The Roly-Poly Rice Ball

This week has been particularly busy for me. Not that I've been visiting friends and relatives because of Eid. That is far from the reality of things. In fact, this is probably the first Eid I have not done as much visiting as I have always had, and should probably have had twice as much time available for me to use as I deem fit, but that is not the case. I have offered my help to be a parent volunteer at my son's elementary school and have been assigned the role of a Read Naturally Parent. With the training that was conducted and the other things that I have chosen to add to my schedule, obviously believing that I am a supermom, time for me to blog about the food and books in my life has been sorely depleted. Anyway, the training as a Read Naturally Parent was very useful.

So what is a Read Naturally Parent? Thought you'd ask...
It's main aim is to get children reading fluently. And by fluently there are mainly 4 areas that the child needs to be aware of. Let me not get into the details of this and jump right in to say that one very important idea I learnt during the training was that, a child who can read chapter books may not be considered a fluent reader! Why? Because, while he may be able to read fast, he may not be reading with the right inflexions, or comprehension or expression. Now...if you didn't know that, you just learnt something as well!

With my awareness of fluency, and its importance, I charged into the library (of course this is me being melodramatic!) and looked for books that would be helpful for my developing readers. Besides, I thought it was about time to get them a book which would be different from the ones they've been reading recently. The Roly-Poly Rice Ball was the right find.

The story is set in ancient China, gleaned from the colorful illustration of cherry blossom trees, ladies, men and mice dressed in ancient Chinese robes, and tells of a poor sweeper, Li, who had only three rice balls left to last him the whole day. Magically, as he sat under a cherry tree to eat it, the rice balls rolled away into a hole under the tree. Even more magical is his experience as he rolls into the hole as well. The mice who live in the hole eats his rice balls. But Li never gets upset even though he was ravenous. In return, the emperor mice rewards him with precious items which to the mice are of little value.

It is obvious that the story has a moral behind it; that one should share and put others before self and the idea of delayed gratification for being patient. However, I find the story overly unrealistic. It is unrealistic, that Li while in hunger is able to accede to the emperor's demands to do tasks even after he has lost the only meal he has.

Anyway, it is an easy read and one that will encourage the younger readers to enjoy reading because of the repetitive words as well as the sing-song magical chant that the mice uses to make things roll in and out of the hole.

What did we do?

• 
  
  discussed how Li felt when he saw the balss rolling away


• 
  
  tried to make sense of Li's patience


• 
  
  discuss if being a sweeper was a good job or not


• 
  
  shared what we would have done if we were Li

When Charlie McButton Lost Power

What's your stand when it comes to handing the computer to your kid to play? Here are some of the views I've come across. None of which I am passing any judgement on. Well, think about it, why should one view be disqualified just because one believes in another. We come with our own set of beliefs, prejudices and values. If we thought about issues the same way, it'd probably be a very very boring mechanical robotic place to live! So, are you the kind of parent who says no computer at all? Or the kind who says Go ahead and play all the video games, computer games, whatever it takes to keep you occupied - as long as I can have my peace? Or are you the kind who uses the computer game as a treat/incentive/motivation/bribe?

Ryan Respects

We were looking for easy to read books so that my daughter who's picking up reading can try to read some pages on her own. We came across this book, on the shelf for beginner readers, in the library. I didn't check the pages because we were running late and just checked the book out. So last night when she took this book for me to read to her at bedtime, I realised that while it was for beginner readers, I think it's more for Level 2 beginner readers. That said, my son enjoyed reading it, and my daughter enjoyed reading a page or two which had mostly easy words. But most importantly, they both enjoyed the story!

There is simply too much hate and too much violence and too much war in the world today. Even as we protect our kids from movies which have excessive violence, we still cannot protect them totally. They watch it over the news and in cartoons. I grew up with Tom and Jerry in its cat and mouse chase and The Roadrunner outwitting the coyote at his every move and Bugs Bunny constantly being blasted with Dynamite. But the flavor of violence has changed. The violence in cartoons like Ben10 and Spiderman and Totally Spieshave a certain undercurrent of menace and violence. The innocence of cartoons of the past seems to have been silenced by the racket of the new ones.

In We Share The World, the book aims to show how different cultures all across the world can live harmoniously. In its beautifully illustrated pages, the book takes us into the world of people from the shores of China to the exotic fauna and flora of Costa Rica. With each turn of the page, the book's vibrant colours brings its readers along to share a page of the lives of the people in eleven different countries. Seen through the eyes of a boy, we see how we should appreciate the beauty and diversity that the many cultures and places provide us with. Unlike the other books I have reviewed, this book is a poem which starts with "You and I, we share one world" and ends with the line, "let's live in peace". While the poetry is simple yet poignant, the pictures speak a thousand more words.

While my son was very happy to read the book to his little sis because there were only one liners on each page, I let him read it thinking that it was a story. Obviously, the beauty of the poetry was lost on him. But what was more important for me was that he understood the message that the poem was trying to convey rather than be distracted by the knowledge that he was reading a poem.

After reading the book:

• 
  
  the kids were interested in knowing what the pictures showed. They wanted to know what the houses were made of and why they were not made of bricks. So I grabbed the opportunity to tell them about climate and then helping them recall another story they were familiar with which had houses made of straw, wood and bricks - Yup...The Three Little Pigs !


• 
  
  They wanted to know what the bird featured was called


• 
  
  they wanted to know how the Australian aborigines used the didgeridoo to make music. So youtube came to my rescue!


• 
  
  They wanted to know why the Chinese junks were not the same as ships

So that's just a heads-up on some of the possible questions you'll need to look for answers with the kids after reading the book. But I think it's a book worth reading and time well spent searching for answers and a lot of worldly knowledge the kids have gleaned. I'm not sure if they remember everything, but even if they remembered just one thing, that to me would count as success!

Nicole Digs A Hole

My daughter is learning to read by herself. Not only does she pretend to pronounce words by making the phonetic sounds of only the FIRST letter, but she also makes up the story for herself by looking at the pictures. It can be quite hilarious but to encourage her, I will say she's doing a superb and excellent job at reading. More often than not, I'm rewarded with an even more creative interpretation of the next page and her self satisfied smile. :) I remember having Read-It-Yourself books when I was little and I wondered if these books were still around. Although it's still available I didn't get the exact same series because it wasn't what I was looking for. Instead I found this Start To Read series which was perfect for my daughter. I got the book Nicole Digs a Hole from this series.

Polite As A Princess

Polite as a Princess aims to teach kids good manners using the Disney Princesses - Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella - to showcase some of these manners. For example, Snow White waits for her turn and Ariel likes to share. Such easy everyday manners are shown to be traits of a princess. The book ends with "Don't you want to be just like a princess?" hence suggesting that every child can be a princess if the child is able to display such good manners. The illustration in the picture book looks as if it has been taken from the movie itself and is very eye-catching.

This is currently my daughter's favorite book. She's into Disney Princesses now. Not only does she have a crown, princess make believe make-up set, a Disney Princess handbag which grandma and gandpa gave her as a birthday present, she also has a fluffy princess-like dress and the list goes on...I was never very much into these kinds of toys when I was young and am wondering where she got this interest from. In any case, if the interest in Disney Princesses is motivating her to read books with Disney Princesses on the cover, then I have no objections - the only grouse I have is that these can be rather costly and therefore I had to teach her to be prudent.

Making reading relevant:

• Remind the child whenever the opportunity arises that she should be behaving like a princess


• Ask the child to describe scenarios they can behave like any one of the princesses


• Affirm the child that she's behaving like a princess when she takes the effort to exhibit these manners


• Ask the child to choose her favorite good manners and then talk about why it is her favorite

It's a different way of encouraging the child to have good manners and a little more fun for the parent as well! At least now when we role model we can compare ourselves to princesses as well! :)

Holes and Peeks

Last night's bedtime story was Holes and Peeks by Ann Jonas. I was really tired and was glad that it was one of those easy stories. It's a good book now that my child is learning to read. The easy words and repetitive style of the author makes word recognition a breeze.

If You Give A Mouse A Cookie

I was watching A Place of Our Own a show for parents focused on parenting skills and tips. One of the pointers made for that particular series was that children behave better when they are aware and know what the consequences are of doing something. The better able they are in predicting the consequence to an action, the easier it will be to explain and effect the consequence. While I was mulling on how I could teach my children about cause and effect, I recalled reading this book to my kids a few months back. And an idea formed...

Not only did my kids enjoy the book, but they still remembered the story. In fact, they enjoyed it so much, they have an ongoing competititon on who can remember the sequence of events in the book without missing a beat. So I searched for the book, found it and read on to know what else I did to help my kids learn about Cause and Effect - I don't think it's too young to start them on some basic life skills!

The book If You Give A Mouse A Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff tells a story of what happens to a spunky boy who gives a mouse a cookie. The boy soon realises that the mouse will want more than just a cookie. To go with the cookie, the mouse would like a glass of milk, then a straw, then a mirror, a pair of scissors and so the list goes on. By the time he is done meeting all of the mouse's demands, he is weary.  With a colorful and fun illustration of what happens to the mouse and the kid who gives the mouse the cookie, it was not only my kids who enjoyed it, I did too.

Here's what we did to learn about Cause and Effect:-

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  recall the sequence of demands (which was a fun activity by itself!)


• 
  
  Tried to recall why the next demand was made (for example, if he had the glass of milk, why did he ask for a straw?)


• 
  
  to help the kids to realise that cause and effect is real - we made some 'IF' statements. (For example, if you didn't sleep early ....?)


• 
  
  and it's true that if the child can accurately identify the effect, it'll make relating with him so much easier! You should try it...it's worth investing some time in this activity because it saves a lot more time trying to convince the child to do things later!

This week has been an emotionally charged one for my child. Last week he said goodbye to his Korean classmate who was going to live in New Jersey and this week he had to say goodbye to another classmate who was relocating to Chicago. For the kids who were leaving, starting over in a new place, with new classmates in fall and leaving behind what they have become familiar with and people whom they have come to have close ties with is traumatic. Similarly, the ones they leave behind have to deal with the knowledge that they will probably lose contact and become strangers with time.

Having to deal with this issue, I decided to search for such books and came across Half A World Away by Libby Gleeson. It is a story of two close friends, Amy and Louie, who are always together. Who do things together, who play together and who have developed such a close knit friendship that they can always depend on each other to come out to play just by having a special call for each other. However, one day, Amie has to go away - very far away. And this makes Louie feel lonely and empty. Similarly, Amy feels just as lonely in her new place. Louie calls out to Amy using the special call but there is no reply. He looks to the sky and imagines the clouds to be in the shape of dragons. In the place that Amy is, she wakes up and claims she had a lovely dream of Louie calling her. The illustration tells a story which is unspoken in words. For the sky that we see in the background has the dragons which Louie saw where he was. The illustration suggests that the friends may be half a world away, but they were still under the same sky. The story ends with Louie smiling in his sleep - leaving the readers to wonder if he was having a pleasant dream of Amy calling to him with their special call.

While the ending leaves us with a warm feeling, the story is one that does not seek to reassure the reader that the friends will meet again, or that they will be best friends forever. This story has no happily ever after. Instead, in a surprisingly subtle way, it tells the child that both Louie and Amy will have to find ways to deal with the loneliness that they feel.

While I was looking for more books which deal with parting of best friends, I found another which I felt was equally good. In fact it deals with a different perspective of parting. In Ira Says Goodbye by Bernard Waber, the child deals with feeling rejected that her best friend is excited to go to a new place when she is upset about losing her best friend. However, I passed this book because the scenario was different. I felt that my child would be able to relate to Half A World Away better. It is a story worth reading to children who are having to deal with separation issues especially when it is parting with best friends. The illustration - while simple - helps the child to relate to his own experience of playing with his own friends and sharing precious time.

Here's what we did as we read the book:

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  Looking a the pictures, I asked how he thinks the children were feeling when they were together. And again when they were apart.


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  Ask him if he knew why Amy had to leave (the story does not give any reason) and if Amy had a choice to stay


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  Look at the picture when Amy says she had a lovely dream and ask the child to spot what similarities he can find with the picture of Louie smiling in his sleep


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  Ask why there were 2 pages which had only clouds (without any words)


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  Ask why Louie was smiling in his sleep


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  Finally, ask how he felt about his own friend leaving and how he could make himself feel better

Personally, I feel rather sorry that the children of this day and age have to deal with so much change. I never had to deal with such painful childhood experiences. Life was very stable. Change was something that came in a blue moon. I hope that the children of now, who will become adults of the future, will be able to deal with change more deftly and become stronger persons because of these experiences in life.

Gift ideas:

Here's a book that we gave his friend - something to remember him by in the future - something that will help her deal with the change and give her strength to be unafraid to be herself and do the things that she wants to do. The book is called Oh, the Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle is probably a classic picture book for kids. It is a simple story about the number of food items a very hungry caterpillar eats each day of the week until he finally suffers a stomachache, eats a leaf and creates a cocoon from which he emerges two weeks later as a beautiful butterfly. While it can be considered no different from any other counting book and one that teaches the days of the week, it is made special by the ingenuity of the design of the book.

It is difficult not to notice the hole in each page as the caterpillar literally worms its way through the pages of the book or the pages which increase in length as the food items increase. Not only can kids put their finger into the hole that the caterpillar makes through the food he eats, they can have fun counting the unusual food it eats each day as well.  As we follow this unusual caterpillar through his insatiable appetite we are not too surprised by the stomachache but the magical butterfly that appears from the cocoon makes following the journey of the caterpillar a somewhat satisfying experience.

My kids enjoyed the book when I read it to them when they were 2, and enjoyed when I read it to them a year later and now, they still enjoy it even though they know the story very very well! Definitely a must have!

What do I recommend this book for? To teach:

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  numbers


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  days of the week


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  cause and consequence


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  life cycle (although you might want to read why the caterpillar emerged from a cocoon and not a chrysalis here)

It just happened that one day, I was wondering what I could do to check my children's understanding of the books we read. It wasn't like I planned it or was thinking too hard about it, but I naturally asked questions as I read the book. Now we call it "Question time!" and they love to play this after each book we read. Knowing that there is a "Question time" segment after we say the end makes the experience of the book last longer as well as acts as an incentive so that they pay close attention as the story is read because they never now what the question will be. :)

Here are some questions and activities we did after reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar .

1. 
   
   What are some of the food the caterpillar ate?


2. 
   
   Why do you think it ate so much?


3. 
   
   Why do you think he had a stomach-ache?


4. 
   
   How do you think the caterpillar felt before he got into his cocoon?


5. 
   
   How long was the caterpillar in the cocoon?


6. 
   
   Let's see if we can remember what the caterpillar ate on  Monday...etc


7. 
   
   Let's use our fingers and say the days of the week.


8. 
   
   Look at a calendar and point out the days


9. 
   
   When watching cartoons, write the days a particular cartoon is shown on the calendar. So the kid can identify with days.


10. 
    
    Got a book on animals and their young.


11. 
    
    Got a book- Frogs by Gail Gibbons - to show that different animals have different lifecycles. (This I did when they were a little older)


12. 
    
    We tried to see how a caterpillar would grow into a butterfly - but it was too tedious and the kids lost interest after a week. So I'll keep this field experiement for when they a little older and can truly appreciate the meaning of delayed gratification. We put the caterpillar back into the wild and hopefully it survived to become a beautiful butterfly.

Happy Reading!!!

In Little Monster Did It! by Helen Cooper, a little girl misbehaves and becomes a nuisance at home with the arrival of a younger sibling. The story begins with her parents presenting a soft toy - Little Monster - to her before they left to the hospital. Upon their return with the baby, things go terribly wrong in the house which the girl insists was caused by Little Monster. In a charming and indirect way, Cooper gives the reader the opportunity to distinguish what is really happening from what the girl claims to have happened. The colourful full page illustration makes reading and solving the Little Monster Did It! mystery enjoyable. Finally Cooper resolves the tension between the siblings by allowing Little Monster to appreciate having the little baby around. Ironically, after all the trouble, Little Monster Did It! - he ultimately helped her accept the baby.

I chanced upon this book at a timely moment. My elder child was becoming increasingly jealous of his younger sibling and was being somewhat mischievous at home - reminding me of a lovable little monster! So when I read the book, the elder child could identify with the mischief that Little Monster came up with and subsequently became his favourite book. He was so fond of it, he decided to remember the words in the book and read it all by himself. He enjoyed playing detective and spotting the discrepancies between truth and fiction by looking at the pictures and figured out that Little Monster was just a convenient scapegoat for the girl. The younger one enjoyed describing what Little Monster supposedly did from looking at the illustration and saw Little Monster as literally a monster!

What do I think this book is useful for?

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  Teaching kids what's acceptable behaviour and what's not


• A lesson on telling the truth


• Understanding the need to accept change - and that change can be good

Here are some things we did while we read the book and after reading the book. I believe it helps to build their reading, comprehension and speech.

1. Pretended to be a detective and spot where the girl was in the picture and find evidence to show who actually did it.


2. Describe what was happening in the picture.


3. Ask questions to help the child empathise with the characters in the book. For example, "How do you think the girl felt when she heard the baby crying/when she realised that she had to share space with the baby? Why do you think the Daddy was upset?


4. Ask questions to help the child make judgements. Do you think it was a good idea to mess the kitchen? Why?


5. Most important questions - at least for me - Do you think the girl achieved anything by misbehaving? and What happened at the end of the story? What do you think is the lesson in this story?


6. This is what we did after the story. I used Little Monster Did It! to teach them to be responsible for their actions. Here's what I did which helped me manage some of the difficult moments. If either of the kids were up to some mischief, I'd go "And who did this? Is it Little Monster???" And they'd say, "Little Monster didn't do it. I did it". It helped the kids take responsibility for the things they did. At the same time, I couldn't get very angry even if I wanted to! ;)

Here's to Little Monster Did It! A fun read for moms, dads and kids!

What Makes Kids Want to READ?

When I decided to review the books that I have read to my children, it was intended as a means to share some motherly wisdom as well as allow me to keep in touch with my love for reviewing literature. So when I put up the widget displaying the books my kids enjoyed, it was meant as a sneak preview for my visitors to check what they can expect to find next or what was already reviewed on the blog. What I didn't expect was the excitement when my kids saw it! They weren't excited about the widget of course because they hardly know what a widget is!

The excitement stemmed from being able to recognise the books displayed on the screen. Such amazement and glee! For a while I didn't understand what the fuss was about until they began to compete with each other on who could say first the title of the book being displayed. *roll eyes* Yes...I rolled my eyes too. But what was interesting was that these were books that I had read only once to them with the exception of Little Monster Did It! That was my son's favorite and he would read it over and over and over....(you get the picture I'm sure. I'll let you know why it's his personal favourite when I review the book in my next post.) For now, let me not digress from my main intention of posting how I stumbled on another great way to motivate kids to read. And I realised that they were even more excited because they recognised these books. So when my son asked if I had done this wonderful thing of displaying the book sthey liked and I said yes, he was all ready to suggest even more books for me to include.

TA-DA!! That was when I was struck by the sheer power of this widget! I could get my kids to WANT to READ just so they could see the books on display on the computer. Now how cool is that? And they wanted me to display only books they liked. So you can assume then that the rest of the book reviews will probably be ones which they like very very much. Bingo! BUT I'll try to spare you the ordeal some of the books put me through and do a review of those except that I won't be displaying the book covers in my widget. I have to keep my promise - it's part of walking the talk as a parent. So I hope you'll thank my kids for being my censorship board and save you the trouble of finding good books to read to your kids. Now all you need to do is lookat the widget and find the title of the book reviewed in my blog! For me, I find motivating my kids such an eye-opening experience that I cannot fail to agree with the many SAHM out there that this job has no idiot-proof guide book. You just learn along the way....and some just makes your day - like this little widget treat!