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Tuesday, December 10, 2013

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.

3 comments:

  1. Thank you Vani, the early bird for agreeing to be a part of Onestoryaday! A wonderful post on a wonderful book indeed! Picture books like these are a joy to read aloud! :-)

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  2. Divya, Vani, where can I buy this book? Online or in any store in Bangalore ?

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  3. I think Vani signed up for Little Readers nook that sends books by mail. Here is the link https://www.facebook.com/LittleReadersNook

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