Wednesday 24 October 2012

BOOKS AFFAIR - An Everlasting Bond


A big deal is made about introducing books to children at a very early age. Say ummm...as early 3-4 yrs, or even much before that. And why not? Everyone at any given point in time have read or come across benefits of reading books. Especially when the habit is cultivated in early childhood. 
Just when we were thinking of writing this post about books for children we came across a 2-minute read in Mumbai Mirror about how and why it is essential to introduce books to a child. In the article, according to a new research if children are surrounded by books as early as age 4, a part of their brain involved in language and thought develops quicker by 18 or 19. Also access to educational toys, trips to zoo and amusement parks can also help. Alternatively if introduced at the age of eight these books and treats seem to have little impact on the brain, suggesting age four is the critical time in its development. The brain is a kind of "super-sponge," absorbing new information more easily than at other times and developing in major leaps.Especially in first three years of life. So this would be a window of opportunity to introduce books to children to nurture a relationship they would develop in the years to come.
The objective of our post is not to point out the benefits of inculcating the habit of reading, but most importantly WHAT to read especially to a child of such young age.

To start with we can quote an apt saying by Maya Angelou (a famous American author and poet)                                                                    “Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him.”

We would like to share our acquaintance with some of the books that our kids of 3 have been enjoying and just can't get enough of them.

The first in the category is the series of books by JuliaDonaldson an English writer. She has a very poetic approach to gripping a child’s attention. The Snail and the Whale, The Gruffalo, The Gruffalo’s Child, Room on the Broom, Charlie Cook's Favourite Book to name a few are available at major bookstores as well as online. These books are high on vocabulary and rhyming words. This helps them in remembering not just the new words they read but also the story easily. The best part of these books is the level of imagination it takes you to with some small message for the young readers. The illustrations and drawing are very captivating. Believe us, we are constantly in look out for this author’s collection.

Informative Books:
Usborne’s Young Reading includes informative reads like The Story of Cars, The Story of Trains, The Story of Flying provides simple history of these transport vehicles in a very easy to understand language.


Their series of First Encyclopedias of our World, Space etc. for our young readers, answer many of the complicated questions about the world around us in very simple and basic terms.

Their hardbound copy ofIllustrated Bedtime Stories (it’s a collection of stories) make a perfect read before night time of snooze.

We would really appreciate if you can share some authors from your end too, for we believe that one can never have enough of books.

We all want a bright, smart and intelligent child which is why we spend so much time choosing the right schools and making sure teachers are exceeding expectations. But in all the mêlée we as parents forget, that we have the power to boost our children's learning potential simply by making books an integral part of their lives.

Watch out for our Sequel to Books Affair for the Educational Books (not school) for the young readers. 

11 comments:

  1. I wish I was introduced to books earlier in my life than when I was. Could you tell us how it did all start? How did you introduce books for your children? Did they see you or your husbands reading in most of your free time and so found book to be just another object that they got to know? Or was it a conscious effort and how? What do those parents do who find their children uninterested initially? What could be good ways of cajoling the child into the habit of reading? And what about parents who have missed the bus when their child was 3-4? Is there some interesting way in which habit of reading can be inculcated?

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  2. Thanks Trupti for showing your interest. We believe that there is no starting point and no one particular action which can induce reading habit. For us two quirky moms, this started even before our kids were born, by reading to the child within us. Once they were out in the world it was just a way of life. We introduced board books, touch and feel books, bath books etc etc.. All as per their age. I don't even remember since when we have bedtime reading sessions.. And you have rightly mentioned that the other most important thing is setting up an example. You can't make your child like something which u don't like. Start anytime.. Build a passion of reading in yourself.. The child will follow your steps.. :)

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    1. Along the way we must also observe what type of books child is inclining to and helping to explore more. Child passion is also very important.

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  3. Hi Ladies,
    As you know my Aruja loves books but, at her age the concentration span seems to waver from time to time. What in your experience with your kids is the concentration span for 2, 3 and 4 years children for them to "enjoy" the story? Also, Aruja loves the audio-visual world and her grasping is great with these but I still prefer books as they allow "imagination" and not just "understanding".

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    1. Hey Poornima, Half your battle is won when u said that aruja loves books. usually young children have very short attention span the key is to continue reading until that span runs out and start from where u left the next time around. AVs are attarctive to children but as u rightly pointed they don't enhance any imagination so in our opinion should be very restricted. Best of luck.. in your endeavour to inculcate a habit of lifetime. For any further help we r always around. :)

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  4. I was trying to recall when did i start reading..except for hindi comics i dont think i read anything else (ofcourse other than text books) till the age of 21. My first tryst with english finction was when i was filling up the form for IIFT for my masters and there i had to mention last 5 books which i had read and 5 books which impressed me the most. Thats when I realised that i hadnt read anything at all as such. So in a weeks time i had to read around 8 to 9 books to be able to fill up the form. I was quick (though late) to understand what i had missed all those years. After few years, I moved to mumbai and was using local trains to commute and there was no better thing to do than read books everyday for few hours while travelling. Though i regret that i started very late but i am happy that i am catching up very fast, there was a time (few months back) when i was almost reading one book every week.

    Now coming to when is the right time to start reading..my take is whenever one can start is the right time, but earlier the better. What would be very bad is if one (as a child or adult) has no exposure to books at all. Even hindi comics are better than the child reading nothing at all because these kind of books also lead to a lot of imagination in kids and the idea should be to unleash the power of imagination in kids.

    Rajeev

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    1. Thanks Rajeev for sharing your experience on our blog.

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  5. Hi,nice article. Aarav too loves books. At the moment I read a lot of the lady bird books, ranging from level 1 to 3. They are nice short storie. But his all time favourite is mythological books. He loves ganesh, krishna n hanuman books. Nowadays he makes up his own stories as well. Even the disney Cars book is onw of his favourites.

    Thanks,
    Neet

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  6. Though 'A Mother's World' still remains an unexplored frontier for me, I thoroughly enjoy reading your experiences as young passionate mothers. Rather, it is your passion for motherhood, vividly reflected in your blog, that amazes me the most. The subject of your latest post is very close to my heart as Books have been an integral part of my life. Moreover, it has evoked some nostalgic feelings. I clearly remember how me and my sister built a small library of our own. It was stacked with books painstakingly collected through various sources. The most precious ones were Russian fairy tales that our uncle bought for us on his visit to Russia. That made them all the more precious. Thanks to my mother who introduced us to books at a very young age and since then we have been fascinated by them.

    In last 2-3yrs, I have come across many kids who have been overexposed to information and turned into walkie-talkie encyclopedias. I believe, for young children books must be used not as a source of information but as effective tools that can boost their visualization and imaginative abilities. I don't know who said this line and I am not sure if I am quoting it correct but it very aptly fits in here 'Imagination is more important than knowledge'.

    Great Post. Waiting to read more...

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  7. I remember when I was in 5th standard we used to go to central District Library and read Lotpot . Humor in life is great shield against unanticipated crises which everyone goes through in one's life one way or other.

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    1. The name of Lotpot magazine makes me nostalgic. For me as a kid any long distance train journey was always accompanied by champak, lotpot, suman saurabh, and chacha choudhery.

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