The Mixed Up Chameleon

Mixed Up Chameleon by Eric Carle

Suggested read alone ages 4-7

Suggested read together ages 0-4

I get excited every time I pick up a book by Eric Carle. The reason being, there is always a message, not just for the kids but for the adult as well.

This book is about a chameleon that goes to the zoo. He looks at the animals around him and wants to be like the other animals. When he looks at a giraffe he is awed by the graceful, long neck. Does he stop with that? No, he pines for a long, sleek neck like the giraffe has and his wish comes true! At the end the chameleon acquires not only a long giraffe-like neck but a huge white body like the polar bear, a pair wings and long feet like the flamingo, fins and gills like the fish, shell like a turtle, antlers like the deer, huge trunk like the elephant, the wit of a fox and flippers like the seal. At the end of all these transformations the chameleon realizes that he is the happiest being just himself. The sad mixed up chameleon wishes to be his normal self and lucky for him, his wish comes true!

What excites my three year old is the simple, bright colors in the book. Also she now knows that a chameleon eats insects and changes color to blend with the background. When I ask her, ‘If the chameleon sits on a leaf what color will he be?’ ‘Green’ she pipes enthusiastically.

The message for older kids and adults is ‘Be yourself and be happy with it.’ I am trying to introduce this message for my three year old in a simple form. Every time the chameleon undergoes a transformation, I ask her to point out what is different with the chameleon. When she does, I ask her, ‘Is the chameleon happy now?’. For this she replies ‘Noooo.’ At the end of the book, I always point out to smiling, back to its original self chameleon and ask her, ‘Is the chameleon happy now?’ and she answers ‘Yyyeeess.’ Then we both chorus, ‘You get what you get and be happy with what you get.’

I Don’t Want To Go To Bed

I Don't Want To Go To Bed by Julie Sykes
Illustration by Tim Warnes
Suggested age group: read alone ages 4-7, read together ages 0-4,

Every night it is the same routine in our house. When I announce ‘Bed Time!’, my announcement is met with an instantaneous ‘NO’ from my daughter. Even if it is late and she is tired from the day’s activities, she always has immense inertia to get in to bed, just like the little tiger in this book.

Having read ‘Wait For Me Little Tiger’, my children are already familiar with the Little Tiger series. This plus the title really got my attention and I decided to borrow this book from the library.

The story is about a little tiger (tiger cub) who refuses to go to bed. One night mama tiger, out of sheer frustration, allows the little tiger to ‘stay up ALL night’. The overjoyed with the prospect of playing with his friends all night, the little tiger runs away in to the forest to find his friends. His first visit is to the lion cub. The little tiger is disappointed to find the lion cub nestled between his dad’s paws getting ready for bed. Daddy lion asks the little tiger ‘Why are you still up?’. The little tiger replies, ‘I don’t want to go to bed’ and runs to his next friend. He visits the little hippo, the little elephant and the little monkey only to find that all his friends are getting ready to go to bed. The little tiger realizes that all of his friends go to bed when it gets dark and it is no fun to be by himself that late in the night. To add to this, the little tiger thinks he has gotten himself lost in the forest. At this moment a bush baby comes to his rescue and escorts the little tiger home…..just in time for bed. The tired little tiger falls asleep safely tucked between mommy’s paws.

Both my children like the little tiger series. The elder one, because she empathizes with the little tiger. Through out the book she points to the little tiger and says, ‘This is me amma, this is me.’ Then she points to the mommy tiger and says, ‘This is you amma.’ The literature is simple, repetitive and very easy for my three-year-old to follow. All mommy animals and daddy animals ask the little tiger the same question, ‘Why are you still up?’ and it is met with the same defiant ‘But I don’t want to go to bed’ answer from the little tiger. Even my younger child who is only 18 months and has no clue as to what is going on in the book, loves this book. She identifies all the animals with a happy squeal.

From the adult point of view, I found the illustrations by Tim Warnes to be highly appealing. All the baby animals are cute and cuddly to look at. The pictures and the concept were appealing enough to make me forget the fact that tigers and bush babies do not co-exist! Instead of nit picking, I convinced myself that the author is imagining a better world without boundaries!

Other:
Author webpage: http://www.juliesykes.co.uk/littletiger.htm

Orange Pear Apple Bear

Orange Pear Apple Bear
by Emily Gravett

Suggested age: 1-4 years

As I held this book in my hands at the bookstore, slowly turning the pages with slight skepticism, I tried to read it with my toddler's eyes and senses. By the time I read through to the end I was speechless, reverting to adult experience. I was blown away by the simplicity and the elegant art work.

It is a very simple book, with just 4 (+1) words, as found in the title, telling the whole story through combination of the four words and accompanying illustrations, with just an additional word to end the story.

Reading, some might suggest, initially at least, relies a lot on pattern-recognition - only, this time, it is patterns of letters that are being recognized to be strung together to form the associated sounds. In that sense, this book is both delightful and educational. By repeating the four words in various combination, it makes it easy for Ana to read the words along.

I agree with a friend's observation that it seems like this book appeals to ages 1-100, not just 1-4! This book can grow with the child from toddlerhood to kindergarten, and as they grow, the book will hopefully offer more, and the subtle elegance will probably become apparent to the child.

It is not easy to know which books will readily appeal to our children. Until they learn to read and develop their taste for books and specific genre, the onus is on us parents to guide our children. In that sense, many books get chosen to be read to our children because we as parents think it has some value, something to offer our children, something that will kindle their passion for book as they grow up. Sometimes we make the right choices, sometimes we don't. I believe this is one of those refreshing books that comes along every once in a while whose beauty is understated, almost leaving us wondering what is so great about it!

On an aside, it was interesting to read about the life of the author Emily Gravett, and a short interview where she relates how Macmillan offered to publish her book. Her first book Wolves won the 2005 Kate Greenaway Medal, the most prestigious award for children’s illustration.

A small nitpicky note - if I must stay balanced - is that the illustration of the bear in this book looks very much like the bear in Charmin Toilet paper commercials :)

Payir - Request for books - II

I had earlier written about Payir and our need for books to the library we are starting at Thenur, near Trichy. A few of you had shown great interest and sent me emails and left comments in this blog. Thank you for showing interest.


One of our friends, an active member of Payir, is travelling to India early/mid next month and is ready to carry a few books (maximum weight 50lbs - approx 22 kgs). All those who are based in US, if you are interested in contributing a few books, please do get in touch with me (sathish dot ramakrishnan at gmail) or saffron tree (saffrontree at gmail) and we will send across his US Address.

Diwali: A Festival of Lights and Fun

Diwali: Kushiyon Ka Tyohaar
Diwali: A Festival of Lights and Fun

Written by Manisha Kumar & Monica Kumar
Illustrated by Sona & Jacob

This bilingual book on Diwali is from Meera Masi, a Bay Area based cross-cultural publishing house with a mission to pass on the heritage of India to immigrant children, through books and other products on Indian languages and culture.

A warm introduction on the essence of Diwali on the opening page sets the stage for the ensuing colors and rhymes that bring to life Diwali for our children.

"We all love Diwali, it's so much fun.
The festival of lights has now begun."

Simple verses like the above alternating with brightly hued pictures, both, of a family celebration is what this book is about. All the fundamentals of the festival are laid out. The act of wearing new clothes, cleaning and decorating our houses, greeting families and friends, making rangoli, offering puja, lighting diyas , bursting crackers and of course eating mithai are all poetized alongside appropriate illustrations. Yes, I have retained the hindi diction as sprinkled in the English text in the book.

Each pair of sentences comprising the sweet little rhyme appears in the Hindi language followed by its transliteration in English and then the translation itself in the English language. No doubt a tool for teaching children an Indian language.

As with the belief of people at Meera Masi, I too believe that the prelude to imparting the deeper meanings and concepts of festivals to young children is simply kindling their curiosity to learn about them. This can be effortlessly and successfully achieved by creating a playful and amusing environment for it - what better way to do it than to add a tune and dance with color!!! In fact, my 3.5 year old daughter will stand testimony to this!

The book comes with a read along audio CD, readings of the book in Hindi and English. There is a glossary included on the last page for few of the Hindi words used in the book. The intention for including the CD and the transliteration is to help children learn the pronunciations the right way and this especially comes in handy for parents who are not comfortable with the language themselves. The book can be purchased at www.meeramasi.com.

"With everyone we had a blast.
We know the Diwali cheer will last!"

is the concluding lyric in this book that will make children realize that Diwali is indeed a festival of lights!

WISH YOU ALL A VERY COLORFUL DEEPAVALI!

Who's Hiding? by Satoru Onishi

Who's Hiding?
by Satoru Onishi

Suggested age: preschoolers, 2-5 years

Who's Hiding? is an exquisitely charming, yet simple concept book for preschoolers, (and older toddlers), in which Satoru Onishi presents over a dozen recognizable animals, half a dozen colors, and the concepts of camouflage and emotions, while charging the young minds to concentrate and conjecture.

The deceptively simple cover is what drew me to the book at the library initially. But, now that it has been home for a week and much-enjoyed by adult and toddler alike, I am driven to share it here.

A cursory flip through the book might suggest monotony and tedious repetition. But, all that changes once we start interacting with the book. For, every page poses a question challenging the little minds to figure out the answer. It is a picture puzzle book of sorts, combining the stimulation and observational skills required of Memory Cards and the I-Spy games.

The primary appeal of this book is the visual challenge. It has no story. In the first double-page spread, the animals are introduced in specific positions with characteristic features that distinguish them easily, each in a solid color – like green hippo, blue bear, orange zebra, brown lion, red rhino and so on – who look straight at the reader with a seemingly docile and neutral expression to begin with (except for the zebra, which in my adult perspective seems quite fierce throughout the book).

Subsequent pages each render the animals in the same order and color throughout, as a double-page spread, except, each spread poses a single question like "Who's hiding?" or "Who's crying?" or "Who's angry?", the answer for which is cleverly embedded in the images on that page by making subtle changes to the original images introduced in the first spread.

For instance, early in the book, on my first read, when we came upon, "Who's crying?", my adult mind tarried a bit by which time Ana spotted the crying bunny and pointed it out excitedly.

It seemed like the questions become progressively harder to answer with each spread. "Who's angry?" seemed the most challenging for me to answer.

The crowning glory of the book is the last spread where the lights are turned out on the animals, asking, "Who's who?" while the illustration simply reveals their respective pairs of eyes on a dark page challenging the reader’s memory to identify each animal on its allotted spot on the page.

There is an answer key at the end of the book which seems superfluous considering how well the illustrations serve to identify the answers, encouraging the readers to simply pay close attention to details in the spread.

This clever concept and visual puzzle book will quickly become a favorite with toddlers and preschoolers, encouraging observation and inference skills not only based on pattern recognition, but also on memory skills.