BABIES AND TODDLERS
I Ruff You (Made With Love) by Sandra Magsamen . All of her books are pure love and make the perfect gifts for newborns!
Prutha’s 3month old baby loves That’s Not My Unicorn (usborne touchy feely books)
Achira’s pick this month! Quoting her amazing review:
When I first came across this book I couldn’t make up my mind if I like the story, the illustrations or I like Tico!
Tico and the Golden Wings by Leo Lionni is the beautiful book I am talking about. This beautiful bird Tico was born without wings but he was not complaining. He was happy to have loving friends who got him the best berries everyday. But deep in his heart he wanted to have wings too…golden wings to fly high and far. And when his wish comes true one day he is pleasantly surprised to see his friends didn’t want to be with him anymore because he was different! Is being different bad? Why can’t he have his friends now to fly with him?He was lonely but he soon realised that he can help others with his golden feathers. Every time he gave away a golden feather a new black one came in its place. Soon he was like a normal bird with all feathers black and he had helped so many lives this while. He was happy. Now his friends were also welcoming and happy to have him back looking just like them! But just because he looked like them didn’t mean he was like them right? Quoting the lines from the book which touched me the most- “ We are all different. Each for his own memories, and his own invisible golden dreams”. He gave away his golden wings to help others, his much loved and cherished ones. He was happy and content that he could help. But his friends didn’t see he was the same Tico beneath those wings. It took the wings to turn black for them to see it. In life we come across many people and we are quick to judge them. We don’t know what is the story of that person’s life. There are many layers which are hidden and what we see might not be always true. Like they say- never judge a book by its cover. Am not sure if my interpretation of the book is correct but this surely is my takeaway. I hope Tico could convey it to the boys too!
May we all have the courage like Tico to dream, may we have the strength to be happy even when we are lonely, may we all have the generosity to give away our treasured things to help others and may we all have the big heart to forgive and move on! This Diwali I wish we all be like Tico!
All of Leo Lionni’s books are exceptional, some award winning!
I’ll Always Love You by Paeony Lewis is another bestseller with our kbc members. Ashwini Satish Iyer’s twins love this one. Quoting her:
Almost 3 months since I introduced this book and we are still reading it every day. Such a lovely heartwarming and reassuring book
I’ll always love you by Paeony Lewis is about the worries and questions of little bear when he does something wrong (breaking a bowl) and how his mom reassures him that she will always love him
Love Is My Favourite Thing: A Plumdog Story (Plumdog, 1) – For 3-6 years. A must have for all dog lovers. This book also is a great book to explain that it’s okay to make mistakes. And no matter what, family will always love you. This is one book that many of our members have. One of Asha’s favourites!
The Tale of Tom Kitten: The original and authorized edition: 8 (Peter Rabbit) by Beatrix Potter, Illustrated by Frederick Warne. Bhavneet recommends this one big time!
This cute little children classic promises an ear to ear smile. Tom and his sisters are dressed up by the daunting mom, while she prepares for the Tea party at her home. She only asks them to stay put and clean till the guests arrive. But guess what? The three little kittens have a mind of their own. I love the names of the cats & kittens and the ducks. Yes, there are ducks too and very adorable ones!The illustrations are so beautiful and heart warming. For some reason, the three meows reminded me of kids from Sound of Music
Do grab a copy for sure if you are a cat lover
USBORNE First Questions and Answers: Why do we need bees? (Very First Questions & Answers) In Helina’s words,
This is a wonderful book with short text about facts and information all about bees and it quickly and briefly answers all the questions about who bees are what they do where they live how they make or not honey and why are they important. A lovely book for young readers who also enjoy flip flap books.
Give Bees a Chance by Bethany Barton – highly recommended by Tanvi Jain.
Naisha At The Circus : Toddlers Picture+Story Book
The entire Naisha series is very popular for 2-4/5 years just like Pepper books!
The Olphabet: ‘O’ No! An Alphabet Revolt – Priyanka has this one and has done a wonderful read aloud of this fun book! For 3.5 years+
What a fantastic book and with colourful, big and bright illustrations to get children, adults everyone basically hooked up on the read.
Eat Your Rocks, Croc!: Dr. Glider’s Advice for Troubled Animals. Amardeep has this one and recommends it for ages 4 and above. She has shared inside pix here in the kbc fb group. Quoting her review:
Does your child like to role play as a vet? Neil does it all day. This book seemed just right for him. Dr Glider, a vet, meets his different patients (he travels to different countries and terrains, using different equipment) and explains their problems to them, in the process teaching us about the animals (and some plants).So, when the croc has a terrible tummy ache, Dr Glider checks him up quickly and informs him that he hasn’t been eating his solid food – rocks. Since crocs cant chew their food well they need to swallow rocks to grind the food in their stomach, without which they get an upset stomach. And, crocs are not the only animals who swallow rocks! Read the book to find out which other animals swallow rocks.There are fifteen such patients with interesting problems, and Dr Glider provides them and us with fun and fact-filled solutions.There’s a lot to learn from this book, and children who thrive on facts will love it. It’s a huge hardbound book, with the text written in a very fun and engaging manner.If you wish to bring Dr Glider and the vet clinic home, do use the KBC amazon links to make your purchase and support this wonderful community.
Wolf in the Snow – award winning (Tejaswi just got this in readcycle)
Not a Box Board Book by Antoinette Portis – award winning (Tejaswi just got this in readcycle). To quote her:
There are a couple of books that kids can relate to and a couple of books that all kids can relate to. But this book brings any adult back to their childhood days for sure. This one reminded me of how I used everyday things such as pillow, box, etc to build imaginary space ships, imaginary forts and what not.!With simple stick-man type illustrations, very few text, what this book can do to any individual is absolutely amazing.!Here the book contains statements (as said by any parent to a child who is playing a simple boring object – in this case a box), where as to the child, is not just a box, but many many other things that he imagines.First it goes ‘Why are you sitting in a box? ‘ to which the kid replies ‘it’s not a box’ (whereas it’s a car as illustrated beside it). And similarly, we can see many different statements and questions asking ‘What are you doing on top of that box? ‘ ‘Now you’re wearing a box?’ and so on to which the child replies ‘It’s not a box’ every single time but the pictures that followspeak for themselves.The creativity of a child is much beyond one can imagine and this book portrays it in a teeny tiny cute possibile way, which also reminds us how a small boring object could be every possible big thing in the world to a child and how happy it makes them. This book belongs in every house for sure!
The Relatives Came – (Tejaswi just got this in readcycle)
Croc and Bird – (Tejaswi just got this in readcycle)
The Fish Who Could Wish (Korky Paul Picture Book) – (Raminder just got this in readcycle)
Find, Fix, Go!: Become an engineer for the day. For 3-6 yos, Divya’s Darwin loves this book!
Arulsaranya recommends the Who’s hiding series by Igloo Books
Can You Find 1001 Dinosaurs and Other Things? (Who’s Hiding?)
Can You Find 1001 Pirates and Other Things? (Who’s Hiding?)
Respect and Take Care of Things (Learning to Get Along) Divya recommends this for pre-schoolers who throw their toys or things around.
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore by William Joyce for 4-8 yrs
Tejaswi shared this lovely review:
When we say ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’, this is what the author has proven in this amazing book of his. Few books have great plots and few have great illustrations, but very few have both and this is definitely one such book. Though the cover page may look dull and uninteresting, the illustrations are absolutely amazing and vibrant in the entire book and good enough to transport the reader into the magical world of the story being told.
Morris Lessmore loved words. He loved stories. He loves books. Every morning he would open his book and write his happiness, his sorrows and everything he hopes for. But like every story has its upsets, so does Morris’. One day, the winds blew and blew and soon after Morris had a great fall he sees that everything had scattered around into pieces including the words and letters of his book. While he is confused and wanders, he finds a lady being pulled by flying books. Of course his book didn’t fly! The lady gave him her favorite book, which flew to him and opened its pages and he followed it into a cozy big building with many many books. He tries and organizes the books, but they all get mixed up as the ones with tragedies needed to cheer up, so they would hang around the comedy ones and so on.
Morris looked after the books and took great care of them, shared them with other people for many years, until he grew old and now the books looked after him like he did them for all these years. They read themselves to Morris each night, until it was time for Morris to move on.
Dinosaurs Don’t Draw Achira received this from Arundhati in #kbcreadcycle. Quoting her:
Dinosaurs don’t draw is what every Dino lover should have in their collection. We loved picassaur dearly. He was different and was often told off by his friends and family. It isn’t wrong to be different right! Picassaur actually saved the day with his wonderful drawings! Adu said after we finished reading that Dinosaurs don’t draw became Dinosaurs can draw! We should never give up what we love and must absolutely do that!
Irwin Rocks with the Crocs for 3-6 years
You’re Called What? for 3-6 years Kausar has shared an awesome review!
We are huge fans of Kes Gray books. They are amazingly hilarious and informative too. So we particularly loved this one. This book is about creatures who need a name change because they have really funny names. We read through this one laughing out. Till we reached the last page. And we were surprised (yes, I was too and so were the other adults who read this) to find out that none of those names were made up. All those really exist. The last trivia page is awesome with real life pics which made me appreciate the great job done by the illustrator. A wonderful book to read and learn for little as well as big minds. Ps. Our favorite is Blob fish!
Red: A Crayon’s Story (for 4-8 years) highly recommended by Kausar.
The Name Jar for 4/5 years+. Priyanka has shared a wonderful review with us!
Coming to the beautiful story that Yangsook Choi has written- ‘The Name Jar’ is about a little girl Unhei, whose family is from Korea where she leaves behind her grandma and moves to The US. Unhei’s first day in school brings her discomfort as her name gets called differently by her peers. Kids in her class find her name unusual and the atmosphere around makes her ‘stand out’. She is nervous and decides to not reveal her name, as she says- ‘I haven’t picked one yet’ when she is asked her name. She is lost in thoughts and confesses her mother after she comes back home, that she wants to change her name to ‘my own American Name’ as its hard to pronounce! Her classmates help her choose a name by putting small pieces of paper, each with a name on it in a glass jar. Each of the children have their own reasons for writing a name for Unhei to choose. Unhei is grateful and feels less overwhelmed. However when she goes to a Korean American store with her mother on a particular day, the store owner greets her and reveals the meaning of her name and that rejoices her. She shows a gift that her grandma had given her before they left for the US, a name stamp with her name in korean and she shows it to her friends who love it! Later, the name jar goes missing and Unhei moves forward in the class, goes right upto the board and writes her name in English AND in Korean. She adds that the meaning to her name is Grace. She pronounces her name slow and clear so that her classmates get it right, and they do! Unheil finally feels one among all in the school. As for the missing name jar, her friend gets it to her and she keeps it as a Souvenir.The beauty in the narrative is not just about Unhei’s roller coaster emotional ride from not wanting her name to accepting, owning and rejoicing her name but also of how sensitive children really are- what started as mispronouncing a name, making it ‘amusing’, to helping Unhei choose a name (when they wrote a name each with a reason, that came from heart!!), and then trying to spell out her name the right way! I can’t stress enough on how much children teach us in our life span, if we just listen to what is being said and understand what is being unsaid.
Laxmi’s Mooch for 4-8 years. Sharadhi posted an amazing review of this book! Quoting her:
• A body positivity and self love picture book, affirming and celebrating body hair. • Lovely relatable character Laxmi and her real cycle of self conscious discovery of tiny hair above her lips which she had never paid attention to before but now is mortified after a friend pointed it to her.• Throughout the book there are non bullying supportive friends, more realistic representation of womanhood, subverting gender norms, diverse classroom. Beautiful, vibrant illustrations by Nabi Ali.• Laxmi’s parents handle it without making a big deal, while showing her positive female role models with facial hair is amazing. • And the lovely ending where she not only embraces her own body but also teach her classmates to embrace theirs as well…
Bodies Are Cool by Tyler Feder for 3 years+. Achu has shared an incredible review with inside pages in the fb group. Excerpts:
Bodies Are Cool, by Tyler Feder and published by Penguin Books is a eye opener to the society that human bodies are diverse in nature and we must love and respect this diversity.
The author have taken good care to highlight the distinctive nature of body which define ourselves from one another and shows that every body is worth celebrating. Each page has so much to talk about and Avi is delighted by the end of every page. The illustrations are just so thoughtful and cheerful. In addition to this, Tyler Feder also talks about the different kinds of families and the different religions we follow.
The phrase “Bodies Are Cool” is repetitive in nature which Avi would echo at the end of each page and even tell everyone. He notices each different person in the book and asks different questions every time we read. The book speaks about vitiligo – which is an auto-immune disorder that’s causes patches of skin to lose pigment or colour, melasma, unibrows, hairy armpits, alopecia, down syndrome, flat butts, breastfeeding, soft tummies which really helps us teach our kids about these conditions and talk about body positivity.
It also helps us understand no matter the size, shape and so on, we should not shame people based on color of skin, body, hair, nature and style. The lines – bold scars, faint scars, bigger scars is a fantastic line that it teach us about our journey in this life and it is indeed true each scars have a story to tell. I don’t think I have ever come across a book which talks about armpit hair, eye – patches and such imperfections being normalised in any children’s book.
As the author says it’s time to celebrate every body, shape, size and love your body and respect other’s too. I find myself loving and accepting my body more and more.
MY BODY, YOUR BODY,
EVERY DIFFERENT KIND OF BODY!
ALL OF THEM ARE GOOD BODIES!
BODIES ARE COOL!!!
Everybody Has A Body by Jon Burgerman (32 pages)
The Boy Who Failed Show and Tell for 8-12 years Quoting Achira:
Divit, my 8yo, loved this loads and calls it a “gorgeous and handsome book”. The Boy who failed show and tell by Jordan Sonnenblick. This is a scholastic publication. A very funny book about Jordan who simply wants to feel special. He wants to be recognised for something unique. But every time he tries he realises he is a no one! Hilarious incidents where he tries his best to stand out and do something different is what makes the book a fun read. He surely failed show and tell but he did get the biggest life lesson! He had his music (he played drums), he had books and he realised it is not important to run to become someone special and lose out on the things he already had. He learnt to be happy and appreciate what he has!A very funny read for kids who love this kind of books but comes with a lovely life lesson!
A LITTLE SPICE IS EXTRA NICE: Annie Goes to Mattancherry for 4/5-8 years. Quoting Amardeep:
This is the book which has made Neil really passionate about spices, cooking and spice boxes. A wonderful story of a child cooking a meal with the chef of the house, and then going on a spice run in the city of cochin to replenish the spices in the spice box. The text makes kids feel like they are really cooking and smelling the spices, while the illustrations make you feel that you are walking in the lanes of Jew town in cochin. My mother has lived several years in cochin, and this book brought as much joy to her as it did to her grandson.
The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse – this is one of the most inspiring books that everyone recommends. You can read it out loud to your pre-schoolers. Your independent reader kids can enjoy it too. It’s a must read for every adult and one of the 100 books everyone must have in their personal collection. Quoting Satvika Jaitly:
It speaks of an unlikely friendship – where the friends exchange insights and life experiences and their learnings. The illustrations, the pearls of wisdom.. this book is bound to soothe the soul and calm the mind. At least it does for me! On days that I feel restless, I open it as a reminder.. that there is always, always a rainbow to look forward to, after the storm passes. A wonderful book to read, own and gift!
Quoting Bhavneet:
It’s a super quick read with an everlasting impression. It’s collection of the deepest life messages without any small talk. It’s right there on every single page, and meant to be read everyday. As author himself pens it suits for 8 to 80 year olds equally and you would connect to every single character. We all crave for home the safe place, for acceptance, for love and of course for cake.
The book beautifully teaches so much without being preachy. The illustrations are another level. They are exhibition worthy. I wish I could take few pictures out of it and frame it on my walls. Author should have included poster of the four.
Dreamland 365 Facts books are super engaging. Achira highly recommends them for 4-10 year olds.
365 Science and Technology Facts
365 Facts on Space Book for Children
My Little Pony: The Daring Do Adventure Collection: A Three-Book Boxed Set with Exclusive Figure
A Dozen And A Half Stories: Things Lost and Found in History by Arthy Muthanna Singh and Mamta Nainy for 6 years+
The Day You Begin for 5-8/9 yos recommended by Archana to be brave and and get out of your comfort zone.
You Are Awesome: Find Your Confidence and Dare to be Brilliant at (Almost) Anything for 9 years+ recommended by Achira.
NON FICTION
USBORNE See Inside Famous Palaces recommended by Amardeep for kids curious about kings and palaces it has details about actual kings and palaces.
This is what Punidha is reading!
Trees, Leaves, Flowers & Seeds by DK Publishers for 9+ yrs.
Quoting Punidha:
Picture speaks more than words. This book covers topics on all types of plants, trees, seeds, and flowers. Each page is illustrated vibrantly with colorful pictures so anyone would love looking at these. Though my kids are small, I bought this book because of the illustrations which Hari would love to see and we could discuss some basic concepts of botany according to his age.
Illustrated Atlas of India: A Visual Guide to the Land, Its People and Culture
Indica: A Deep Natural History of the Indian Subcontinent – Karen Tewari recommends this for older kids. Quoting her:
It’s absolutely brilliant! It is essentially about the geography of our subcontinent, dating back to prehistoric times to now. Although it seems like a book (from the cover) about plants and animals, the essence of this book is geography. It’s excellent!!Well written, insightful and connects so much about our geography to actual events that shaped it to what it is now.
DK An Anthology of Intriguing Animals Heliana highly recommends it. Quoting her
This is book is the right fit for a toddler that is fascinated with species other than humans
and has limited text and absolutely stunning, breathtaking images and illustrations. I always look for books with realistic illustrations and this book in particular has done a splendid job in that regard. Every page has a giant real image of the animal followed by an illustration of it – amazing idea so kids can relate to what they would usually see in books and also get a real pic side by side.
BIOGRAPHIES
Malala Yousafzai books
Diary of a young girl, Anne Frank
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