiday observed to honour Christian martyrs. It was started by Pope Gelasius I in 496 A.D. Even Chaucer who for the first time in the High Middle Ages regarded it as a courtly tradition used the ceremony for the expression of holy love in the Canterbury Tales. Modern Valentine's Day does not include all these religiosities. The legend surrounding the original Valentine is a saga but there is another story as well.
In the third century, Roman Emperor Claudius II who outlawed marriage for his army was opposed by a certain Bishop Valentine. Claudius sentenced Valentine to death and imprisoned him. In prison, Valentine is said to have fallen in love with the jailer's daughter, who visited him regularly in his confinement. He declared his love in his last letter to the daughter of the jailor before his execution and signed it, "From your Valentine." Long after Claudius II, a festival in honor of Lupercus, a fertility god, became increasing popular among adolescents. During the mid-February celebration, each young man chose the name of a teenage girl by lottery to be his sexual companion for the coming year. It is also some kind of festivity for the youth of the state of Meghalaya Thus they heralded Valentine, beheaded by Claudius II in 270 AD (possibly to the great loss of a jailer's daughter) the Patron Saint of Love, and the mid-February ceremony morphed over time into our February 14 "St. Valentine's Day." Thus the saint of love has become immortal through these celebrations. Today, it is celebrated across the world by lovers.
This year too many such wonderful Valentine books for children have been published. Love is expressed in many ways. This year too many such books have been published. In I Love You, Valentine, by Cindy Bracken and Pinkalicious: Pink of Hearts written by Victoria Kann very recently, has got thunderous response from the young readers. What is interesting is that most of the writers are American and the Valentine concept is purely a Western Concept. In India, people still look at the Valentine rites with a suspicion. The real religious significance of St. Valentine's Day is nearly lost today. It is, however, good to find some books published on Valentine’s Day for children. Teenagers are mainly the subjects of these books which are mainly based on their dreams and desires - fantasies prevail.
