The Ultimate Shape Game!!!

I can’t believe that we’ve reached the end of the 30 books in 30 days challenge!!! Sorry for cliché …but it only feels like yesterday that I decided to post our reading experiences on a daily basis on Onestoryaday, in order to participate in the challenge hosted by friend and fellow blogger Bubbleink!  Reading everyday was given, but I was not sure if I could live up to my challenge of posting it every day on Onestoryaday! I guess it’s not just the reading but the sharing of our reading adventures with other like minded moms that made this experience most memorable. It not only brought all the reader moms onto a single platform, but enabled us to interact and exchange notes on each other’s reading experiences, all thanks to Bubble ink! Kudos to Bubbleink and her blogger friends for this wonderful initiative and the follow-up support! We loved the day-to-day reading prompts on wide ranging topics and issues we’d want our little ones to dwell on! At first, I read whatever I had on hand …without paying too much attention to the daily reading prompts posted by Bubbleink. Well, it only got tougher as everyone began reading on the lines of the day’s prompt, taking the challenge to the next level! So it’s not a surprise that in between work, routine home duties and Abhay’s final assessments, finding books that conform to Bubbleink’s pick of the day became our priority No.1! J

Thanks once again Bubbleink and team!

 

 I guess today’s reading prompt is the easiest of all, our favourite book! I guess every kid's favourite keeps changing like the seasons and the current flavor of the season at out house is “The Shape Game” by someone who we've grown to really like and look forward to -  “Anthony Browne”, who was the  Children’s Laureate for 2009-11! Anthony Browne is someone who believes that picture books are for anybody at any age and not just books to be left behind as we grow older! This is so true as we parents seem to enjoy Anthony Browne 's books just as much as our seven year old! Most of his illustrations seem simple yet they convey a profound understanding of the world around us. In this story, a family of four comprising of mother, father and their two sons decide to visit an art museum to fulfill the mom’s birthday wish and it becomes an enriching experience for all them particularly the younger son (who is supposedly the author himself!). As they enter the museum, the dad and the older son seem unsure of how much fun this trip would be as the dad cannot figure out modern art. They browse through some of the famous paintings and the mom is shown engaging her sons with questions about what the paintings remind them of or to spot the differences between similar looking paintings, while the dad non-chalantly regales his jaded sons with some of wisecracking jokes.

But soon, dad find himself captivated by the beauty of some of the exhibits, especially a painting of a lion that he feels looks real, to which his sons cannot but suppress a giggle as they wonder how would their father react if a real lion springs out of the painting! J So that’s how the family spend the entire day admiring, imagining and reflecting on the paintings and art in the gallery while your little one vicariously lives through their amazing experience! Finally,  as they leave the gallery with high spirits, mom shows them the brilliant drawing game called the Shape Game….where the first player draws an abstract shape and each player thereafter adds his own shape to later give the shape a recognizable form! The author who is also a brilliant illustrator finally confesses that in a way, he has been playing the shape game ever since…..!!!!

Aided by spectacular illustrations of the gallery art and unique but realistic portrayal of the reactions and expressions of each family member, this is almost like a beautiful motion picture in front of your eyes ….only if you have the imagination to see it!  From the above....……it is an understatement to even term this books a-must read!!!  All I can say is ....go grab your copy today!!!