Best of 2011

Today is the last day of the year 2011 and as we get ready to welcome the new year, it is time to take stock of the year that was – events and non-events, changes - temporary and permanent, choices – voluntary and involuntary, all of which are dated 2011. As we see the best of everything in the year 2011 shown on television or in the newspapers, I thought I should recap my five favorite books of 2011 featured on One Story a day!

In no particular order, my personal favorites are:-

The Story of Ferdinand   by Munro Leaf : To be or not to be - the Stereotype!   A timeless classic that teaches all parents to love them enough to let them go!

The Sandwich Swap by Her Majesty Oueen Rania Alabdulla : Show me the Curd Rice!  A smart way to tackle picky Eaters!

When I grow up by Al Yankovic :What do you want to be when you grow up?  A children's book by the famous American-singer -comedian sure to make you laugh!

The Square Cat by Elizabeth Schoonmaker : Square's Fair The post earned a recognition from the author herself!

Oh!No! Its time to go: A book of Goodbyes by Rebecca Doughty : Oh! No! Its time to go! A final goodbye to our life in the US and wonderful companion to say those tough words!

Hope we get to read more and more such books in the year 2012  too!
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE!

Story time - Guest post by Pooja

Pooja joins One Story a day in celebrating the picture books that her sons enjoy reading while she delights you with her adventures in Mommyhood!

December Vacation!

December has been my favorite month for various reasons! December is the season for many cultural events relating to classical music in South India; December means the onset of winter which was and still is mild in Bangalore when compared to the cold weather in the US. When growing up, December was the time for many outdoor activities in school like sports day, school day, etc. December meant Christmas vacation at school that happily coincided with my mother’s Christmas break at her college; December was also our annual vacation time as a family and finally my dad’s birthday also happens to fall on the month of December! So every year during the last week of December, we celebrate his birthday at my parents’ farm house, ever since it was built in 2006 at Dharmasthala in the South Kanara district of Karnataka. It is not just a house and a plantation, but truly my dad’s labor of love! My parents have not only invested so much of their time, money and energy but have given their heart and soul to our little paradise called ‘Shristi’! For Abhay, of course, it is an idyllic vacation in his grandpa’s farm house. For us, the lush green plantation, vast open spaces, panoramic view of the sky and my mother’s delicious cooking makes it a perfect getaway that beats any star hotel, resort or a homestay! J

Today, I read “On the farm”, a level 1 in the “I like to Read” Early Reader series. Initially I was not sure of how good an Early Reader it was, but I was pleasantly surprised! I must say that this Early Reader has an ideal blend of common short vowel and long vowel sounds for any emergent reader to read. Abhay was able to read the entire book with very little help. Bobby and Tina go to a farm with their pet dog Sandy and pet cat Kitty. All of them like the farm very much. Sandy and Kitty run behind the ducks, chicks and the sheep in the farm. Sandy then knocks off a pail full of milk that Kitty is happy to clean up.  Bobby and Tina enjoy doing things on the farm like sweeping off the leaves and taking their pets on a wagon ride. As the weather gets hot, Bobby and Tina dive into a cool pool and soak up some sun before it starts to rain and so ends their fun filled trip on the farm. Today being the last day of our week long stay at our farm, I dedicate this to the Shristikarta (Creator) of Shristi – Happy 60^th Birthday Appa!

Merry Christmas

It’s that time of the year again that has us nostalgic of our stay in the US. At the risk of sounding repetitive, I wish we could disapparate ( in Harry Potter language)  to Portland just to experience the holiday frenzy that would have enveloped the entire US!  It may sound like I’m exaggerating, but one must see it to believe it – Christmas spirit is so infectious that it rubs off a little on even the most impervious ones. In fact, we had even got our own little Christmas tree and hung all the embellishments that traditionally go with the Christmas centerpiece. So when we see Giant Christmas trees at malls and shops in Bangalore, we miss our little tree that we left behind in the US. So much so that even Abhay lamented over the lack of some of the customary decorations on a Christmas tree we saw at a shop…”Amma they don’t have ginger bread cookie or a snow flake on the tree” were his exact words! Anyway, Christmas tree or no Christmas Tree, we still had our in-house Santa come in with gifts! J

So yesterday on Christmas day, I read “Merry Christmas Mom and Dad” a book from the Little Critter series by Mercer Mayer. Little Critter is all set to make it a special Christmas for his mom and dad. He first attempts to put together a Christmas wreath but it falls apart as soon as it is hung on the door. He tries his hand at decorating the ginger bread cookies that his mom bakes but cant resist from tasting them. He goes to the toy shop to look for a present for his parents but gets confused as there are too many toys to choose from. So he leaves it to Santa to pick a present for his parents. He picks out a Christmas tree that is too big to take home; He plans on putting up the star on top of the tree all by himself but ended up seeking the help of his dad, after all. On Christmas eve, he tries hard to go to bed early but is just too excited to fall asleep. Finally, on the morning of Christmas day, he stirs out of bed at the crack of dawn and instead of waiting for his parents to wake up; he goes downstairs to find his presents lay at foot the Christmas tree! He then goes up to wake up his sleeping parents with a card that reads “Merry Krismas Mom and Dad”!! Merry Christmas to everyone!

The Noisy Book!

Abhay has always been sound sensitive from the beginning. Even as an infant, it was clear that he was irked by screeching sounds like that of a simple whistle or the whistle of a pressure cooker, though he made his displeasure known with a  high pitched screech himself! Soon we moved to the US and living in a quiet environment like Portland, he was insulated from all that noise typical to an Indian city. So when we moved back to Bangalore…..he had a problem with all those noises that most kids brought up in Bangalore tend to ignore or for that matter don’t seem to notice at all! For instance, it is only Abhay who notices that our neighbor has turned off her pressure cooker after four whistles, or that the next door maid is washing clothes on the wash stone or wonders why our neighbor hasn’t picked up the ringing telephone yet or covers his ears at a birthday party when the big balloon pops out glitters and candies or gets angry at vehicles with screeching horns or seems puzzled by the Namaz call at a nearby mosque or waits until the water pump has been turned off to go to bed! Well….as my husband says …. and it is only Abhay’s mom who makes a big deal out of it …by blogging about it!!!:-)

Anyway, sticking to my tradition of making each of his “issues” worthy of  a book to read aloud and write about, today I read “The Noisy Book” by Margret Wise Brown and pictures by Leonard Wiesgard. A little dog named Muffin gets a cinder in his eye and is taken to a doctor. The doctor puts a bandage over his eyes which he had to have it on the whole day. Suddenly as Muffin couldn’t see anything, he could hear everything – the tick tock sound of the clock, siss siss sound of the radiator, the snip snap sound of the scissors, ting ling sound of the telephone and not only that, he suddenly became conscious of the sound of his stomach growling, the buzz of the little fly, kerchoo of the sneeze of the doctor’s dog! As he walked back home blindfolded, he heard all the street noises – construction noises, car horns and the biggest noise of the street- the siren of the fire truck. Besides the obvious noises, Muffin managed to hear the sun rise, or the sound of snow, and other little noises one tends to ignore! Then he tried to figure out a mysterious noise that sounded like a garbage can, a big fierce lion, or the engine of a train, or a big boat or an airplane and that actually turned out to be a baby doll –a gift for Muffin from his well-wishers! Abhay quite liked the “Noisy book” and Im pretty sure that it has all to do with the way the story ends! J