Cookies: Bite-sized Life Lessons

Cookies: Bite-size Life Lessons

by Amy Krouse Rosenthal,
illustrated by Jane Dyer.

The book attempts to teach/explain certain qualities/emotions that children start feeling at their tender age but don't know what it is and how to handle it and even what exactly it is they are feeling, like Envy, Pride, Greed. And, it also attempts to teach certain desirable qualities like Respect, Contentment, Loyalty, Compassion, Modesty, Open-mindedness, Fairness, Politeness etc. And, the book does all of this with short crisp sentences and illustrations that are all cookie-based!

A few I liked:
Fair means, you get a bite, I get a bite; you get a big bite, I get a big bite.
Unfair means, you get a bite and I get the rest of the cookie.

Open-minded means, I haven't seen cookies like these before, but, uh, sure I'll try one.

Polite means, can you please pass the cookies? Thank you!

Trustworthy means, if you ask me to hold your cookie until you come back, when you come back, I will still be holding your cookie.

The illustrations show a little girl about Ana's age, with similar curly brown hair, which completely captured Ana's attention. The book places the little girl and her friends be it humans or animals, in various situations that bring out the direct meaning of the words, in context. This idea of using situational experience, using cookies, to teach words and emotions seems quite clever yet straightforward.

More importantly, I got a good way of expanding her vocabulary so that nowadays, when she demands, "give me some apple juice, Amma", all I have to say is, "How do you ask politely, Ana?" and she immediately rephrases, "Amma, I'd like some apple juice, please."

Similarly, when she refuses to take a bite of some meal I have made for her, I remind her, "Open-minded means...??" and she says, "OK, I'll try a bite".

Now, I am not claiming she fully understands the nuances and shades of meaning and associated depth of emotion for each of these words, but, it is a start. It helps me expand on it further and explore her feelings when needed. She instantly loved it and is always very interested and attentive when I read it to her.

The simple and clever sentences make it easy to teach her new vocabulary and help describe complicated emotions in ways that even a three-year-old can begin to understand.

The text is in cursive, so, am not sure how easy it would be for beginner readers to read alone.

MATH APPEAL

Author : Greg Tang

Ilustrated by Harry Briggs


Eureka ! This was the feeling of euphoria I had when I finished reading the book with my six year old son!


Here is a simple Math book for children, presented in beautiful verses and very attractive pictures. Noticing my son's penchant for numbers, I wanted to kindle his interest further and was on the lookout for some interesting and fun filled Maths books appropriate for his age. Chancing on some Maths books in our library, I randomly ordered this book without
having any idea about the contents. It has turned out to be the beginning of a great discovery - pointing me to more books by the same author for different age groups, making me crazily block all the books in our library by this author, web searching to read the reviews of all these books ! It is a long time since I fell madly in love with any of Sooraj's books :-).


Coming to Math Appeal, the book is meant for 7 to 10 age group as mentioned by Greg Tang. On each of the pages, there is a riddle on the right side and the colourful pictorial riddle on the left. The children have to find the count of whatever is the key topic in the riddle. It could be the spots on the lady bug, apples on a tree or the star fish in the sea. What Greg Tang tries to show the kids in this book, are the various methods of getting the count, rather than a simple counting by finger. It could be by pairing of similar types or grouping to get a sum of ten and then adding up easily all the tens, or finding some patterns which enable a quick addition. Sometimes it works faster if we add by grouping and then subtracting the odd ones. For each of the riddles, the best way to approach the problem is explained clearly in the last pages. Though my son is younger than the age group mentioned and just getting into two digit addition, he still thought it was fun and wanted to learn how to go about the riddles than simple counting by fingers.


Kids who are quite comfortable with two digit addition, will be able to really appreciate these methods. All these techniques will train the children to rely more on common sense and visual patterns that our eyes perceive, to solve problems eficiently !


A great book for children to enjoy maths and also for the parents who would like to teach their children in creative ways !


I was very impressed with the foreword in which Greg Tang writes --

What's the best way to foster a love for learning ? When we teach children to read, we share colourful picture books filledwith exciting stories. When we teach science, we conduct lively,hands on experiments that inspire curiosity and wonder.But what about math - is it possible to make math just as engaging and appealing to kids ? The answer is Yes ! I believe languageand art are the keys t making math more meaningful to children. Words and images have the power to communicate analyticalreasoning and insight and at the same time connect math to a world of things- nature, science, art and stories - that matter to kids.