As I am stuck home with a sick child, I realized there's nothing like a book about someone else who is sick to make you feel like you are not alone. My favorite is The Sniffles for Bear by Bonny Becker, one in a series of Bear books (I talk about another one in the series here). Bear, suffering from what must be the worst cold in the history of colds, does not appreciate his friend Mouse's cheerful attitude and lack of sympathy. At the end, Bear recovers and Mouse, having caught the cold, takes to his bed. When Bear tells him he's sorry he's sick, Mouse replies that just that made him feel better. Sometimes sympathy goes a lot further than hot tea and honey!
There are many other books in which the caretaker becomes the one in need of care. In Old Bear and His Cub by Olivier Dunrea (of Gossie and Friends fame) and Anna Dewdney's Llama Llama Home with Mama, the child ends up taking care of the sick parent while in a Frog and Toad book (I can't remember which one!), just like in The Sniffles for Bear, the caretaker gets sick from his charge. That should sound familiar to any parent who's ever caught a bug from his or her child.
Those are books about being sick. As for books we read (and activities we did) while my daughter actually was sick, in an attempt to ward off cabin fever, they include finishing three chapter books we were in the middle of (Little House on the Prairie, The Cats in the Doll Shop, Going, Going, Gone! with the Pain and the Great One), reading tons of picture books, reading 6 books online on Raz-kids.com, playing Mastermind, Memory and Shut the Box, making beaded snowflakes, doing other art prjects and watching plenty of TV. Unfortunately, we still had cabin fever!
What is your favorite book about being sick? What is your favorite book to read when you or your child is sick? What are your favorite sick day activities?
