Description Words are powerful. From the moment we are born until the day we die, we speak countless words, yet so often we fail to say the right words at the right time. We lie awake at night troubled by words we never got to say, and we agonize over a single careless word we wish we hadn't spoken. Some words we call out without pause our whole lives can, in an instant, become words we can never say again. Daldal Books' very first picture book, The Most Powerful Word in the World (Revised Edition), shares with our children—through beautiful illustrations and text—the power of words and how to use that power well. Common Words That Are Surprisingly Hard to Say When you look into the eyes of a child who has just come into the world and want to say something beautiful, but somehow the words won't come out... When you've had no choice but to say "No!" or "Don't do that!" in a sharp tone, but can't find the words to soothe your child's heart afterward... When you want to simply say "I'm sorry," "Thank you," or "I love you" for no particular reason, but the words just swirl around in your mouth... That's the time to read The Most Powerful Word in the World together with your child. These simple yet surprisingly difficult words will, as your child reads this picture book, become a small seed in their heart that blossoms into beautiful, kind speech. A Story of Words That Begins at Home and Returns Home On a morning filled with sunlight, a happy day begins. Mom and the children prepare breakfast, and Dad feeds the cat. They greet each other with "thank you." This is how The Most Powerful Word in the World begins—at home. Amid warm words exchanged between family members—"thank you" for helping, "it's okay" for a mistake—the child now ties their shoelaces tight, declaring "I can do it myself!" and heads off to school. This is the step from home out into society. But the world is unfamiliar, and standing before a new friend feels embarrassing. Even a simple "hello" isn't easy to say. So the child practices every day—saying "hello" to the clouds in the sky, the flowers on the roadside, the bench in the park, the neighborhood dog, the neighborhood cat. A friend who glances over and smiles finally returns the "hello," and the child gains a little more confidence. This is how we all learn, step by step, to move out into kindergarten, school, and society. Along the way, through both joyful and upsetting moments, we learn to express our hearts and minds through words and to solve problems using them. When the child returns home, the family shares a grateful dinner together, and the child tells their grandparents how much they miss them and asks them to visit soon. As night deepens, The Most Powerful Word in the World comes to a close—back at home, where it began. The Word That Is Most Powerful to Me Is Something Else Entirely The story begins with a question Mom (or maybe Dad) asks the child: "What is the most powerful word to you?" The child pauses to think, and looks back on the day. The single "thank you" they heard after helping Mom in the morning made them want to help even more. The "it's okay" they said when they saw Mom make a mistake was something they themselves had once heard from Mom and Dad. Saying "I'm sorry" after an argument with a friend at school wasn't easy, but once they said it, they felt relieved. Saying "I'm happy" made them feel happy; saying "I'm upset" made them feel upset. Words can become feelings. But the child realizes that although all these words are powerful, there is one word that is most powerful of all to them—more powerful than any other, able to stand in for every other word, a word they want to say again and again. That word is "Mom"—and "Dad." And in the end, the family in this book tells each other, "I love you." Beautiful Words Blossom From a Healthy Heart In creating The Most Powerful Word in the World (Revised Edition), our main focus was to convey, through the narrative of the illustrations, that "the most powerful word in the world" comes from a healthy heart. That's why the illustrations show, through the daily life of one family and one child from morning until night, when, where, and with whom words hold their power. And the narrative of the text asks: among all the powerful words in the world, what is the word that is most powerful to you? The text concludes with "Mom and Dad"—but on the very last page, all of those words...