My Favorite Children Book

In Aksara Kemang, technically my job is as Children Officer's Helper. What I do is help the officer of this section. To explain more, our store has several sections:

1. Fiction and Sastra Indonesia - sells fiction and Indonesian literature books
2. Business - sells business and marketing books
3. Design - sells graphic design, fashion, interior design and architecture books
4. Music - sells music CDs, headphones and legendary band anthologies
5. Gift - sells various gifts from birthday candles to antique telephones
6. Children (which I am positioned) - sells various children books from many categories for age 0-12, puzzles, art and craft stuff and many others related to children.

One other section that is included in the store but not physically is the Special Pre-Order section that gives the chance for people who wish to buy something from Aksara but at the moment there is no stock for it.

Once I was in the store. I forgot what time and day was it, but I pretty much remember that it was in the afternoon. Not many people were visiting at the moment, so I spent some time visiting my section to read children books. I was told by the previous officer that I have to spend some time reading children books in order to know the content of the books. So I picked a book titled "A Sick Day for Amos McGee" by Philip C. Stead.

Amos is an old zoo keeper. He is a very loyal person and he always takes care of the animals in the zoo which he considers as friends. He spends time with the animals and helps them when they need him. Every morning, the animals always wait for his visit. But one day, Amos is sick and cannot work. The animals have been waiting for him but he still does not show up until noon, so they gather and take the public bus to his house to pay a visit. Like Amos who is always caring, this day the animals take care of Amos. In the end, they stay over at Amos' house and spend the night together.

Basically, the story is just so full of fantasy  (like playing cards, chess and singing with animals - things you wouldn't do with them especially the ones in the zoo), but that is the point of being children. Children must be full of imagination. Children learn about reality from unreal things so they know that things can come up from everywhere. They learn manners from animal characters, for instance, so they know not just the manners, but also the animals. And this really applies to me. As an aspiring filmmaker, I have to always fulfill myself with imagination. I can't describe how blissful it is to read children books; it makes you feel like a child again, but this time, it makes you think how big a human mind is that it can create such beautiful visual stories. I think it really applies to filmmaking.

I wish I could adapt this book into a film. I want to make people feel the beautiful fantasy from things that is as near as the zoo. I want children to have a fantastic childhood from enjoying a small piece like this.

This is my favorite children book being sold in Aksara, until another book titled "Too Small for My Big Bed" arrives from the USA for the next shipment. It is about mother-son relationship through tigers. It does not replace this book as my favorite though, these two are my favorites