Monday to Friday!

With December vacation over, Abhay has now stepped into the third term of his academic year before the big summer break. So back to school means back to the “I-don’t-want-to-go-to school” mornings! We just didn’t know what to do about his daily morning whining and so we set up an appointment to speak to his school coordinator to check if everything was okay with Abhay at school. As expected, his teacher assured us that Abhay was as normal or abnormal as any regular kid at school, with good and bad days! In fact his teacher noted that there was no trace of his so- called morning lethargy as he is quite interactive in class. So this only means that my six year old is just plain lazy with a huge starting trouble just like …..well……(I can’t take names here) some of us!J We all have our inertia issues, but I guess Abhay’s is a little ahead of its times! His teacher then suggested that we set up a daily morning activity that may motivate him to get out of bed on his own. Well, what can I say......besides brushing his teeth, gulping down his milk, taking a bath, changing into his school uniform and finishing up his breakfast, there isn’t much time for any other “activity” when his school bus arrives to fetch up him at 7.40 AM in the morning!

So when I came across Tulika’s “Monday to Sunday” by Sowmya Rajendran and pictures by Pratik Ghosh that shows a picture of a boy sleeping on a pillow on its cover, I knew I had to pick this one.   Considering how many places I went looking for this book, I must say that I had expected it to be a lot different from what it actually was. Anyway, ideal for children aged 3 and above, this is a story of Mani who wakes up everyday thinking he is someone else. On Monday, Mani turns into a monkey who eats bananas and jumps on chairs in the school (not sure what Abhay’s teacher will say to this activity); On Tuesday, he is crocodile who chews up his toothbrush and sweeps the house with his tail….and so goes on his week as he pretends to be a hippo, a horse, a kangaroo and a leopard. On Sunday however,  Mani thinks he is a tortoise and pulls his blanket over his head and does not come out at all! This book ends with a question that can be for your little one as well, “What is Mani today” and he is seen thinking of a colourful little dragon! Abhay enjoyed the book and loved the ending where is Mani is shown contemplating his next act.  I felt this book needed much more for its title, probably because I had a slightly different picture conjured up in my mind. To be fair, I must say that this is a great book to read aloud to a group of young children between the age of 2-4 years and being a Tulika publication, the illustrations would not disappoint you!  Going back to my intent of reading this book - So Abhay, what would you want to be this week’s Monday to Friday?