I haven’t reviewed any children’s book on this blog and that’s a bit of an irony because I’m constantly searching for mommy bloggers who have reviewed my books. We read quite a few books in this household, so I think it’s only fair that I review them and give other authors who may or may not be obsessively Googling their own titles like yours truly, a bit of joy.
Bringing up a child has been a tremendous learning experience for me as a writer. The picture book is a great medium because in the really good ones, everyone in the family finds something to enjoy. Take GBM’s all time favourite book No, David! by David Shannon. She’s been ‘reading’ this book ever since I can remember. It was given to me by N, long before I became pregnant. I loved it but it was only after I read the book with my daughter that I truly got it. No, David! is a book that has a bunch of pictures with David, the nearly hairless, wide-toothed, skinny boy, doing things that he’s not supposed to do. And the text comprises of David’s mom’s admonishments – NO, DAVID! SETTLE DOWN! DON’T PLAY WITH YOUR FOOD! and so on. The illustrations are huge. Wonderful ones of David picking his nose, David running down the road naked, David with his toys all over the floor. And my daughter LOVES it. These are things she does all the time and David is her partner in crime. When she sees the page on which David has drawn on his wall, her eyes go to the crayon scribbling she has done on our walls. And she giggles. The book has grown with us as my daughter has grown. There are new elements that she picks on in each phase. The ending is lovely. As a parent, it offers me redemption. The book ends with the mother calling out to her son, ‘DAVEY!’ and then on the next page, he’s lying in her arms and she says, ‘Yes, David, I love you.’ GBM mimics this often. Holding out her hands wide, yelling DAVEEYYY and running into my arms. And I feel forgiven for the number of times I’ve said NO to her that day.
I’m reviewing two Tulika books today and I will continue to review more children’s books here as we read them. Her current favourites are Let’s Go! and What Did You See? Let’s Go! is by Anthara Mohan and What Did You See? is by Nandini Nayar. GBM loves vehicles of all types, especially trains. Let’s Go! is essentially a counting book and it has children jumping, leaping, and hopping out of various vehicles and in the end, getting on to one big train! The text is minimal and the illustrations are nice and big (Rajiv Eipe, take a bow!). Care has been taken to introduce diversity – spot the woman in the colourful purdah, the blind boy with his stick, the boy on the wheelchair, the women car drivers – all nice touches. GBM loves the kid on the wheelchair. But her favourite kid of the lot is the tiny, brown one on the railway station who looks slightly mad and delighted. She’s also fascinated with Balan Tea Stall. Let’s Go! works at so many levels – the child learns to identify vehicles (the difference between a scooter and a motorbike, for instance), figure out public/private transport, count, absorb different movement verbs, take in different types of bodies and I’m sure unravel a lot more as we read it again and again. GBM is not two yet and this book is meant to be for 2 plus, so I’m pretty certain that we will read it differently in the years to come.
What Did You See? has a slightly crazy mamma and this is probably why GBM identifies with it so much :D It’s a book about a kid whose mum asks her what all she saw in the zoo, making all the requisite animal sounds and movements, only to find out that her daughter hasn’t gone to the zoo yet. She’s going only tomorrow! In the process, the mother jumps like a monkey, roars like a lion, dances like a peacock, and does much much more. And understandably, in the end, she flops to the ground like a bear. The illustrations by Soumya Menon are wonderful. She’s managed to make the mother’s expression mirror that of the animal she’s imitating so effortlessly. The book subverts the usual mother-child situation in which the child is relentlessly asking questions with excitement while the parent answers in monosyllables. It’s funny! We visit the zoo here often and GBM could imagine the whole scenario very well. Right on the first page, before the story even begins, there’s a spread of animal tails. GBM loves to identify whose tail belongs to whom. She also likes to look at the flamingos in the back cover who don’t really appear in the story. The other details she likes are Meera’s kudumis, Amma’s dupatta, her bangles, and her bindi.
Though I complain sometimes about how many times I have to read these books every single day, I’m secretly enjoying myself so much. GBM sits on my lap, her head bobbing with excitement, the curve of her cheek expanding as her favourite page comes, the fresh whiff of baby soap in my nose…how much more sunshine does one need?
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