Hola folks!
Our guest today is Nandhini Chandrasekaran who works from home as a content writer. With the addition of her role as a mother, Nandhini quit her full-time job as a biotechnologists. She is now in a phase of a lively and a tiring motherhood which gives her the opportunity to revive the dormant writer in her who has been published young, at the age of seventeen.
In addition, she nurtures her personal blog, www.pagesfromserendipity.com through her thoughts and ideas in the areas of parenting, kids and relationships, which are her topics of interest for guest blogging at Momspresso too. She, also, voices for issues related to women through her contributions to Women’s Web. www.nandhinisbookreviews.blogspot.in is her book blog.
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Today she is here to talk about 6 books for children which ensure a quality family reading time.
Books are an integral part of our everyday living in our family. The father’s work desk is always over-flowing with books, as are the handmade book racks of the children. Well, the mom does have a few books downloaded in her kindle whose waiting time to be read far surpass the actual reading time. Ha! In spite of the fact that I haven’t read a valid book meant for 8+ years in the last two years, my bonding with books have remained intact; more so because of the joy that the little stories we read together as a family bestow on us. Come; join our cherishing memories of the 6 kids’ book series we enjoy reading at home!
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The Mr. Men & Little Miss Classics Series
Roger Hargreaves’ Mr. Men & Little Miss Classics series are one of the best-selling children’s book series. Beautifully designed for 3+ year olds, these are pocket-sized books with bold and vibrant pictures on one side of the page and narrations on the other side. Each book is about a character. For instance, in Mr. Happy, the main character, Mr. Happy is a happy man who lives in happy land where even the flowers and worms are happy.
The funny and rhyming narrations are a super hit with our boy. Down and down and round and round and round and down and down and round is one of the popular lines at home. I love this series for the immense scope it brings in voice animations while reading aloud, and for the laughter it can brighten little kids with.
Ladybird’s Peppa Pig Books
How would it feel to realize your child loves a cartoon character through book reading and not because of watching videos? Trust me, it’s an amazing feeling! And we are fortunate to have a two-year old at home who adores Peppa Pig in spite of having never watched a video episode.
Lady bird’s Peppa Pig books make a nice reading time for our kids. To the older one, it is exciting because he gets to see in pictures on the book what he has watched several times as episodes. Also, reading the level 1 & 2 books help him to practice reading. To the baby girl, it’s simply lovely because it is Peppa Pig J
Britannica’s Early Discovery Series
If you thought only stories enchant children, you must try Britannica’s early discovery series books. This set of books introduce concepts, one each, to young kids. The fun the books attach to kids’ learning is laudable. Simple concepts are presented in interesting ways that one might not have come across in any other book or tutorial. The set includes a book exclusively for kids’ activities which adds value to the entire series.
Our boy is learning the sign language for each of the alphabets and I must say, it is an essential skill that never gets to be learned otherwise. The ‘Just for Fun’ book encourages children to observe the nature around them. The activity which involves the collection of leaves and twigs to make a nature mobile was a memorable team work of the family.
Topsy and Tim series
Ladybird’s Topsy and Tim series are fun to read. Interesting and informative experiences of the twins, Topsy and Tim bring in some practical learning about a variety of topics to children. For instance, in the ‘Go on an Aeroplane’ story, kids get to know how to board a flight from an airport.
Parents who need to take the kids on a flight journey, to a camping, to the hospital, to a dentist, shopping etc. will find this series helpful. They can introduce the situations and experiences before-hand by reading out the corresponding stories from the series. Our little boy finds it exciting to relate his real life experiences with Topsy and Tim’s stories.
Ladybird’s Little Stories Series
The ‘Little’ series offers amusing story times for kids. It includes subseries like the little vehicles, the little dancers, the little animals, the little people etc. Each book imparts a unique life lesson to children. For example, in ‘The Brave Little Train’, we learn how to shed our doubts about our capabilities to begin to trust our inner potentials. In “The Little Blue Tractor’, we learn why it is worthy to help others when in trouble.
We have read this series a countless numbers of times. And I don’t get surprised when my son wants to read and re-read the same book for days together. Yet another Ladybird classics!
Ruskin Bond’s Children’s Short Stories
Ruskin Bond’s books make great for transitions from cartoon-type kids’ books to short stories for little readers. They are meant for children of 6 to 8 years though grown-ups enjoy reading as much as kids do. It can be a good start to introduce novel-reading in kids. Simple sentences with detailed descriptions make the flow of the narration interesting. Life on the hills, little philosophies of life, family bonding and some wit are what makes a warm reading experience in this great author’s writings.
On our little boy’s 5th birthday, the dad gifted his first short story book – ‘Dust on the Mountains’ by Ruskin Bond. Though he hasn’t started reading long sentences on his own, he is big enough to understand the story when read out, without the need for translation or explanation. We wouldn’t call as a series as these are individual books. Yet, for our love of Ruskin Bond books, I include it here.
What are the popular books from your kids’ book shelf? Please share in the comments. I would love to know.
You could check out one of my favourite YA book series to read – The Princess Dairies by Meg Cabot
I have done a guestpost on Nandhini’s blog and its about Fan Fiction – do you know about it? It was a pretty novel concept for me when I first heard about it.
Now this post caters to my interest. Nothing is more wonderful for me apart from getting to know about interesting books for the little ones, little ones interested in books and reading and their parents giving more shelf space and mind space to their kids’ books then their own 🙂 I am glad to know Nandhini. Ruskin Bond’s stories are quite a fit for our present phase and we must definitely look for those books in the library here. It would be quite a task in finding them for reading and also that D, for now, is stuck in the world of toilets, pee, poops and Professor Poopypants from the Captain Underpants series.
The little miss and mr were my son’s fav and he loved me reading it to him. He used to have this wonder and happiness in his eyes listening to me read it aloud.. Evokes so many happy memories!!
Such a great compilation of books for the little ones! I have read some of these, but this post reminded me to check out the Britannica books – I was planning to check them out, but it’s one of those things that slipped through the cracks. On it now. Thank you for such great recommendations, Nandhini.
I do agree with your list, nandini and glad that I have introduced them all to my daughter. Topsy and Tim and peppa were my daughter’s s favorites when she was a toddler. Mr. Men and little miss series she used to enjoy even till last year and ruskin bond is an all-time favorite. In fact we love bond so much that we gift his books to our friends too. A very thoughtful list, nandini.
I’m disappointed no Enid Blyton or Roald Dahl books feature here because I still see kids reading them. I don’t have kids and don’t plan to but I do gift these to my friends’ kids
As Sanch said, I too was wondering why no Enid Blytons feature here. But then ‘to every reader her own’. And I find the mentioned books too very interesting. Shall look forward to laying my hands on a couple of them for my boys.
A lot of laughter riot happens here too 😀 Glad it dug your happy memories, Shubhangi.
Glad you found the list helpful, Shantala. Fictions and comics take a lead in the book racks, more when it comes to kids’ shelves that gems like Britannica are seldom known. With the Britannica series, I was surprised how non-fiction can as well add fun to kids’ reading time.
Thanks Anshu. It’s wonderful to know the joys that are common to families 🙂
I have a box full of old Famous Five books preserved for my children 🙂 I am sure we didn’t begin reading them at 2 or 5. My son hasn’t started reading yet. Definitely, Enid Blyton is going to get into him in a few years.
Ruskin Bond’s books are the first chapter books we’ve introduced to our 5-year old. We are still reading out to him. I would prefer him to begin reading fluently on his own before I can gift him Enid Blyton books. This list is more for kids below 5 years of age.
Yes Anamika, even though my shelf space was lesser, I am glad I’ve invested in introducing the world of books to my children. That fee!s so precious for the moment. Ruskin Bond is sure a good friend to kids. Haha, little D’s tales are interesting.
Thanks for the opportunity to make this post on your blog Shalini. As the year is coming to an end, reading this post makes me so nostalgic. It brings the memories of my literary times with my kids. It feels like I’ve left a remembrance, so close to my heart, in your place to safeguard Best wishes on the anniversary of the blog. Wishing you cheers in all that you endeavour!