Reading Chapter Book: The Phantom of The Opera

Our last chapter book for summer 2012: The Phantom of the Opera (A Stepping Stone Book) ! Tomorrow is back to school and our little lady is Year 2! We must admit that we missed reading chapter books  during the summer since we have lots of excuses really! New baby, new house, new job, new office, travel - we should have sneaked in one chapter book a week but we got too comfortable adjusting to the changes in our family lives. No valid excuse really..

Anyway, here is the how she understand the book, The Phantom of the Opera and right after this video, she watched a very good version of the play and here is the link: The Phantom of the Opera.

I know at the moment, this classic play is showing back home in the Philippines. Maybe we could watch the play once it's showing in this part of the world.







By the way, we got this awesome book from Dubai Mall during our Dubai travel. Let's see if these Stepping Stone books area available here in Doha. (and of course, we will let you know!)

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Reading Chapter Books: Horrid Henry's Underpants

We may have been offline for quite some time but we didn't stop reading. We even read more! One time we were hanging out in a cafe in a mall, we discussed Horrid Henry and here is what Kylie has to say about the book.

I have to keep track of the these book series as this may interest our little boy K when he is ready to read chapter books. We are wishing that he'll be as book maniac as our little girl K1.

An information about the book, Horrid Henry's Underpants

DISCOVER THE SERIES BOYS AND GIRLS AROUND THE WORLD LOVE TO READ!

Horrid Henry makes a deal with his parents in return for eating his veggies; accidentally wears girls' underwear to school; tries to prove he is sicker than his brother; and writes the meanest thank-you cards ever (and makes money on it too).

Francesca Simon is one of the world's best-loved children's authors. She is the only American to have ever won the Galaxy Book Award, and her creation, Horrid Henry, is the #1 bestselling chapter book series in the UK—with a hit TV show and over fifteen million copies sold! Each book contains four easy-to-read stories and hilarious illustrations by the one and only Tony Ross, so even the most reluctant of readers won't be able to resist Henry's amazing talent for trouble!

Thank you my little girl for telling us about the book!

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Reading Kids Chapter Books: Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew (#27)

Our little Miss K1 is starting to get bored with the Year 1 books. And since the summer holiday is so close, we decided to try chapter book - Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew! She read the book in a day which is why I think she was overwhelmed with understanding the story behind and as a result, she didn't like it as much.

Let's see how she rated the book:



We have read chapter books before but this is her first time reading a chapter book closer to a "novel."

Our next reading goal is to make her understand fully the story as well as most of the details in each chapter of the books.



Here are the chapter books we are really keen to have to enjoy reading. Donations, anyone?


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Kids Book in Doha: Moppy Is Angry

Moppy Is Angry explores how anger can feel and how it makes us behave. It emphasizes for kids that they can get angry sometimes and that is a very difficult emotion to handle. It doesn't teach though how to handle the anger - but the book have great illustrations why our emotions, especially anger, should NOT control us.

Our little girl is working on her anger management issue! 

We like the book but not that much. There are other books that we could recommend for anger management for children:

Why not give these books a try: well illustrated and well articulated books make it easier to teach the kids about feelings especially anger management:

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Kids Book in Doha: Winston the Book Wolf

Winston The Book Wolf  is a very interesting book. We just love how Winston The Book Wolf is so hungry for words rather than meat. The story reinforces the many reasons why we just LOVE LOVE to read books. And with the modified Little Red Riding Hood story to Winston's story, we had lots of laughter and analysis while reading this book.

A very well written and brilliantly illustrated book! We definitely recommend this book.

Winston the Book Wolf

Great books have tasty words and this book is definitely delectable.




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Toddlers Books in Doha

We love the good old traditional books especially for toddlers. There is something about actually feeling the pages of the books, turning these pages and trying to destroy the book that appeals to us. It's fun. But of course, we love also our iPad applications of Young Readers. They are also handy and mobile.

For the past months, we have read hundreds (well, almost!) of books and here are some of our favorites.


Who Do You Love? : A Touch and Feel Book - This is indeed a must have or must read book to toddlers. We love it so much especially the part where we feel the next bear. We simply can't get enough of this book.

Who Do You Love: A Touch and Feel Book 

Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type: Do you want to teach your toddler how to handle "dispute resolution" or simply what a typewriter is? This book is perfect for these two things. Here is a  very good review from Amazon. This book is definitely worth checking out.


Click, Clack, Moo recently won the Caldecott award, and is very deserving of that honor. I enthusiastically endorse it for your children aged from 2 through 6. This book will be considered a classic children's tale within five years.

Many great children's books start from the point of view of role reversals. You take objects or animals and make them be like humans. But no one could have developed a funnier idea along those lines than having typing cows who lead a general strike on a farm.

"Farmer Brown has a problem. His cows like to type."

"All day long he hears. Click, clack, moo. Click, clack, moo. Clickety clack, moo."

"At first, he couldn't believe his ears."

But it gets worse. One day he receives a typewritten note that says:

"Dear Farmer Brown,

The barn is very cold at night. We'd like some electric blankets.

Sincerely,

The Cows"

Farmer Brown makes the mistake of treating the cows like cows. He tells them, "No way." They type up a note and put it on the barn door. "Sorry. We're closed. No milk today."

The next day, another note appeared.

"Dear Farmer Brown,

The hens are cold too. They'd like electric blankets.

Sincerely,

The Cows"

The negotiations continue toward a hilarious conclusion.

Each of these letters to Farmer Brown cannot help but inspire gales of uncontrollable laughter among your tykesters. The ending may actually cause laughter-induced pain because it is so hilarious.

The illustrations are particularly appealing. Ms. Lewin has drawn them to be large in features, vivid, bold, and colorful. They make the story more intense by capturing both a sense of movement and the personality of the characters. This is one of the best illustrated stories I have ever seen for preschoolers. That is important, because the illustrations carry a heavy burden as you first read this story to your child. No one has ever seen a typing cow, so the illustrations help fill in the gaps. Naturally, you will see opportunities to handle side issues like "how would a cow type, if a cow could type?"

Interestingly, Ms. Cronin is an attorney who also collects antique typewriters. Anyone who has ever been part of a labor negotiation will quickly recognize the universal truths around which she has structured this delightful story. I suspect that she has been part of one or two.

After you and your child become familiar with the story, I suggest that you think together about what is the right thing to do with regard to animals who do not send you typewritten letters. It is never too early for children to learn about each person's responsibility to live in harmony with our fellow creatures and to properly care for them.

May you always be clear about what you are looking for! Who knows? You may even get it.

CLICK CLACK MOO: COWS THAT TYPE

No More Eee-orrh!: Donkey says EEE-ORRH, says our adorable Kerim. And we read this book for more than gazillion times. Here's the book description from Amazon.

Patient: Dicky Donkey. 

Symptoms: No more Eee-orrh! 

Treatment: 1. Mule Gruel. 2. Bray Spray. 3. Donkey Tonic. Notes: What can we do to make this donkey better? Dicky Donkey drives everyone crazy! Each morning, they wake up to "EEE-ORRH!" Then one day, Dicky opens his mouth and nothing comes out. He's lost his Eee-orrh! Poor Dicky Donkey! In the meantime, the neighbors realize how much they miss Dicky's Eee-orrh. How will they wake up in the morning? How Dicky finally gets his Eee-orrh back is endearingly recounted by Lydia Monks, whose paint-and-collage illustrations pop off the page.

NO MORE EE-ORRH!

Fish Finds A Home (Sparkle Books) It's never too early to teach kids how to care for the environment. As much as this book is so cute and sparkly, it also has something to say about the environmental management.

FISH FINDS A HOME! 

There are lots more books to be posted here so please stay tuned. If you are interested to get these books, go shop at Amazon. They deliver to Doha.

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Story Time at School World

Turknoys just love Story Time. And we are always fortunate enough to find lots of story time activities. This time, we found a Story Time activity at School World in Parco Mall.  This mall is located close to Salwa Road and very close to D-Ring so it was accessible for us.

And what a great story time it had been not to mention what a find the bookstore, School World, is. There are lots of great book titles which are very difficult to find here in Doha. A must-visit for all kids book lover in Doha.

We story time session is so fantastic we are already looking forward to the second session. It's the free things in life... ;)

early bird - can't wait for the story time session to start, he started already on his own!

he's so at home, love the books and can't stop reading!

some of the books read during Story Time!

someone is impatient for the story time to start! ready, set..... go!

funny guy, he knows the book already so he decided to get his own book while listening to the story time!

Kerim definitely spend a very productive day during the Story Time at School World.



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Top Ten Dr. Seuss iPad Applications (PART 1)

Top Ten Dr. Seuss iPad Applications! We have more than ten of these and we have no intention of ranking them and favoring one over the other. They are all favorites of the kids. So, here's our first list of the top ten Dr. Seuss iPad Applications. Enjoy! And hoops, these applications are now on sale for a limited time period - so hurry!

Note: The links will be directed to the original book as we can't help but feel so nostalgic about the good old traditional books.

1. And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street - This book is very special as it imparts a great lesson for the kids and for parents too. WE NEED TO NURTURE THE KIDS IMAGINATION. Let them exaggerate, their exaggerated stories are their outlet for their imagination to grow.

We love the iPad application because of the professional narration and background audio. Not to mention that this is Dr. Seuss's first book. And knowing that the manuscript of this book was rejected by 27 publishing houses for being too different and fantasy based.

This book and/ or iPad application is a great reminder that being different is not always bad but rather should be viewed as an opportunity for greatness.

Think different, think Dr. Seuss!

2. The Sneetches The lesson in this classic story is very valuable to us if we really want to thrive in our differences among family members and other people. A classic story to emphasize that racism or classifying an individual according to his color, belief system and origin is not only harmful to the individual but to the society.

3. Horton Hears A Who! We love the book, we love the Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! Movie , we love Horton so definitely, we LOVE LOVE LOVE the iPad application!

" A PERSON'S A PERSON NO MATTER HOW SMALL" is a lesson every human being should comprehend and apply in day to day life. Everyone deserve to be treated fairly at some point in his life, if not every time.

4. Oh, Say Can You Say? It is terrible tongue twisters indeed in this book. It is a great tool for an an advanced  early reader like our little girl. The words are easy but there are some challenging words which teach phonics to early readers. We always have fun reading this by ourselves or just by listening to the narration.

5. Yertle the Turtle We love to hate Yertle's guts as a leader. This is a bit exaggeration but the concept is almost applicable to any leaders. A great story which focuses on WHAT LEADERS SHOULD NOT DO.

6. Gertrude McFuzz: In a word of discontent, this book is a good reminder to be content in what we have. At most times, appreciation of what we have at the moment is the key to happiness.

7. Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?  Needless to say, this is our preschooler's favorite. Our little boy learned all the sounds Mr. Brown can do by listening to this application over and over again. Fun way for kids to learn sounds of everything around us.

8. Happy Birthday to You! This application makes our day-to-day celebration of life so memorable. If only we could do the things listed here every day or just our birthday, life will be A-W-E-S-O-M-E!

9. The Big Brag We love this book, another favorite.  The story tells of a rabbit and a bear, who both boast that they are the "best of the beasts." The rabbit can hear far away, but the bear boasts he can smell father. However , both animals re humbled by a mere worm who looks around the world - right back to his own hill - where he sees "the two biggest fools that have ever been seen!

There's simply no use bragging what we can do, there will always be something better than us. The challenge is to compete with our own self. (okay, that's a bit beyond the moral of the story  - but it's our favorite discussion after reading the book!)

10. Oh, the Thinks You Can Think! Another motivation to be imaginative. OH THE THINGS WE CAN THINK! Anything is possible.

We read Dr. Seuss's omBooks everyday and we just can't help reading them again and again. 


What's your favorite Dr. Seuss iPad application?

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Kids Book in Doha: How to Help the Earth by the Lorax

After watching the movie, The Lorax, we are on the mission to help save the planet Earth.
How to Help the Earth-by the Lorax (Step into Reading) is a supplement book we love reading after reading The Lorax book.  The book has lots of tangible ways to show our "awful lot of care" for our planet.


This book, however, is not a Dr. Seuss book. It's a Step Into Reading Book for our avid reader kids. The Lorax gives some tips on how to save planet earth. Kylie can read this like a pro! And Kerim loves to listen.

The star of The Lorax by Dr. Seuss makes his Step into Reading debut in this rhymed reader that offers kids easy suggestions for going green! After explaining how the trash in a wastbasket ultimately ends up in a landfill or incinerator, the Lorax suggests realistic ways children can reduce waste, such as by carrying a lunch box, donating old clothes and toys, sharing magazines with friends, recycling cans and bottles, and using rechargeable batteries. He also explains how they can save energy around the home by turning off lights, taking shorter showers, donning sweaters to stay warm, and much, much more. All in all, this is a great introduction to helping the Earth and helping kids step into reading!

acting to "think" what are the ways we really really need to do - with  a gun pointed on her head!

This is what she came up with! 

Ways to Save the Planet Earth - according to Kylie.

1. Take a short shower.
2. Use the back of paper.
3. Use paper bag.
4. Throw trash in the bin! (she emphasized this with the exclamation point!)
5. Use old toys.
6. And plant a tree! (again with explanation point for emphasis!)

And that is how she serves the planet.

We just love it when the Step into Reading books have a point to make. Not only we practice our reading, but we embed some values into these tiny creatures of Earth. Awesome!

Here are some of the other The Lorax Step Into Reading which may interest younger kids:






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