My dad was really big on reading aloud to me and my sister at bedtime. He did normal books, like A Little Princess and Winnie the Pooh. But my dad was a huge folklore and mythology fan, so we also read books like the grand Hindu epic The Ramayana and the Chinese tales of the Monkey King from Journey into the West.

And we also read The Three Princes of Serendip.

It's literally impossible for me to view this book without extremely thick nostalgia goggles. That my dad found a copy of this book at all is extremely impressive. It was out of print when I was young and copies were rare. My dad also taped in extra illustrations by the artist that hadn't made it into this edition, along with the closing pantoums. I have the same book he read to me on my bookshelf today, and looking through it, I realized how much my dad loved me and how much dedication and effort he put into giving me this book and the marvelous world in it.

This book is my dad's expression of love to his children.

So yeah, I love this book. Because this is the incredible gift my dad gave me, and how could I not wholeheartedly love that? ( )