Shrinking Sam - Review of a Gorgeous Picture Book from Barefoot Books

Guest Post by Devaki Bhujang Gajare, Founder of Little Readers' Nook
A Big Thank You to Divya for this wonderful opportunity!

I have two very specific criteria in mind when I pick children's books, be it for our Read Aloud kits, for use in our storytelling sessions or simply to read with my son - attractive pictures to capture the little ones' imagination, and an open-ended story that encourages kids to think for themselves. I loved Shrinking Sam at first sight since it fulfilled both these conditions perfectly.

Little Sam feels lost as part of a large family - mum's busy with the new baby, dad's asleep and big brother just wants to be left alone to read. Even Kimba, the dog doesn't pay him much attention. Each time he feels ignored, Sam finds himself shrinking, until he's so small, he falls right down the sink! There he meets a little girl in a similar situation and as they share stories, Sam finds himself becoming big again. 

Reading Shrinking Sam reminded me how all of us, big or small, need love and attention. I made sure I gave my son an extra long hug and kiss right after we read the story. What does it mean to be ignored? How do we feel when no one talks to us? Can people really change in size? What part of the story was real and what was fantasy? It was interesting to see my almost 4 year old grapple with such questions as we read the book. 

Often kids are unable to articulate their true feelings and end up throwing tantrums instead. I found our discussion post this story opened up a whole new way for me to explore and understand my son's feelings. A couple of days after we first read the book, I was busy with my work and not listening to what my son was saying. He came up to me and said, "Aai, I am small like Sam!" Talk about a reality check!

The icing on the cake are the illustrations by Miriam Latimer, truly a treat for the eyes, as is the case with most Barefoot Books. Go for it! Highly recommended for the 3+ age group, especially if you are dealing with tantrums or sibling issues.

Available on Flipkart, this book was chosen as part of our November Read Aloud kit.

Scarier than the ghost!

Dear Divya,

Hearty congratulations on completing 3 years of One story a day. Thought, I will write about a story which I have told Abhay few times now and he still demands for it :-) I think I have read this long back in Dinakkondu Kathe series from Dr. Anupama Niranjana or some place else and keep spicing it up for Abhay.

 There was a village adjacent to a forest. There was a city on the other side of the forest. The main source of livelihood for the villagers was to take what they grew to the city and sell it. However there were two problems. One, they had to cross the forest and it was believed that there were scary ghosts in the forest. Second, they had to pass through a check post at the city entrance where a notorious tax collector would torment them with harsh questions and demand for heavy taxes for their goods. He would pierce their sack with a sharp big needle, called "Dabbana" in Kannada. So villagers have named him "Dabbanadindorda"! (I somehow remember to have read it sounding like this). In this village there was a chap called Ranga who was poor and had nothing but a tamarind tree in front of his house. He thought he will pluck all the Tamarind from the tree and sell it in the city. Now he also has to face the two problems.

As Ranga walked through the forest and was passing through a big banyan tree, he starts hearing a whistling sound and someone tickling him. Ranga got scared and started asking "Who is it" and yes, you guessed it right. It was a scary Ghost. Now this is where the story stretches a bit  with me enacting a bit of this encounter and Abhay keeps laughing and asking it to be continued for more :-). Now Ranga knew one thing. The Ghosts scare you more if you show that you are scared. So he started laughing to the annoyance of the Ghost! The Ghost wanted to know why he was laughing to which Ranga said there is a bigger and scarier ghost in the city and he is more fearsome. The ghost wanted to meet this bigger and scarier ghost to find out. Ranga asks the ghost to get inside his sack for he doesn't want the bigger ghost to seem him with another ghost and get angry. The ghost agreed and they proceeded.

As Ranga entered the city check post, the "Dabbanadindorda" commanded Ranga in a booming voice to tell him what he was carrying. Ranga in a trembling voice said, it was Tamarind. As was his routine, the tax collector pierced the sack with his needle and the ghost inside was in great pain but could not scream out. This is the second stretch of the story where I find Abhay to be enjoying with me having to enact the pain of the ghost. Finally the ordeal is over with the tax collector demanding ten rupees as tax and Ranga requests that he will pay it on the way back after selling the tamarind. Once they pass the check post Ranga opens the sack near a tree and out jumps the ghost with a great relief. Smart Ranga extracts a promise from the ghost that it will never trouble him again.

So who is the scarier ghost? Of course we all are scared of the Income Tax department :-)

Happy Birthday One story a day!

How many sleeps till my Birthday ? - By Mark Sperring and Sebastian Braun

Guest Post by Vani

Somewhere around September, I had registered for real aloud kits from Little readers nook, a theme based read aloud program based out of Mumbai . Here I was , a picture book enthusiast and was curious to know what other parents were choosing and reading for their 4 year olds. The first kit was based on birthdays. 3 wonderful books arrived early October. I could not have asked for a better theme because my little munchkin had just completed his 4th year

The highlight of this kit was a book named How many sleeps till my Birthday. A little bear  named Pip wakes up every morning wondering if it was his birthday. He wakes up daddy Grizzle who is still in snooze land  A little annoyed and a lot patient is how you describe daddy Grizzle. Little does Pip know that daddy is infact secretly planning a fabulous party - what with him baking a cake at night when Pip is sleeping, to cutting logs from the forest  and secretly sending out invites to friends and blowing balloons.

On the day of the birthday, little Pip realizes that daddy has left many clues , all that lead to his party. Pip is immensely delighted seeing his friends and lots of cake and gifts

At the end of the party, daddy wonders  out aloud if he would get to sleep a little longer the next day

But what do you think happened the next morning .

Pip sneaks out of bed, lands of daddy's bed and asks : Daddy Grizzle Daddy Grizzle. How many sleeps till Christmas ???

What I loved about the book. For once here was a daddy doing the preparations and not a mommy. But the sentimental me also wondered why the mommy was missing in the story.

Repetitive words such as Daddy Grizzle Daddy Grizzle , wake up  in every 3rd page - would make a great  accomplishment for read alouds and enacting

..and the illustrations - from the annoyed daddy to the enthu cutlet little Pip early in the morning. the illustrations are so so endearing

It is December. We have put up a Xmas tree, the chill is in the air and last evening we had a shining red star put up at the balcony.

At home, our 4 year old believes Santa would fly from the sky and drop a present at our door

Just like Little Pip who is now waiting for Christmas, my little one is looking forward to presents from Santa

Families are about bonding, caring and celebrating. This book has it all.

So you know what to read for your child's  next birthday , don't you ???

**** Oh my ! in being a enthu cutlet myself in doing my first ever blog post on children's books, I have forgotten to add a line or two ****

Divya ! Its a honour to be asked to write on your blog. Many congratulations on being featured in the Hindu.

While we usually exchange gifts, here is something unique . Here's wishing you many more happy reading hours for you and your family and many hours of bonding over books.

Thank you for being an inspiration for other parents.

Thanks to Devaki  from Little Readers Nook for sending us such a wonderful read.

We turn three!

 

I still remember that chilly December afternoon, after having put my then four year old to nap with a picture book,  the idea of a blog on picture books struck me and Boy! did I get to work immediately! Though I had meant to mull over it for some time and bounce it off my husband who was to return home that evening after a week long tour on work, I simply couldn't contain it any longer! So I sat on the couch hunched over my laptop, signed up with blogger and voila! "Onestoryaday" was up within the next one hour, with a surprise email waiting in my husband's inbox as he landed home and in my parents' inbox as they woke up the next morning! It's been three years now.......and thanks to my readers,  Onestoryaday is still going strong! :-) While it is still literally one story a day at bedtime for Abhay,  it has turned from one blog post every day on the first year to one blog post every other day the second and one blog post every week days on its third year! :-) Well, with life getting busier day by day, it is one thing to be reading to your little one every day, but it is quite another to be blogging about it! What started as way to preserve our shared experiences of reading together has now turned into a hobby…..a passion…..a getaway from the daily humdrum of life!   Though it’s been only three years, I feel as if Onestoryaday has been a part of my life all along. What’s more…..if it’s been four or five days since my previous post…..I experience something that can probably be likened to withdrawal symptoms….making me irritable and restless until I key in a post on-the-go! So be it juggling between the due dates of three different libraries, or accessing the blogger mobile app while waiting in court or asking my husband to wait for just five minutes until I finish my post and end up making him wait for almost an hour… all this seems worthwhile with the appreciation received from my readers so far…..and hopefully may receive from Abhay in the future!:-) Thanks to all my readers for all their encouragement!

This year, Onestoryaday received a birthday gift in advance ...a special mention in the Hindu's Metroplus on the occasion of National Library Week! As it's been the tradition on Onestoryaday for the last two years, this year too I invite all my readers to be a part of Onestoryaday and share your favorite books you read as a kid or favorite books you love to read to your little one as a parent! Share them on Onestoryaday!

Creating your own wonderland!

 Over the weekend, we took Abhay to an adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s  “Alice in Wonderland” that was playing at Rangashankara. Performed by the Mumbai based theatre group Tram theatre with the aid of objects, puppetry and shadow play, this is a play not be missed and mind it,  not just for kids! Not only did the play stay true to the original elements of the classic, but in a way took the story to a whole new level with its adaptation into a modern setting that had us introspect into the way we look at our own lives! Should we surrender to the daily hum-drum of life without taking time off to enjoy the moment? Should we go about our routine totally devoid of any sense of wonder or fascination? Should we see the world with a black and white lens as opposed to a coloured one? Growing up doesn’t have to mean that we stop being imaginative or grow out of our little wonderlands that we once cherished as kids! Actually, it’s not the kids, but we adults have a lot to learn from Alice and her wonderland! :-)

Alice in wonderland was also of special interest to Abhay as his class has been rehearsing the same play for a performance in their upcoming annual school day!  So on the eve of watching the play at Rangashankara, I  picked up “Alice in the Wonderland”, an illustrated graphic novel from Om publications. Of course there are numerous publications of timeless tales such as this, but frankly this was the only one I could lay my hands on just when I needed one! Narrated in a graphic book format with vibrant and vivid illustrations, this one is sure to engross your early reader into the wondrous world of Alice following the hurrying hare into a tunnel only to land in a hall full of doors of various sizes until she is of a perfect size for the door leading up the garden full of rapid races and mad tea parties that gives her courage to challenge the queen of hearts and just as she is about to have her way, she wakes up all envigorated to find that it was one adventurous dream after all! So don’t underestimate the power of imagination and the wonders it can do to your once boring world!