Penguin

Author: Polly Dunbar
Ages: 2+

Back in the nursery, my DS2 wasn't quite the talker. When he ended up making friends, I was honestly quite surprised. More so when I silently watched them interact. It was completely a one-way exchange with my DS2 remaining the mute conversationalist while his friend was more than making up for the loss in conversation with his animated speech.  Both of them were so deeply engrossed although DS2 was only supplying the odd nod or a tiny smile. It was wonderful to see how very different they both were, yet how easily they accepted that and enjoyed their time.

Penguin is exactly the same. One day Ben receives a penguin as a present. He is so happy to see a new friend and asks Penguin what he wanted to play. Penguin says nothing. Ben then tries to humor the Penguin with silly faces and tricks, but Penguin says nothing.

Now Ben starts getting annoyed. He prods the Penguin, blows raspberries at him, makes fun of him, but Penguin still says absolutely nothing.So Ben ignores Penguin, and ( this bit is so cute!) Penguin ignores him back. Eventually, Ben gets upset, ties Penguin to a rocket and fires him into space. Penguin not just returns back, but says absolutely nothing, not a single word!

A very irritated Ben then tries to feed Penguin to a passing lion, but lion isn't interested in eating him. By then, Ben is infuriated and he shouts out to Penguin to JUST SAY ANYTHING!!. Now the lion swallows Ben as he is so noisy.

The silent Penguin springs immediately into action to rescue his dear talkative friend and bites the lion's nose. The lion spits Ben out and then finally Penguin says...

...everything!

What a beautiful celebration of friendship this book proved to be! You talk to them or you don't, you ignore them, you fight with them, you try to stay away from them, but buddies just know how to save you at the right time, how to make you smile, how to always be there for you when you need it most.

Such a lovely story and I was so moved that I actually had to make Penguin for my DS2 to go with the book, which I got for him in a school fair. ( not quite a replica, but does he bother!)

Polly Dunbar says she wrote Penguin for her brother Ben who gave her the original Pingouin, handmade with velvet in France in 1930. She has received many awards for this book as well. There's more about Penguin and her other books in her website.

As usual, here is a Youtube version, although it is a bilingual version, the book being in spanish!

It really doesn't matter if the story is totally fictional ( talking penguins, lions inside the house swallowing boys!). It is one that the children will quickly relate to, or simply enjoy the beautiful illustrations and Ben's silliness. And Penguin's silent stand! It has been read so many times in our house, and is still a firm favourite!

Just the right book for teeny Penguin fans, this book is truly adorable and a celebration of diversity, acceptance and the spirit of friendship.

Tea Break - Peppermint

Peppermint tea is a speciality tea having well tested healing properties for flatulence, skin irritations and itching, cold and flu and tension headaches.

It was just when we were having some nice Assam Tea today with hot vadas did I realize I needed a virtual tea break as well!

Well the Vadas were quite a story. Having packed all the boys out of the house, I had planned to shower as quickly as possible and make them a royal tiffin. But plans run amuck when you have a book in hand, don't they!

And by the time I had finished "The Snow Child" and pried my mind off the wonderfully original canvas of Alaska that it had painted in my inner eye, the boys were back home, hungry and grumpy. So I had to frantically search for an instant recipe and rummaged around loads of blogs, finally consolidating many recipes of "instant vada" into my own ingredient-restricted one.

And here it goes: 15 minutes of soaking some toor dal and chana dal in hot water - 5 mins of soaking some aval ( rice flakes) - coarse grinding of the dal with red chillies ( and/or green chillies) and ginger- mashing the soaked aval (after removing all excess water) - adding the ground mix to mashed aval along with finely chopped onions, some rice flour, some gram flour, some grated coconut, coriander, curry leaves, salt to taste - making balls of the firm mixture and flattening it ( flatter is  better than fluffier) and deep frying in oil to a crispy golden brown (takes longer than normal vadas). The vadas were very crisp and gone in a jiffy ( maybe because hunger levels were in RED!). At least it only took about 30 minutes to prepare, cook and clean :o).

 Maybe the other reason why the vadas disappeared so quickly was because of the interesting episode that we were watching on TV. It was about parallel universes - how every thought that originates in your mind creates a new reality: a new YOU, as real as you, existing in a parallel universe, something that you are not aware of at all. Like you go to a theatre and ponder on which movie to watch, you end up watching every movie you think of, but as other realities - the YOUs that you are not aware of.

The program was quite mesmerizing, but only until the point where we started speculating  on our thoughts, after which we broke into a laughing frenzy. Like something as simple as a "to pee or not to pee" dilemma creating two realities. (You can imagine what all disgusting things the boys would have thought of involving poking nose, using the byproduct of poking in multiple ways and such gross thoughts and their realities).

I was quite bemused by my "should I blog now? Naah, maybe later" thought triggering frantic "me"s blogging away like mad somewhere else in an alternate reality. Bet the blogs are much much better out there, since I always "think" about making the blog better and more presentable!!

And how about the thought processes of those realities who think they are the actual realities?! Or the thoughts about the thoughts themselves :o0!!.

DH tried getting preachy telling the boys that this is why they should never have desires, as they keep creating new issues of the self and which means it would be all the more tougher to attain nirvana. To which DS1 promptly replied, "But every time I suppress the desire, there is going to be a reality which would live the "express desire" instance, so I am creating a new reality anyways"!

Quite an interesting concept with loads of physics involved. As long as the Universe remains a mystery, there are going to be a million theories ( and so, a million Universes?!?).

Anyway, since my other reality today has chosen the not-to-blog life, bet she is getting her beauty sleep right now. Wonder who else exist in that universe with her! Dare to take a guess? Remember, every thought COUNTS! ;o)

The Arrival

Author: Shaun Tan
Ages: 6+ to 100+

"What draws so many to leave everything behind and journey alone to a mysterious country, a place without family or friends, where everything is nameless and the future is unknown? This silent graphic novel is the story of every migrant, every refugee, every displaced person, and a tribute to all those who have made the journey." - Blurb of "The arrival".

The blurb says it all. This is the story of one such immigrant who leaves his family to go and seek a living in a strange place. So alien, so full of strange structures, weird plants and animals, everything so foreign. It is the story of how he tries to communicate with the locals, not knowing their language. How he finds a place to live, a pet, a series of basic jobs, how he learns the new way of life, meets refugees and immigrants and learns of their stories, makes friends, saves up and finally calls his family over to settle down with him.

This book is very emotional. I ended up holding it and reading it for quite a long time. Which is amazing, given the fact that this is a picture book. With no printed story, not even a word. And any letters and words that do come in the drawings of the strange place are even more stranger, so this book is a story told with nothing but art. In black and white with that worn-out effect so beautifully created, it is a masterpiece.

So very daunting, isn't it! That feeling of being far away from family, missing that familiarity and warmth that is home, trying to fit in and belong in a strange place full of busy people and their busy lives. I can't even imagine how it would feel for people displaced because of war, poverty and homelessness, moving away with nothing but meagre belongings and leaving behind everything that must have meant the world to them, sometimes even loved ones, forever. People trying desperately to forget, to remember, to find hope and move on. People trying to feel accepted, people trying to live.

Throughout the story are people who take the time to step out of their routine and offer help to a complete stranger, be it with the directions, tickets on transport, or even inviting him home for dinner. They befriend the immigrant, talk about how they ended up in this place and try to help him with their knowledge of the place ( have you ever had a flashback story rendered just with still life pictures?! unbelievable work!!).

The immigrant works really hard, he finally settles down well and his family becomes so at-home in the new place that they even start helping other new comers.

The best books are those that give you a mental picture so vivid that you even remember it long after finishing the book. Shaun Tan has somehow managed to bring out these mental pictures to life so well with his illustrations that I almost felt like I was watching a motion picture.  It transported me to a world so far away, roused so many deep memories and feelings from my sub-conscious and affected me in a very profound way.

The children have been sitting with this book for days together, making out their own meanings from the pictures and noticing so many unspoken feelings. I realized this must be a wonderful book to discuss in a class. Imagination, creativity, sensitivity, war, life, compassion, displacement, hard work, value of family and love, there is so much that this book has to offer as classroom material.

Here's what Shaun Tan has to say about the book.

And here's the book ( most of it) on Youtube. (although it isn't as intense as it would feel when you actually read the book).

And that immigrant in the story, it is actually the author's drawing of himself.

The Arrival. Disturbingly strange, yet so familiar.

Snuggle with Indian Picture Books

Much as would have loved to review them, I do not have a source here to obtain Indian books from. So  until I make my trip back home, I would have to stick to local books. But my cousin sent me a blog link and I found it to be a very exhaustive collection of Indian story books for children.

The blog is owned by Richa Jha, an Indian author who resides in Nigeria. She has done such a wonderful job with her blog snugglewithpicturebooks, reviewing Indian picture books and even interviewing some authors.  The blog is very neat and versatile and reflects her passion and her talent as well. The ratings table that she uses at the end of her review is absolutely unique - "Ha Ha! quotient, Touches the Heart, Cuts through the Clutter, Visual Appeal, Encore quotient, Thank God it's not Moral Science and Hey!That's a really important book" all rated on a scale of 1-5 is such a cute idea :o).

More than anything, what instantly attracted me to her blog was the way she has described her craze for picture books, it sounded just like ME!

Perhaps if you have ever come across any good blogs on Indian books ( for children), you could just add it as a comment to this post, so it would be a good place to refer back to when you want to choose books.

Appending all the suggested links:
http://www.saffrontree.org/
http://karadionline.blogspot.in/

The Spider and the Fly

Designed and Illustrated by : Tony DiTerlizzi
Based on an 170+ years old poem by Mary Howitt 
Ages: 4+ years

"Will you walk into my parlour?", 
said the Spider to the Fly

How many times would these eternal lines have been referred to and quoted! This is a poem that I learnt in childhood and adore even today. Seeing this as a picture book made me pick it up instantly. And I wasn't disappointed at all! For this book has all that thrill and caution of the classic poem even more enhanced by Tony DiTerlizzi's truly rich, dark, gothic illustrations. A visual treat, a tale of caution, a lesson that children of today truly need to bear in mind.

This is the story of an unassuming, innocent Fly that happens to pass by a hungry Spider who invites her to his web with sugar-coated, flattering description of his beautiful parlour. The Fly is all too cautious and keeps resisting all attempts until the Spider woos her by praising her beauty. The silly Fly falls for the flattery, and falls prey to the Spider by getting tangled in his web.

The illustrations must really be given a special mention, for they carry this already powerful poem to a whole new level - the sleek, sly gentleman Spider in his impeccable attire and a wicked grin, the innocent victorian damsel Fly with those big, cautious eyes,  the dangerously dark parlour, all in black and white are really very captivating.  And the ever so slight extra touches he has drawn, like those ghosts ( of flies) and the tombstone in the end with a word of caution make the story even more ominous.

And now, dear little children, who may this story read,
To idle, silly, flattering words I pray you ne'er give heed.

It's not just the children, it's that fly in all of us that should learn this lesson and remember it forever. Particularly in these times when the newspaper is so full of news about bad things done to children. It is our duty to educate children to be well wary of the wicked wide world.

Sometimes I've noticed that when children move to bigger chapter books, parents don't really give them a picture book, as they feel it is way too easy for them. Reading is not just about reading words or tackling tougher sentences. It is all about what you take back from the story, what you comprehend from the words, what you discover from the pictures and you might well see that sometimes fluent readers miss out on such delicate details. This is one book that is not to be missed like that. It is a very mature poem and something children of all ages would enjoy and understand at so many emotional levels.

Here's a Youtube version read by English Actress Emilia Fox.

"Be warned, little dears, and know that spiders are not the only hunters and bugs are not the only victims. Take what has transpired within these pages to heart, or you might well find yourself trapped in some schemer's web" - Spider.