Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Thumb Thumb Thambi and Thumb Thumb Thangi

 I was totally floored the minute I spotted these books, they are the cutest books I have ever laid my eyes upon!

These are a set of ten books with very simple story-lines and everyday vocabulary - 9 to 1, Mirror, Flower, Hello!, Where is Thangi?, Shhh!, Dark, Tail, Up Up! and Song. The illustrations are created with thumbprints - hence the names of the characters. Thambi and Thangi feature together in some of the books and by themselves in the rest. The size of the book is child-friendly and not at all intimidating for a beginner reader. The last page says ' I CAN READ THIS BOOK!' - making the smile go wider!

 Just before the last page in every book there is a blank page where the little reader is invited to produce her own thumbprint art based on the story. Once the imagination is fired there is no limit! Be prepared for lots of little masterpieces!

Creating simple storybooks is actually the trickiest. Hats off to the Tulika folks who made them - Biswajit Balasubramaniam, Deepa Balsavar, Radhika Menon, Jeeva Raghunath, Ashok Rajagopalan and Sandhya Rao! I bet anyone who sees them will go ga-ga just like my friend Ranjani (who mentioned it in an earlier post as one her family's top picks of the year) and me!

 My little angootha chhaap artist (pun intended) is so delighted with them that she requested me to get the Kannada versions and read them to her! She had learnt to chant numbers in Kannada last year when we moved to Bangalore and I guess she finds these books the next logical step!

Image Source

19 comments:

starry eyed said...

A BIG THANKS for getting Dhruv these books, he was totally charmed by them (and that's a big deal for the guy who usually likes only books based on vehicles n tools!) It's a very sweet idea.

Unknown said...

Booked them online :) any idea how many days it takes for the books to arrive??

utbtkids said...

The series has found it way to 'THE LIST' my dear :)

ranjani.sathish said...

Chox we have 8 out of the 10 books and I agree they are just awesome!

Like you have mentioned, as much as the books seem simple, a lot of thought has gone into preparing them keeping in mind the target audience. Truly it is commendable work by the Tulika team !

My 3 years old's favourites in this series are - 'Hello', 'sssh' and '9 to 1'.

Vibha said...

Surely going to be our next buy. Just loved the idea of these books.

Meera Sriram said...

Sounds very interesting. I love the simplicity aspect. Thanks Chox.

Praba Ram said...

Huge hit in our household as well. Thanks for this neat pointer, Chox!

The 3 yr old, with an explosion of lengthy sentences has a few cute one-liners just for Thangi,
"You are not scared anymore. You did a good job shooing the scary faces away. I love you!"
(the book MIRROR by Sandhya Rao
pictures by Ashok Rajagopalan)

IMHO - Not just for reading and art exploration, the book also helps explore emotions in a fun way. (We all know tantrums are minimized when toddlers/preschoolers communicate their emotions (the EQ - emotional quotient) Thangi's Mirror helps in that!)

Also, reminds me of Brand New Reader series http://www.brandnewreaders.com/ - Worm is Hot, Well done, Worm - LOL ones that K loved during preschool years.

Sorry about this lengthy comment! :-)

Sheela said...

Oh, ChoxBox, a while back when I saw the post by Ashok Rajagopalan, Illustrator, The Thumb Rules! on Tulika Blog, I was so impressed by the simplicity. And as P noted, I am sure a lot of thought has gone into it! Thanks again for a wonderful set of books!

Choxbox said...

Starry: My pleasure!

MM: YOU will love them!

utbt: And your posts have lengthened THE LIST in these parts as well :)

Ranjani: The fav here is Mirror. Kannadi I mean!

Vibha: Go get them!

Meera: There is simplicity in the execution as well - in the sense there is no clutter at all in the illustrations.

P: LOL @ the cute one-liners!
Some of the others don't necessarily have much beyond the story though - which is great idea IMO. For eg, Up Up! is just about Thambi making a kite and flying it.
Thanks for the link for the BrandNew Reader series. Going over to check.

Sheela: I bet you will put an even more creative spin to it :)

Ashok Rajagopalan said...

Sheela, thanks for making my day!
Thanks to all of you here who liked the books.
A lot of thought has gone into the concept and execution, true, Choxbox.
And, may I add, a lot of love, too. :)

Choxbox said...

Thanks Ashok for stopping by and commenting. You just made MY day :)

Tharini said...

Sounds terrifically cute and innovative. What an idea!!!

Poppy said...

We got the books! Just read 1-10 yesterday and the best part is that both the kids are loving it.

Heard the little one trying to say Thumb Thumb Thangi yesterday :-)

Today we have some fingerpainting activity planned as a result of these books :)

Unknown said...

can u please correct the pics please?? Linked this post at my blog. :)

Choxbox said...

T: You bet!

Poppy: Our house has been overflowing with thumbprint art as well, all around Thambi and Thangi :)

MM: Done!

Tulika Publishers said...

That's wonderful to hear! This post & the comments that follow made my day.
Also @Poppy @Choxbox @Praba: Would you care to share some samples of thumb print art/one-liners for Thangi with us? We're putting together reactions to and improvisations of our books on our blog and would love to share this with our fans.
Thanks again!

Choxbox said...

Sure - will send it over ASAP!

Sheela said...

Finally got the set of 10 books, thanks to my parents, and boy, the kids love it! It is wonderful to let the 5 year old read it to the 2 year old... made me thik of Edward Teller's famous words, "No endeavor that is worthwhile is simple in prospect; if it is right, it will be simple in retrospect."

Tulika Publishers said...

Hello Chox and Saffron Treers, Would you like to submit this blog post for the 'I can read' blog carnival at The Book Chook blog? I thought of this post the minute I saw the announcement:) I'm sure there are others that might qualify as well...

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