The Story of Valentine's Day

This is a great way to teach about Valentines Day to kids. My students and my own children adore it's wonderful illustrations and cute story. The book itself is built well to stand up to being thrown around in a book bin or in the back of your car.

This is a cute little story that explains to children why we have a Valentine's Day and why we celebrate it with cards and goodies. I wasn't really sure myself, so after reading the story I did some research on the internet. It appears that nobody really knows for sure why we celebrate Valentine's Day, but this is the best guess. "Long ago, in the city of Rome, there lived a man named Valentine. He was kind and all the children loved him..." The story briefly tells about the king who wanted everyone to be in his army and not have families. Valentine tried to help the young men and women and got thrown in jail by the king. People were sad to see him in jail so they sent him cards. The story says that Valentine sent a card back and signed it "From Your Valentine." The story goes on to explain that "On Valentine's Day we show our love for our friends and family with gifts and cards... we remember that all God's children should love one another." My kids enjoy this story, but they never ask me to read it, which is why I gave it four stars instead of five. (The Valentine book they ask to read most often is "The Ballad of Valentine").

When trying to explain the meaning of Valentine's Day to a preschool class I was at a loss for what I could read to them. This book explains it well and is the perfect length holding their interest!