A few Favourite Books (ages 3-7)

In continuation to the book theme we are on currently, I have been meaning to compile a list of books that I am done reading a zillion times and my kids still don't tire. I have slowly got the peapod to read her own books though she still loves being read to. Just around the time I transitioned her, my boy started insisting I read out to him. He loves books and yanks them out at any given opportunity searching for his favourite blue elephant book and gets me to read . Every time I try to fool him by skipping a page or a line, I have a daughter just old enough to know the difference and keeps pointing it out. And sometimes the boy figures it out for himself I skipped a page and would go back to it after I have finished the book and make me read the book again from where I skipped. There is justice in his small world but is there any in mine??

 Giggle giggle quack quack - This is a funny story about how the animals on a barn pull a fast one on the farmer. Farmer Brown has a barn full of farm animals, cows, pigs, hens and ducks. Farmer goes on a vacation and lets his brother look after his barn. Farmer Brown leaves his brother with a note of things to be done each day. He also warns his brother of the DUCK. What he doesn't know yet is that the DUCK has replaced each note and what transpires thereafter as a result is that the farmer's brother orders pizza in the barn for the animals, the pigs get a bath in the farmer's bathtub and are dried with his finnest towels and they also manage a movie night. Both my kids love it and it always makes them laugh.



 
Snoring Shanmughan - An another funny story about a lion named Shanmughan. That name cracks me up everytime. Shanmughan is always sleeping and snores real loud. The animals were tired of the snore and required to remedy the situation. Soon they realize the lion doesn't snore so loudly when he sleeps on his side and the elephant helps moving shanmughan to his side when the snoring gets unbearable. Meanwhile, an another lion walks into the jungle and assumes the jungle doesn't have a lion and is all set to presume the role of the king of the jungle. The animals try to wake the sleeping lion in vain. Finally its the elephant who moves the lion to sleep on his back, the position in which he snores the loudest. The snore scares the new lion and he leaves the jungle.



The snow king's daughter - This is the story of a little boy, Keshav, he has his summer vacations and his favourite past time is looking at the atlas and pretend travelling to various places and make up a language for each place. This book very subtly talks about Tibet, immigration and independence. It hasn't been easy explaining why the kids came to India but their parents stayed back. It is a disturbing concept for the peapod and I don't think she still has made her peace with it. Every time we read the book she has a question, why did they let the babies go? When would they meet their parents? Who actually looked after them? and so on. We had also bought an Atlas for her around the same time. She too loved going through the index, looking them up on the map and then she would make me read up about the place. It is very often pulled out for reading.The illustrations are simple and fun. 9 out of 10 times the atlas is the next book to ponder over after this. Its been a pleasure meeting the author, Sowmya at the twistntales bookreading session.





How do dinosaurs say good night? - This is my 2.5 year olds favourite bed time book. The illustrations are pretty funny with a line of verse on each page. The author wonders in this book what a dinosaur would do when asked to go to bed. My son loves to watch me enact the dinosaur. The book is aimed at frowning at bad behaviour and to inculcate good bed time rituals but my son is mesmerized with the angry dinosaur in the book and he looks at them very fondly.





Tinysaurus - This is an another cute dinosaur story about a tinysaurus who lives with Daddysaurus, Mommysaurus and Bigsissysaurus. He complains about how he cannot do the things Bigsissysaurus is allowed to do and describes his failed attempts at trying to grow big. One day, while tinysaurus guards his mother's eggs,  Nastysaurus comes to snatch the eggs. How tinysaurus rises to the occasion and saves the eggs is quite entertaining. He then realizes being tiny has its own advantages as well. My son has since been renamed as tinysaurus by his sissysaurus.




Why do animals have strange bodies ?? - My little boy totally totally loves this book and this is the one book I try skipping lines and pages and both my kids wouldn't let me and would ensure I re-read it. It wonders about why a camel has a hump on its back and why the elephant's nose is so long and why the rabbit's ears are so long and why the kangaroo has a pouch and it then talks about facts. Thanks to the book, my kids can now differentiate between a tortoise and a turtle, they know there are one and two hump camels, they know about porcupines and some more. Its an interesting book. I tried searching this book on the net but haven't been able to locate it so no pics or links. But if you find it in a bookstore, do flip it over. I am sure you will love it.



The magic paintbrush - This is a recent purchase. The story is based in China and the inference is drawn only by the pictures and nothing in the text. Its a simple engaging story that is told in verses. It has a Chinese folk tale feel to it. The story is about a girl Shen, who receives a magic paintbrush and is asked to use it only for the poor never for the wealthy. The magic paintbrush makes real, all things that are painted with it. The trouble starts when the emperor comes to Shen and instructs her to draw a tree full of money. To know how she keeps her promise and escapes the emperor, you should read the story. The peapod loves the story and the rhyme. OK, it isn't as big with the peapod as it is with me (looks sheepish :) ). I loved the book and keep asking the peapod to pick it up for a read and when she doesn't I do. Here is a sample for you anyway,

Go and catch some shrimps, Shen
Go and catch some fish.
Go and gather oysters
To fill the empty dish.

She sits there on the seashore.
A stick is in her hand.
She sits there drawing pictures,
Pictures in the sand.

Dancing on Walls - This book introduces kids to warli art very beautifully. The story is about a girl, Sharvari who stays back while her parents go to the market. She plans to clean up the house and complete a few chores to surprise her parents. Standing in her yard she sees silver figurines slip down the moonbeam. Suddenly she hears a plea for help. One of the moon people falls into water and moon people do not know to swim since there is no water on the moon. Sharvari saves the little moon man and as gratitude the moon people help her finish all her chores in no time. How did that translate to warli art? Read it. Its a very good gift for kids for the age group 4-7.

The peapod enjoys picking books at a bookstore and has kind of made her peace with me shortlisting them at the counter. Sometimes I wonder if buying books for peapod is just an excuse :).