Finding Nemo: child book that speaks to adults too

Scholastic Inc. has a very nice version (of course).

The story would ordinarily be too long for a three year-old, but being an addict of the movie, my daughter loves it.

The vocabulary is a little above her reach. But she's able to associate the words with the action she's seen on screen so many times - and the loads pictures help too.

She enjoys listening to me read it- for the full 15 minutes. She does quite a bit of picture reading on her own out of this one.

Finding Nemo also speaks to me as an adult - mark of a good child book:-).

I don't have the over-protective parent syndrome as badly as Marlin has it, but the story helped me modify my outlook a bit- You can't promise a child you'll never let anything happen to her. I mean, how do you keep a promise like that?

Another thing, Marlin's unshakable determination to find Nemo raises an age old question- how much do parents owe their children? For how long?

This is not necessarily one of those deep questions you ask yourself when you have to make a tough decision like making a carreer move or getting a divorce. It's one you have to answer all the time, like when your child wants to play with you and you'd rather be talking on the phone.

Well in the fairy tale version Marlin crosses the ocean- he stops at nothing.

In the real world he would not have made it :-0.

Crush, the 150 year-old sea turtle has a different outlook from Marlin's. Marlin takes on sharks and jelly fish to find his son, Crush parts with his son while he is a baby. Yet both parents love their offspring. How do you strike the balance?

Let's forget the story and answer a question that comes out of it:

Take my poll:

In a situation where the two are mutually exclusive, a choice that will leave one happy and the other unhappy, my first duty is to:

Vote:

a) Me

b) My child

Blog Challenge

I am actually on a blog challenge with a group of others who are experimenting with blogging. See what some others are blogging about.

• Parenting ....Here Anna has a neat article on the routine activities she uses to help her keep her sanity with an ADHD son.
  

• Congenital Heart Defects ....Here Dr. Mani tries to raise CHD awareness.
  

• Cat Health ....Fledgling...

• Postcards...Fun and profitable
  

Traditional child book with innovative twist

The first time my DD heard the story of the three little pigs was when I Told it to her from memory. It was the first time in maybe a quarter of a century that I was recalling the details of this story :-).

I surprised myself by remembering most of it. My DD loved it when I said in a gruff voice:

"Little pig, little pig let me in."

And then in a tremulous high pitched voice:

"Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin."

A couple of days later I got a copy (The Three Little pigs, retold by john Duncan, Published by Dalmation Press) of of this story that has crossed many generations- but this version had a surprise ending! The big bad wolf became the big sad wolf and then in the end the big glad wolf!

Now how did this happen? The three little pigs encouraged him him to direct his wonderful talent of huffing and puffing to a more positive channel :-0.

The Gruffalo: award-winning child book

I like The Gruffallo by Julia Donaldson. It's easy to read.

Before you say "duh", think about this.

Have you ever stumbled over the words when reading to your child? Is it that you are a lousy reader? Could be :-). But some books do that to you. (Can you imagine what they do to your child?) The sentences are choppy, or, are way too long, or, are just not built to roll off the tongue:-).

Not with The Gruffalo. I got it right the first time everytime . I think it's simply because the author uses the best techniques for writing children's books. For instance, altough it's a story, it's written like a poem. Once you catch the rhythm in the first four or so lines, the rest is easy- like breathing.

Another thing I liked about this award winning child book is how well the writer paints the gruffalo with words - if there were no pictures I'd still be able to visualize him.

And what a fine job Axel Schefler does of illustrating the gruffalo!

Funny, the gruffalo isn't the hero, although the book is named after him.

The hero is actually a very clever little mouse who stays alive even though so many animals want him for dinner.

That's cool. I want my daughter to learn survival skills.