Kids Books in Doha: Top Ten Books (January)

Our Top Ten Books for the second week of January! 

We started our 2012 with lots and lots of reading! And did we have so much fun with all the new discoveries we've made.

We kept the momentum going onto the second week of January by reading our second batch of ten books we borrowed from the library. The first ten books we borrowed were really a blast that the kids and the parent (ME specially) wanted more.

We are staying hungry for knowledge and foolishly reading all the books applicable to the kids' age group. That's from Steve Jobs - Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish quote. Never too early to start the kids with the hunger and thirst for knowledge.

So here goes our Top Ten Books again.

1. A Treasury of Safari Park Tales - A collection of a safari park and the adventure of jungle animals together with their caretakers. This book is good for early readers and also as read along story for toddlers. Worked really well with Kylie and Kerim. We read this more than five times within the week.

2.Duck On A Bike - THIS BOOK IS A MUST READ FOR TODDLERS. Really smart and entertaining.

One day down on the farm, Duck got a wild idea. "I bet I could ride a bike," he thought. He waddled over to where the boy parked his bike, climbed on and began to ride. At first he rode slowly and he wobbled a lot, but it was fun! Duck rode past Cow and waved to her. "Hello, Cow!" said Duck. "Moo," said Cow. But what she thought was, "A duck on a bike? That's the silliest thing I've ever seen!"
And so Duck rides past sheep, horse, and all the other barnyard animals. Suddenly, a group of kids ride by on their bikes and run into the farmhouse, leaving the bikes outside. Now ALL the animals can ride bikes, just like Duck!

this half goes to Kerim's book list

3.School Reader Level 2: If You're Angry And You Know It - A beginner reader which focuses on what to do when angry. The text of the book is EXACTLY the same as the song which I think defeats the concept of early reading if the child can actually sing the song instead of reading.  The picture also didn't say much. Overall, not a good book for us.

4. The Day the Sheep Showed Up (Houghton Mifflin reading) - The concept of the book is similar to the Duck on Bike. It's obvious that we focused on too much animals for this week! Our Kerim knows all the sound of this animal by heart. MOO - BAA- MAA- MEOW!


5.Clarice Bean, What Planet Are You From? : Clarice Bean is such an interesting character and what a unique way to relate to readers through the lovely fonts including its orientation. This is not just another boring save the planet book but the kids actually could be wonderfully intrigued in.



6.The Skin I'm In: A First Look at Racism. Living in a multicultural setting in Doha where racism is as normal as the air we breathe in the desert, this book is really a MUST for the kids. It describes racial discrimination fitting for really young children. The book encourages kids to accept and be comfortable with differences of skin color and other racial characteristics of their friends and in themselves. This book is written in such  a simple and direct language that makes sense to kids.

this half goes to Kylie's book list

The remaining books for this week are beginners reader which are way too easy to our 5-year old. Nonetheless, it was refreshing to be reading "new" and "unfamiliar" books - i believe it encourages the kids to read more books every day!

7.Pony Scouts: Pony Crazy (I Can Read Book 2). From this book, at least, I know that my kids are not that pony crazy, Kylie at least. She is not fascinated with ponies and not keen on learning to ride one in the near future. Let's see about Kerim. Overall, the book is really for girls, though. There is a girl bonding over ponies described in the book.

8.Class Picture Day (level 2) (Hello Reader). This is a funny book and Kylie can relate so much. She is particularly conscious of how she looks at any pictures and when asked to imagine herself being tricked into sticking her tongue out - she turned grumpy. Well the story actually gives a funny solution to the mean trick, which gives me the opportunity to tell the vain one not to make a big deal of things as it can be easily provided with solutions.

9.Great Race, The (level 2) (Hello Reader) Yes, another animal story for this batch, but it is indeed completing each other, Bike on Duck and Sheep showing up in the barn. Reading time is so fun with these books - especially if we could arrange a visit to the farm with all these animals. (How I wish we could do this in Doha!)

10.The Wild Leaf Ride (Magic School Bus, Scholastic Reader, Level 2) I actually didn't realize that The Magic School Bus is a television show up until now! (Yeah, we have been hiding in our rock here in the Middle East!) But we really liked how the book is illustrated and how easily some of the facts written in the book can be incorporated in the book is such a fun way that the kids have no idea that they are learning great things. We actually learn a lot of things also about the leaves. It is an exciting leaf hunt adventure while learning science facts along the way. Awesome!


I hope we really could sustain reading books like this all throughout the year! It is simply fun not to be doing homework (which is really not so much at the kids age right now!) We are having so much fun exploring lots of books!


Keep reading!