2021 has been a bookful year for us. Our love for books has multiplied to infinity and our library keeps growing each day.
Sharing few of the interesting reads here.
Find Fix Go (3 -5 Years)
When your kid is into vehicles, its really difficult to find books which are not repetitive in story line. When I bought this book I knew Darwin will be interested to read and it will keep him engaged. Each vehicle is having a problem like flat tyre or broken pipe and the kids have to find solution. Parts of the vehicles are explained for guidance which gives an additional opportunity to play I Spy game.
Tool School (3-5 Years)
The book starts with an introduction to the tools, hammer , saw etc. they are going to attend tool school where their teacher ask them to build a tool box. As they are new they all try to do their project on their own and finally gives up. Their teacher tell them to be the can-do crew and tells them to cooperate. Did their cooperation work? Did they finish their job? That we have to find out after reading the book.
The summer is long and too hot for the people of Lila’s village. It’s too hot to do anything and one night she over hears her mom and other women saying ‘ without water there can be no life’. She wants the sun to stop shining and prays for rain. One evening her grandfather tells the secret of rain and the next morning Lila sets off on a journey to bring rain. Did she succeed or no can only be known after reading the book. It’s a way to teach children about importance of rain and water as well. And to introduce a different culture. The dresses, houses leads to different questions from little ones.
It’s a story about a thief who steals a thing and replaces with a rhyming thing. For example , he takes a hat and keeps a cat, a big mouse for a house etc. but when he takes a orange he doesn’t know what to keep. A nice funny way to introduce rhyming words to kids. And the book is like a peekaboo one, where the second rhyming word is at the back of the first one, so when you read the first page it gives time for the lo to think of matching rhyming word.
It’s a story about a very active girl named Izzy, who likes to jiggle all the time. One day their class visits zoo and Izzy is about to find out why her teacher said ‘ never tickle a tiger’ and what happens when she doesn’t listen.
I’m Not Reading (2-5 Years)
An owlet finds a nice quiet place to read a book to its tout owl. Tiny chick wants the owl to read the story for him. When they are finally settled tiny chicks brothers and sisters come along. Then their cousins and their friends and friends cousin. They all try to sit on owls lap and finally owl says I’m not reading unless you all get off me. So did the owl read the book?
When I decided to write a review for the book ‘Rain before Rainbows’ I was not sure what intro to write. Should I write about overcoming hurdles in life or should I address the current Covid situation or to overcome the losses! Each one of us deals with difficulties in different way. But what leads us is the hope of better tomorrow.
A girl and her friend fox go on a journey with hope to find a better place. They overcome many hurdles on the way.
Each page gives the reader the hope of better tomorrow. The full page illustrations tell us the story. They are beautiful and capture your eyes with soft colors and delightful scenes.
The book can be interpreted in many ways- the difficult times, the hope, friendship and perseverance. Smriti Halls’ flowing and rhyming words are captivating. I can’t help but to mention again that the illustrations will make you want to keep looking at each page and look for details.
It’s very comforting, engaging , captivating and uplifting book which gives us hope. And also to teach our children to overcome any obstacle in life and that darks days are not forever. I dedicate this wonderful book to each one of US.
A Little Bit Brave by Nicola Kinnear
Logan and Luna are two bunnies who are very different. Logan is a stay at home bunny he is so afraid to go outside but Luna is very adventurous. One day Luna stomps out after trying to convince Logan to go out. Will Logan go after Luna ?
This is our favorite read recently and a good one to ask Darwin to try something new or whenever he says he’s afraid of something… I just remind him Be like Logan just a little bit brave…
SHHH QUIET! is another book by the same author. So is Ready, Steady Squirrel !
SMILE WITH SPLOSH by David Melling (board book – 24 pages)
The ever so enthusiastic school goer suddenly started to say that he doesn’t want to go to school because he’s not able to find his way to the class after I drop him at the gate.
No matter how I try to console him or encourage him he would still say the same every night that he won’t go to school the next day.
Then I finally remembered the book SMILE WITH SPLOSH By David Melling.
I bought this book when I wanted to introduce feelings to Darwin but it really came handy to address this issue.
SPLOSH and his friends are going on a picnic and are lost. His friends are shy and they need help. SPLOSH is brave and he asks for directions.
So yesterday before taking him to school I read this book to him and told him the way to school and I told him to seek help from the staff who are in school.
I was eagerly waiting in the evening to ask him if he managed to find his way and if he was shy to ask way it was he brave like SPLOSH.
He happily said no ma I followed your instructions and turned right first then I asked for way but I was able to find class.
A simple book came to rescue yesterday and today he wanted to read it again before leaving to class.
Taking Care of Mom (Little Golden Books )
Taking care of mom by Gina and Mercer Mayer is such a fun read luckily Darwin was not like the critter siblings 
Mom critter falls sick and dad has to go to work. Grandma comes to help with the baby critter and takes him with her leaving little critter and his sister to take care of mom. A series of unfortunate events takes place while the two try to take care of their mom.
Our little girl Rocket goes to her Grammy Grampy’s place with a long to do list which includes whale watching. But in the beach she encounters a turtle washed up to shore and is tangled in plastic. That’s when her grampy tells her that plastic now rules the beach and they haven’t spotted a whale in a long time.
So the next day little Rocket with some facts and enthusiasm meets the fellow beach lovers and seek their help to clean the beach.
Did she succeed? What happened to the turtle?
Two friends, Kai and Liam enjoy their box cars everyday by pretending to be police,taxi or Limousine. One day Eve cheers them as they play. Seeing her enjoying each of them take turn and play in the cars until it breaks. what did they do next? How did they solve the problem so that all three can play is the remaining story.
With very little words and a lot to discuss this is one of our favorite read. And it reminds me of my school days when we used to make a rope train and play with other kids.
The Day Banana Went Bad by Michelle Robinson and Tom Knight.
So one day when dropped banana and started crying for new one i remembered this book and read it with him. The book was so funny that he forgot about the issue.
We have seen in supermarkets, where few veggies are offered at reduced price or to be discarded … What happens when they all refuse to be sold at half price and discarded??? they all start to stomp out of super market …
This book has been published by Scholastic. kidsbookcafe.com is Scholastic India’s first community partners in India. We have a special kbc link to our kbc scholastic storefront on the Scholastic website! Should you wish to order any book published by Scholastic, from their website you can type the book you are looking for in search after clicking our kbc link.
This book was helpful for a while but addressing this issue was not as simple as I thought and he would still cry…
That’s when THE RUNAWAY PEA by KJARTAN POSKITT and ALEX WILLMORE came in handy…
A Pea runs off the dinner plate and ends up in a dark place after what it seems like a long journey full of obstacles… When it finally wants to return to plate the other runaway foods tell the pea that now you are dirty and wont be wanted…
Now this seemed like a perfect book and whenever he drops anything and starts to cry and demand new we will slowly pacify him and start reading these two and finally he will calm down … Especially the banana book he loves how the banana shows its bum to the camera …
Whenever we face an issue Books do come to our Rescue… Even though it will take a lot of time I’m sure we will overcome this soon.
How many times have we tried to fit in where we don’t belong to? Does it mean we aren’t meant to do that?
Peep hears a beautiful song early one morning and sets out to find the source. He comes to know about a group of birds who call themselves as the dawn chorus singing and peep immediately wants to join them.
He is asked to attend the audition next morning. Determined to join the chorus peep practices all evening and is late for audition next morning but he’s given another chance.
He misses his next auditions as well. He thinks maybe he’s not fit for the dawn chorus until he meets another bird who looks like him and who says we are nightingale and they are meant to liven the evening.
The book has simple but beautiful illustrations in autumn shade. The message it conveys is strong. To try again, and to practice for whatever we are trying. It also conveys in a positive way that being different is ok and everyone is talented.
Books from Scholastic
The books listed below have been published by Scholastic. kidsbookcafe.com is Scholastic India’s first community partners in India. We have a special kbc link to our kbc scholastic storefront on the Scholastic website! Should you wish to order any book published by Scholastic, from their website you can type the book you are looking for in search after clicking our kbc link.
Happy Reading
[Note from Team Kids Book Café: For your convenience, affiliate links (MARKED IN PINK) to some of the book titles & images have been added to enable you to buy the books from AMAZON, should you wish to! A very small amount of money comes to kidsbookcafe.com when you purchase a book via the amazon affiliate link provided (at absolutely no extra cost to you!). Do let us know if you need information about other children’s books by writing to asha@kidsbookcafe.com.]
