Oliver

For anyone who has ever felt a little different or has a child who does, Oliver by Birgitta Sif will surely tug at your heartstrings. Oliver is a little boy who knows he is atypical but is content playing with his “friends,” a group of puppets and stuffed animals he carries around with him everywhere he goes. Even though he’s supposedly happy, as the reader, you still feel a twinge of sadness for him when he played his piano for his friends “but no one listened” or when he played tennis by himself against the side of his house. It was the tennis-playing, though, that led to the super sweet, goosebump-inducing ending (so special that I don't want to ruin it for you) that makes this book a MUST-READ and a perfect choice for Valentine’s Day.