That's a great idea!

One of our all time favourite children’s authors is Mo Willems, the author who gave us the hilarious Pigeon series, the delightful Knuffle Bunny series and who can forget the endearing adventures of Elephant and Piggie! So when the Hillsboro library’s picture book e-newsletter (I still subscribe to it!) came out with a recommendation of his latest release, I had to grab a copy. It’s a pity that books by Mo Willems are not easily available in India (like many other American publications) and so I was on a mad hunt for relatives or friends visiting the US or US based relatives visiting India!:-) I guess, all my relatives travelling to or from the US have learned it the hard way that even a courtesy offer to get something from the US is not only accepted without any hesitation but will almost immediately result in a package being delivered at their doorstep…a la Amazon! The package will most definitely contain nothing but books for Abhay and no package from the US is complete without a book from Mo Willems! J

 

Since today’s theme for the 30 books in 30 days challenge is Wordless Wednesday,  I read Mo Willems’ latest offering “That’s not a good idea”, a tribute to the era of silent movies. The book is illustrated and sequenced as if it were silent movie, with pictorial representations inter cut with pages appearing to be black and white dialogue cards. The story revolves around the big bad fox sighting a goose (or could be the other way around) and while hoping to get a sumptuous dinner out of the encounter, tries to befriend the goose into taking him to the woods. “That’s not a good idea” scream the audience of goslings, but the goose marches on to the lonely forest with her hungry escort. Seemingly oblivious to the apparent danger, the hunter and the hunted join together in preparing  soup for dinner. The suspense builds up as the Goslings’ warning “That’s not a good idea” turn from cautious to frantic to frenzied cries of fear! But there’s a twist in the tale at the end and that’s when you realize who was being warned!  Even though Abhay knows the ending….he keeps asking for an encore! This is an  edge of the seat thriller best meant to be read aloud to a group of our own little goslings….and that’s a great idea, by the way!  :-)

Is your G.E.M under control?

We may envy others who appear to have a perfect life, but who knows what lies beneath the surface! For all you know, that someone may probably envy you for those aspects of your life that you take for granted! Haven't we all come across a situation like that? For instance, a friend or a peer who seems to have everything one would wish for……but the fact of the matter is that while we know the perks, we don’t know the pressure; we only see good days and don’t see the bad days; we only see what that person has gained and not what he or she had to give up! Many a times there's more to what meets the eye and all we see is what we choose to see! :-)

Today we read “G.E.M” by Jane Clarke and illustrated by Garry Parsons, a story revolving around a boy named Royd and his envy quotient called the “G.E.M” meaning the Green Eyed Monster (which is literally a small green object hovering around everyone) Royd thinks his friend Gark has everything – a space pod for a birthday gift, a booster bouncer and a performing magician at his birthday party and best of all a free ride to Mars as and when he pleases!. He doesn’t heed to his mom’s warnings to keep an eye on his G.E.M lest it may gobble him up! But as Royd finds that the party is getting more and more fun, he cannot contain his jealousy and his G.E.M grows twice, ten times and finally a hundred times bigger until it puffs up so much that it gobbles him up! As Royd’s sister drags Royd’s G.E.M back home, his parents sympathise with his state by recollecting their childhood G.E.M experiences and explain that no one has everything. A couple of weeks later, when its Royd’s birthday, Royd’s mom and dad organize a super fun birthday party and Royd’s G.E.M grows back to its normal size. But its Gark turn to check on his G.E.M as he in turn considers Royd to be lucky to be having a little sister and a stay-at-home mom! As Royd’s mom serves some baked goodies, Gark mentions that his mom never gets to bake as she travels a lot on work……and guess who’s G.E.M grows bigger…….Royd’s mom who wishes she were working too! J Abhay was amused that both Royd and Gark were in fact jealous of each other!  So you see…..everyone has their own G.E.M to keep a check on!

Some things you just gotta do!

 Abhay’s favourite weekday is Wednesday as the said day’s time-table comprise of both Art class and PT class!  Abhay does not look forward to Monday as the day’s timetable comprise of two sessions of Environmental Science and Maths each! As children grow up, some take time to get down to the business of serious studies…..Abhay is one of them!  Sure …….he is all ears when the EVS lesson was on “Earth and its Neighbours” or “Volcanoes” or “Tornadoes” and other such interesting concepts of science. But he has to realize that it’s a package after all…..and a lesson like “Festivals of India” comes with it! While it’s true  that today’s schools have been employing innovative teaching methods and fewer assessments to make learning fun, but the flipside to it is that children expect everything to be turned into fun….otherwise it’s plain “boooring”!!! Well……Abhay sure wishes that the whole day would comprise of just drawing and art! Sometimes….we all wish so....dont we??  

Today we read about a pup who has similar issues. “I gotta draw” by Bruce Degen is about a an anthropomorphic pup named Charles Muttnik  who just loves to draw anywhere, anyplace and anytime! So when school reopens after summer, Charles discovers that the new academic year is full of surprises……especially the kind he doesn’t like. His class teacher Ms. Rich turns out to be the strict one insisting on being quiet and attentive in class, making them queue up for everything…with no talking or laughing. Ms. Rich gets them to read a lot, write a lot and do lots of lots of arithmetic. Charles is dismayed to find that there is not a lot of drawing to do in the new academic year. Poor Charles, who's just gotta draw, ends up doodling all over ….in his notebook, worksheets and even on his spelling tests.  Charles learns the hard way that his teacher is not too pleased with his drawings …..as his parents are summoned for a meeting. Predictably, his parents are not  pleased too…..and the result being “No TV, No Ice cream, No Movies, No nothing”! As Charles turns in a class project on climate zones…albeit …in an illustrated version, his teacher concedes his passion for drawing. She devises a way in which Charles can continue to draw while learning English, Science and even Maths. So when the whole class learns to spell pickle, Charles is asked to draw a picture of pickle while spelling it aloud. Similarly, as the whole class learns of the five boroughs that makes up New York City …Charlie learns the same by drawing the visuals. Charles couldn’t have been happier…….and soon the whole class follows suit! Though this picture book is meant for children of all ages, I feel the humour is best understood by kids aged five and above. A hilarious picture book that also has us introspect into traditional methods of learning. I love the part where Charles  walks into the first day of school muttering “When you’re a kid, there’s no escape. Summer ends and you gotta go to school. That’s the law”! J So Abhay …when you are kid, there is no escape…..along with learning things you love the most, you gotta learn things you may not enjoy best! That’s the law! J

Sunday with Dr. Seuss!

Today being the birth anniversary of one of the most celebrated children’s authors of all times, Dr. Seuss, we decided to make it a Seussville Sunday on Onestoryaday! Frankly, Abhay has never taken to Dr. Seuss books like the other kids and I don’t know why. I guess one of our first Dr. Seuss books was the vintage “"And to think that I saw it on Mulberry street"”, a book that got even the library staff nostalgic as I checked it out of the library. Later, I had to read Dr. Seuss “"Happy Birthday to you"” on his sixth birthday, though we could hardly match up to what would have been his birthday celebration in Katroo! J When we flew back to India on “The Emirates”, all my worries of how to handle a then fidgety four year old in a 15 hour flight were put to rest as Abhay was gifted a nice little kit to keep him company and in that was a small little Dr. Seuss book! So amongst many of Dr. Seuss books we read…..this is the one book I remember the most!

So today we decided to revisit the same memories and had Abhay read with his eyes

shut!J  Like many other books of Dr, Seuss, this one  too in narrated in verse and highlights the fascinating world of reading and books.  “I can read with my eyes shut” is a book that Abhay enjoyed reading even today and couldn’t stop giggling when the ubiquitous character in most Dr. Seuss books ‘Cat in the hat’  throws light on the things one can read about if one opens one’s eyes – “You can read about anchors, and all about ants, you can read about ankles and crocodile pants”........complemented by hilarious illustrations! Of course…who can forget “The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” I guess, one is never too old for Dr. Suess..isn’t it?? J

 

Shakespeare for kids!

 

When I began blogging about the books I read to Abhay, I had meant it to be a daily affair and that is the precise reason for the name “Onestoryaday”! More or less I managed to live up to the name during my “stay-at-home-mom” phase in the US, the first year of Onestoryaday,  and all thanks to the fantastic US public library system that allows for free access to some of the best children’s literature! As we moved back to India, one story a day became one story every other day as even with the combined membership of over three of Bangalore’s libraries…….I still couldn’t borrow over 30 books which I could in the Hillsboro public library! (And that’s true!)  Now that I’ve traded my “easy-going-stay-at-home” status to “always-on-the-run working mom” phase…one story every other day….has been demoted to twice a week! While it is still one story/one book  a day at bedtime everyday or even two books if it’s a holiday for Abhay, (if not, my seven year old refuses to sleep!)…. blogging about it everyday ….is a different matter altogether! Now that I have joined the “30 books in 30 days” challenge, an event launched by friend and fellow blogger Bubble Ink, I hope to key in a few sentences on the book of the day…everyday until the next 30 days! Thanks to Bubble Ink …..Onestoryaday is now actually One story a day!

 

So kick-starting the challenge the first day of March, I thought I should begin with the master storyteller of all times – William Shakespeare! I know….all works of Shakespeare may not exactly be age appropriate…but I hoped to engage Abhay with “The Tempest”, brought out in a comic book format by Wonderland Books as a part of Illustrated Classic Works series, as with Alice in Wonderland that we had read earlier. Though I hope this will not be the only version of Shakespeare’s works that Abhay may ever read, I guess this will do for now! J I was quite surprised that Abhay quite liked the story and was fascinated by the magical world of Prospero, intrigued by the treachery of his brother Antonio and the twist in his fate as Prospero seeks revenge. Though not a typical children’s book, this is a great way of introducing famous works of literature to our kids…..so as to inspire them read more and more!