Chocolate Mousse for Greedy Goose

Author: Julia Donaldson
Illustrator: Nick Sharrat
Ages: 1+ years

Mealtime, manners, mischief and mayhem with a myriad of animals and the merriest of colours. That would be the perfect summary of this book by Julia Donaldson, the former Children's Book Laureate and author of the famous Gruffalo books.

This glossy book has been eye-captivatingly illustrated by Nick Sharrat, who has illustrated books for famous authors and has been drawing for as long as he can remember!

Children love mealtimes, but not for the meal itself. Parents sometimes hate mealtimes for the same reason! This book has all of that joy, anger, irritation, chiding, licking, smelling, good-for-youing, sharing at the table , a very reluctant cleaning afterwards ( it was only a suggestion by a nice animal!) and a collective sleeping at the end of the meal. The rhyming is catchy and the children love seeing all the animals misbehaving like them :o).

This book was a firm favourite of DS2. He would read it again and again. And again. And... you get the point.

If he gave it away to his little sister, it was only because he thought she would love it just as much, and boy, does she love it!! There is just nothing as comforting to see someone love your book as much as you loved it. It is simply infectious! Here is a beautiful reading of the book by my sweet little sister Lakshmi!

When we were down at the International book festival in Edinburgh clamouring for Francesca Simon's book signing, Nick Sharrat was at the opposite table, and I was just so disappointed I didn't have this book in hand to get him to autograph it. Of all things about Edinburgh, it is this book festival that I really miss so much. Same goes for the Chennai Book fair as well!

In all, a very colourful book with lots of things little kids love.

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.

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.

Oh Puppies!

Author : Adrian Collman
Illustrator: Duncan Preston
Ages: 3+

You know with all the publicity and PR and stuff books get these days, it is rather very soothing to come across a very talented, yet unassuming author. Adrian Collman is certainly both, as I found out when he visited my little boy's school. Had he not been sitting in front of his books and signing them, I'd have assumed he was just another hassled parent doing the school run :o).

 And the books appear even more unassuming. My elder boy asked me if they were really books or something printed out by school.

But the stories do the trick very well. The text is simple and repetitive, catchy for a toddler to latch on to and enjoy. The story is about kids requesting Dad for a puppy with all the usual promise of taking care of it. But then Oh! Puppies will be puppies - cute, loving, adorable, but naughty! The puppies actually happen to be the author's own, and there are photos of the author's household with the sweet pair, sometimes up to their neck in mischief.

It is fun to read the book with little ones. Forget about a moral, a learning, whatever. Kids need to simply enjoy sometimes -  no punctuation, grammar, stress and pause attached, and this book achieves just that ( although there are so many things that they would pick up and remember for a long time - Like asking for puppies!). There is a little hide-and-seek thing as well which would interest the tiny readers a lot.

I liked the intro page and the last page a lot in this book. It provided for good guided reading tips for adults and a very important message for kids - "Dogs are very hard to look after and the naughty things they get up to won't always make everyone laugh". Perfect, just the handy thing parents would need after the kids are done with the book and started with the " Pleeeeeease Could we get a puppy" mantra.

The author's website was quite interesting as well.

We also enjoyed our signed copy of another book by Adrian, "Worst Animal Jobs Ever". Quite suitable for the toddler kids, it was hilarious seeing what jobs ought NOT to be given to some animals!!

My elder kid wasn't quite interested with the repetition, he has been reading the following:

"A Brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawkings
"Bleach" series by Tite Kubo
"Just William" by Richmal Crompton
"Big Nate" series by Lincoln Peirce

Also revising "Jurassic Park" and "The Lost World" and the "Horrible Histories" for the last who-knows-since-when days.

Not sure if I'd be getting round to reviewing any of these soon! I guess I need some growing up as well!! :o)

The Journey Home

Author and Illustrator: Frann Preston-Gannon
Ages: 3+ years

The author of this story happens to be the only person from UK who has won the prestigious "Sendak Fellowship" and worked on this book while staying with the author himself during the fellowship program. The book is so neatly written and illustrated so splendidly that it is hard to believe that this is the author's first picture book, although she has illustrated for Walker books, Burt's Bees etc before.

The world as we knew it has since deteriorated. The world as we know it is being devastated by us even as I am writing this. I sometimes wonder if all this pollution and deforestation could ever do anything at all to Earth which has borne testimony to life and endurance since its genesis. One giant wave, one rapid solar flare, one meteor blaze and all the plastics in the world would vanish into thin air. And before long, life forms would start establishing themselves afresh. To quote one of my most favourite lines by Dr Malcolm from Jurassic Park, " Life will find a way".

But that does not in any way justify what Man is doing to his co-inhabitants- how he is unethically, unlawfully, inhumanely destroying their homes, their food and the creatures themselves. It is nothing but pure horror story. If this is what is the survival of the fittest, then I am ashamed to survive.

In this wonderfully penetrating book, the author handles just this very issue, but in such a simple way that children could understand. It certainly is a book that parents should read out to kids or read with them, because it opens up so many avenues for discussions and would hopefully linger inside the children long enough for them to decide on acting upon issues in any way they could ( walk more and use car less, reduce plastic bags, plant trees, recycle properly and be sensitive to nature. After all, as my DS2 said, we are 100% natural, but 100% acting against nature!).

The story opens with the Polar bear sitting on a tiny iceberg wondering where the ice had all gone, because its food had also disappeared with the ice. So he is forced to swim away, and finds a lone boat and climbs into it. Soon, he swims by a city of machines and sky scrapers and finds a lone Panda there. He is certainly the odd thing out in a concrete jungle with no bamboo shoots to eat, so he joins the polar bear.

As they float on into what was once a jungle before deforestation but now just tree stubs, they spot an Orang-utan looking so lost as there aren't any more trees to climb on. They invite his to join the boat and they all sail along. Very soon they spot an elephant who is hiding behind a boulder from poachers trying to steal his tusks. He joins the boat gang as well.

Then the boat sails into a storm and drifts very far away form their homes. The animals think of their homes and miss them so terribly. They feel completely lost until they sight a Dodo in a tiny tropical island. They tell the Dodo that they want to go back home. The wise Dodo says that that is very much possible "when the trees grow back and when the ice returns and when the cities stop getting bigger and bigger and hunting stops".

And when the Polar bear questions when that would be, Dodo just says " I don't know, let's see what tomorrow brings".

And there is the beautiful picture of those animals huddled together and looking at a lovely sunset.

All through the story, the animals never stop to admire nature - the gulls, the fish, the clouds and the sunset. It gives  you a feeling that they are really connected and completely blend into nature, unlike Man.

The illustrations have a hint of Eric Carle's tissue paper creatures. They are simple, but emote remarkably, a bit disturbingly as they seem to question our conscience so much. In all, this is a perfect bed-time cuddle book with a strong message.

The journey home. Perilous but Possible. If only...

Solo

Author and Illustrator: Paul Geraghty
Ages: 4+

When you look at the book you might almost mistake it for an educational one about life in the Antarctic. With original photographs. That is how vivid and detailed the pictures and the story look.

Solo is a very beautifully illustrated book about the life of an Emperor penguin family and its struggle for survival in an almost uninhabitable corner of the Earth. Mum Floe, after being back from the sea,  finds her soulmate Fin and gives birth to Solo - still inside the egg, and then makes it back to sea to travel hundreds of miles to get food for her yet-to-be-born chick. Daddy Fin then gets ready for the toughest ordeal of going without food for months together and huddling close with the penguins in the rookery to keep himself and the newly hatched chick Solo warm. And alive.

After what seems like ages, Floe returns and takes charge of Solo while Fin finally gets his chance to venture out to sea and have some food and get some for Solo. But time moves on and while other daddies return, there is no sign of Fin. Floe realizes she must leave Solo alone and go herself to get some food, or Solo would starve away. She makes that toughest decision of leaving Solo alone and toboggans off to sea, wary of the leopard seals that are ready to make her a meal, should she be any less careful.

Left to its own self, Solo becomes an easy catch to all the mother penguins that have lost their chick as they tug at her quite violently to adopt her as their own. Solo somehow manages to escape their clutches, only  to be pinned down by the Skua, a scavenger bird that preys on penguin chicks that stray from the rookery. Just when the skua is about to nip Solo's belly off, Fin makes his heroic entry and lunges at the Skua and chases it away. Then you see what had taken so long for Fin to get back - he had gotten himself entangled in a net, and had somehow escaped, dragging the net along. A while later Floe is back as well, and the family has a very happy reunion.

Solo brought back memories of the Emperor Penguin documentary by Sir David Attenborough. Very beautiful ones, you can watch them here:
 Daddy penguins in the rookery
Return of mummy penguins
Leopard Seal hunting out Emperor penguins

This book proved to be a great topic for discussion, both scientific and sentimental and is definitely a very good read about life in the Antarctic, survival instinct and the extreme endurance of the animal kingdom and the continuous threat that humans impose on these magnificent beings.

Solo. A beautiful tale of love and endurance.

This Moose Belongs to Me

Author: Oliver Jeffers
Ages: 5+ to all adults who love quirky moose and a little enlightenment :o)

image courtesy:http://www.oliverjeffers.com/media/TMBTM-04-05_F.jpg 

I am a great admirer of the Geethacharam. Roughly translated, it means:

What has happened, has happened for good
What is happening, is for good
And what will happen would be for good
What possession that was truly yours did you lose
For you to cry over?
What did you bring (into the world) for you to lose it?
What did you create yourself that has been destroyed?
Whatever you took for yourself belongs here
And Whatever you give out belongs here, too
What is yours today will be another's tomorrow
And yet another's, another day.
This is the  principle of the world
This is the essence of creation, of evolution.

Who would have thought that all it takes is a Moose and a funny little boy to make kids understand such a beautiful lesson in life! Hats off to Oliver Jeffers for coming up with this gem of a book - This Moose belongs  to me.

Wilfred finds a moose in his garden, names him " Marcel" thereby proclaiming it belongs to him. He wanders in the woods and mountains with Marcel. He makes many rules for Marcel to follow, to train him. Some of them include serving drinks when he needs, getting things for him that are out of his reach, sheltering him from rain, not disturbing when he plays his records and many such funny rules. Marcel of course, is totally nonchalant. He cares two hoots about the rules, but by nature does things that sometimes tick off some of these rules.

And all is well until one day a lady comes up and calls Marcel as Rodrigo and says it is hers. Much to the fury of Wilfred, Marcel acts as if Wilfred didn't even exist and goes readily to the lady, who has an apple in her hand for him.

An angry Wilfred stomps back home, only to be tangled in a mess by a length of rope that he had left behind. But then he gets rescued by Marcel ( or so he thinks), who then goes to another man who comes by and calls him Dominic and claims that it is his moose!

Hidden inside all the funny, yet very perfect story and illustrations are so many beautiful facts stated in Gitacharam. The Moose belongs to no one, everyone simply assumes it is theirs. It comes and goes as it pleases, people get attached to it, but it is like an enlightened being, just not belonging to anyone. It comes from the woods, goes back into the woods.

You get caught in a mess, you are saved out of a mess. These things happen on no account of no merit from your side, it JUST happens.

And even if every now and then things might look as if they belong to you, it is JUST your illusion.

Accept it, you own nothing. Not even your children, as Gibran says.
(They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you....)

Oliver Jeffers' illustrations are also so perfect, the emotions beautifully shown and the book feels very much complete and wholesome with his drawings.

This Moose belongs to Me. This book belongs to me, or does it?!