This is our entry to the exciting #kbcBookBingoSr ! Most of these books are apt for 7-10 year olds.
- A mystery/adventure book
Diary of a Wimpy Kid- The Getaway by Jeff Kinney
This book is hilarious and what Miss. M loved is the way the protagonist gets into adventures, one after another in his trip to a resort, which he didn’t want to go on in the first place. As someone who is a keen observer, she totally loved the illustrations that are creative, full of expressions and gives a big thumbs-up for it.
2. A graphic novel/a comic book
Amar Chitra Katha’s Incredible Women of India
This set came in as a gift from her uncle and is a set of 5 comic books. The women featured in this set were The Rani of Kittur, Noor Jahan, Rani Abbakka, Padmini and Panna and Hadi Rani. Since she was familiar about Padmini’s story having seen the movie Padmavat and learnt about Rani of Kittur in Tamil already from her father, the books on these two became her favorites.
3. A Classic
When it comes to classics, the books that come to our mind are the ones in English, like, A Christmas Carol, Gulliver’s Travels or the Alice in Wonderland. So we thought why not a Hindi classic be read and went ahead with this book.
Panchatantra Ki Prasidha Kahaaniyan – A Wonder House Publication
This book is again a testimony to the fact of KBC being the best platform for best peer recommended books. Grateful to have found KBC, ever grateful J
Well, if you are looking for introducing your kid to the well famed Indian classic, the Panchatantra Stories, then this book serves to be an authentic version and the best.
Stories were already known but what made this our favourite is the standard of language used. Hindi at its best. Something that I would relate to the Hindi used during the compering on our Republic Day or Independence Day. Something that I could relate to the Hindi used during the events in Kendriya Vidyalayas. In fact, we were doing read alouds trying to sound like that. What’s more, the quality of the book makes for a great addition to the home library and the illustrations are just lively & WOW!
The second book that we read in this genre is Shakespeare’s, The Merchant of Venice, a Wonder House publication. This book makes for a great book to introduce kids to Shakespeare’s works. It is an illustrated book with lucid writing. Most importantly, this book has dedicated pages to explain the theme or say, varied emotions and conflicts that makes this tale a classic. It also has questions for discussion at the end, which help to take the reading to next level where you can explore, discuss, analyse & write your version of it. Totally worth it, even for adults who are trying to make sense out of Shakespeare’s diction.
4. A book on the environment
World Atlas, Special India Edition- a Scholastic Publication
Ok, so this book may sound strange to put under book as environment. But this Atlas is different in the way it is conceived. With the usual briefing on maps and atlas world and India physical and political maps this also had additional thematic maps which is what made this special and our choice under this category. The thematic maps had a special coverage on Natural Hazards with lots of facts along with the ones covering natural vegetation, forests, wildlife parks, sanctuaries, crops and livestock and soils. This also has activity maps at the end. This was helpful too as an aid to regular academic studies on topics related to environment.
I would recommend this for ages 7 and above and to be explored together with parents’ guidance.
5. A non-fiction/biography
This bright and colorfully illustrated Tamizh book about the life of the great Indian Mathematician Shri Srinivasa Ramanujan was like a quick and crisp glimpse into his life while not forgetting to instill curiosity for the subject (pun intended) itself.
It’s also available in English
6. A book by an Indian author
Ranganna by Aarti Anand Navneet, Illustrator Kavita Singh Kale and Translator Sushma Ahuja
This vivid Hindi book makes for a delightful read. This book lets your imagination fly. This is one of Miss. M’s recent favorites and she says Ranganna and his friends are soooooooooooo sweet and so is the story.
This book is also available in other languages
7. A book with a female protagonist
Why is my hair curly? By Lakshmi Iyer, illustrated by Niloufer Wadia
Okay, this is M’s favourite of favourites sort of book which we have reviewed already here. This is a re-read and every time she reads this book, there is something new that she surprises us with.
This time she surprised us with adapting to the vernacular (well, she didn’t know it’s called so though) writing in her journal with sprinkles on Tamizh words transliterated here and there and says she adopted from this book. One of those “AHA” moments for us parents.
8. A funny book
Laugh Out Loud Jokes from Scholastic a compilation by Shachii Manik & Dhanashri Ubhayakar. We got this from the Scholastic Sale via kbc’s special link!
This book is a must as a travel companion. This is silly, stupid, witty and hilarious all at the same time. For us, it was even more funnier to see Miss. M literally go ROFLing 😀 Tickle the child inside you with this book.
9. An informative book
The Grapes of Math by Greg Tang, illustrated by Harry Briggs
This is one of THE BEST BUY in the recent Scholastic haul bought via kbc’s special Scholastic link during the mega sale.
With mind-stretching math riddles, penned in verses with colorful illustrations and out-of-the-box concept teaching at the end of the book as answers, it’s a perfect book to introduce the basics of Math in an innovative way.
Totally loved it. This book deserves a separate review (very soon)!
10. Short stories
Folktales From Around The World retold by Hema Pande, illustrations by Shrimanti Saha (also from the Scholastic sale)
This is an interesting book as it weaves around tales from different settings with varied perspectives. Makes for a breezy read and M’s favorite is the tale from Africa.
11. A sci-fi/fantasy book- two books under this category
The Magic School Bus- Butterfly Battle from Scholastic
After a long gap owing to pandemic, we got back to our local library and this was the first read from the Magic School Bus series. And Miss. M absolutely cherished this.
This enchanting series is available at Scholastic.
As someone who spends most of her time on the terrace looking for visiting pets (that’s how we call) like birds, butterflies, squirrels and all, I found this book to be her close companion to all her terrace visits spotting and identifying queen butterflies, moths & caterpillar.
A Cloud Called Bhura by Bijal Vachharajan, illustrated by Aindri
This book deserves a separate and long review. Its awesomeness can’t be contained in just a few lines but still, I try to keep it short here.
This sci-fi is a must-read for every one of us, for the simple reason that somewhere or the other it makes you feel that you are part of the narrative.
This talks about changing the global climate in a way that is very relatable. As with Miss. M’s experience, she found it a little hard to understand, especially the satire infused in the story. The drama queen loved to enact Bhura’s verses though. That was fun! And yes, this book was a read done together with lots of interactions in between and it took over weeks for us to soak in the essence completely. But worth all the time. A MUST BUY, MUST READ.
12. A book that was gifted to you – Two books in this category
Ganesha- The Elephant-Headed God –A wonder house Publication
This was gifted by Miss. M’s chitthi and who knows better than chitthi what to gift her niece?! This book is Miss. M’s all-time favorite book for the simple reason that anything & everything related to Lord Ganesha is hers and hers only to be called and owned and loved. Also this book comes with attractive and vibrant illustrations, crisp stories with legible font that it makes for a breezy read for kids.
Diary of an Ice Princess By Christina Soontornvat and illustrated by Barbara Szepesi Szucs
This book came as a gift, part of #kbcSecretSanta from our #SecretSanta2020 dear Nanditha Shaji. This book was an instant hit with Miss. M with umpteen number of re-reads till date as it has princess, friendship, fun, snow and magic, everything that she loves.
Here is the entire Diary of an Ice Princess series
P.S. More than the book, the gift of friendship that started with #kbcSecretSanta is what I totally cherish. Thank you #KBC and guilty for posting this quite late.
13. An inspiring book
Scholastic Writing Awards 2017- For Kids By Kids- Award-winning-stories (we got this from the Scholastic Sale)
Okay, so our take on inspiring is going to be a little different. This book is a collection of short stories with varied plots and perspectives. An absolutely fantastic read. What makes us choose it for an inspiring book is that the book is written by kids for kids. So, when Miss. M, got to read this book, she was amazed to see kids of her age write lengthy stories which made her give it a try too. Her journal entries are little lengthier now.
The best thing that she loved was the little bio about each kid author there which made her feel very much relatable.
14. A book with a male protagonist
The Bookworm by Lavanya. R.N and illustrated by Shilo Shiv Suleman, a Karadi Tales Publication.
This book is a heartwarming book on a boy who stammers and who’s always buried in a book.
This is a beautifully crafted book that evokes emotions and helps learn to empathize.
Very sensitive & sensible book.
15. A book that’s also a movie/TV show
Charlotte’s Web by E.B.White and illustrated by Garth Williams
This is the first book that Miss. M had read after having watched the movie version. Being one of her favourite movies, she was immediately hooked to this book. What a wonderful book illustrating the bond of friendship and truly poignant. It also makes for a great read even for adults. Absolute love.
So the funniest part here was that Miss. M was looking for her favourite song “chin up, chin up” from the movie adaptation but in vain. It took me time to make her understand why there are differences between the book and the movie adaptation like additional dialogues in the book version and songs in the movie version. That is something new she learnt here.
Pro Tip: If your kid is in that transition phase from short stories to long novellas, I find that starting with a book that has movie adaptation helps, provided they watch the movie first.
16. A book by an author you have never read before
Favourite Funny Poems by Edward Lear, A Scholastic Publication
For someone whose idea of purpose behind reading a book is mainly to have fun (sorry, reading for knowledge is the last thing on our mind!), Edward Lear’s verses promise more and more of fun. Best buy for a fun trip along with Lear, but let me warn you, this book can end up in having you to hear silly-billy stories – all sung in rhymes for the next few days!
17. A book by your favorite author
Grandma’s Bag of Stories by Sudha Murthy and illustrated by Priya Kurian
Miss. M can go crazy and read Sudha Murty’s books anytime and every time. Meeting Sudha ma’am is on her wish list now. Sudha Murty’s books have stories on anything and everything especially with the Indian connect.
This relatability is what makes her stories charming and Miss. M’s favourite.
By the way, the other day Miss. M yelled out from the terrace to watch the rainbow and says it’s a bridge to fox’s wedding. I’m still searching in which of Sudhaji’s story is this narrative!
So, that’s how our #kbcBookBingo kept us sane and smiling 🙂
Thank you #KBC <3
A friend of mine
comes alive
sometimes
in a book’s line!
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.]
