The Storyteller

Every night, Saumya, our 5 year old tries to find ways to keep awake for just few more minutes. That is the time when she would ask questions that would need long answers. She knows her parents love to satisfy her curiosity, so it works pretty well in her favor. I only end up realizing her tactic in the middle of my answers :-)

After the story time tonight, she offered to tell me a story but "with no book, mama, it will be my own story", the parent in me wanted to say no to maintain discipline while the curious  parent in me was so eager to listen. Obviously the curiosity won over discipline like every other night!! 

So here goes a story made by her in "own" words.

The Cow and The Crow

Once there was a crow and a cow.

The crow was sitting on a tree branch and was saying "Cow Cow!! Cow Cow!!"

So the cow got up from the grass and walked over to the tree where this crow was sitting and asked , "Yes, what is it? Why did you call me?"

Crow was surprised and said , " Well I didn't call you!!"

Cow looked upset and said , "You were just yelling Cow Cow, weren't you?"

Crow said with a smile, "That's the way I talk you silly!!"

And the crow laughed and while saying cow cow he flew away from the tree branch and the cow just stood there wondering.

The End.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

I have been long contemplating picking this book because my last read was this amazing  novel and I could not bring myself to terms with the fact that there can be anything better out there. I got Kindle as mother's day gift but was unable to use it for the same reason. I didn't know a single book that would meet my new set of expectations, unrealistic, as I thought then! And then I, hesitatingly, ordered The Help and after reading 10 pages, I was kicking myself for not picking it up earlier!! Better late than never! The story is based in 1960 in Jackson, Mississippi. . Its a story of a white woman Skeeter Phelan, who is fresh out of college and wants to be a writer but is completely oblivious to the what's going on around her. A time of civil rights movement in America. She has been asked by a publishing house to write about what disturbs her. And currently she is intrigued by the absence of a black woman who used to be a servant in their home while she was growing up, with whom she developed a special bond and who used to write her letters when she was at college but when she came back home, that woman was gone and no one was ready to tell her the reason. When her best friend makes a political issue about the black women using toilets in their employer's homes while working as maids, as help to whites,  raising their kids, cooking their food, polishing their silver, Skeeter got determined to write a book comprising of experiences, with names changed, of these maids, The Help. Aibileen, who has raised 17 white children in different white homes and her friend Minny, who is big mouthed and has lost more jobs than we can count on our fingers for being so, they both sign up with Skeeter to tell about their experiences. 
              The author has written the book in narrative style where it goes back and forth between Aibileen, Minny and Skeeter. Though the book is not a thriller or a mystery it sure is a page turner. I was taken in by the author and while reading I felt to be physically there in Jackson, Mississippi. Kathryn's writing skills succeeded in conquering the physical distance and took me in those homes of white women who would indulge in pretentious extravagant galas and fundraisers for starving poor children in Africa while the blacks in their homes were not allowed to even use their toilets and be seen bare legs with no stockings even if its burning hot summer. I felt like being a catch 22 situation while reading this book, I wanted to know more and more but I didn't want the book to finish, ever. The Help is an  important novel that tackles major issues in a dark period of American history yet still manages to be entertaining, lively, affecting as well as moving.
                             Though the book is set in 1960s America, it did feel like talking about current times in India! The way we treat our help. I don't know if we would even call our maid as "help". Just like in the book, we don't like our help to make any eye contact with our guests, we cringe if they use our toilet when they come to work in our homes, we don't associate the word respect with them as if own a copyright on it, if something goes missing from our home, we reprimand them or we simply fire them and just like in the book, then we bad mouth them so they don't get any other job. We feel our kids should be our maid's first priority and we get upset when she is home taking care of her child, just like in the book. We expect them to be obligated to be working for us. Though we pay them for their work we expect them to be enslaved to our homes. While reading the book my mind kept on wandering in Jackson but somewhere it was lingering in the homes of India, the India of today.
I would highly recommend The Help and would not be surprised if it becomes a required reading for English literature courses. Also, I would love to see it becoming a movie!!

D.E.A.R Spring Visitors

Saumya got a surprise visit, not from one but two lady bugs, right in her bedroom! Sunday morning was spent playing with them, counting their dots, talking about their color, wondering how they made inside the house when everything is closed, how come they both were in Saumya's bedroom, did they come to tell her that weather is warm, finally? We girls can talk, can't we! And then we finally bid buh-bye to them. 

And now on to D.E.A.R, today is Drop Everything And Read day!! I am ready with my stack of books and my reading buddy Saumya. Wait for our report when we reveal what all we dropped to just read, read and read!!

Reading Race

                                                 Books I checked out from the library

Books Saumya checked out from the library

Story Time

Thanks to all the reading we do to our 4 year old, she is now becoming a story teller. She can whip a story in seconds. Where ever we are what ever we are doing, one of us just needs to say "Saumya, tell us a story, will ya?" You would barely finish your sentence and the story is already starting. Yesterday afternoon, both of us were on bed and I requested her to tell me a story. She was facing the bedroom entrance and a night lamp was near her. And here it goes.....

"There lived a lamp and a door. So they thought of having some fun. They thought and thought and after a lot of thinking they decided to have a Treat Party!!

"What is a treat party?"

Mama, its a party where we don't eat any healthy food, only treats.

So the door said alright I will get the table and the lamp said I will get pretty dishes and cups and bowls for the treat party. And then they brought candy, chocolate donuts and ice creme. Mama, do you want them to bring anything else to the party?

And my Indian tongue started rolling "Oh yeah pakoda, samosa, chaat, gol gappas......."

"Ok, mamma, we can bring anything as long as its unhealthy" !!!

So with the party and all its work, it took a long time to set up and there came night time. So the lamp said "I am getting switched off, its night now, time to sleep"
And the door said "Yeah, I am also getting closed"

THE END.

Reader's Digest : 4 year old with No More MYS(miss)TERY

Ch-i-ca-go U-No, Chicago Uno, hey that's the resteraunt I wanted to go to! Stop here, its right here, I just read the name.

"yeah, you can ready everything hunh!"

"Toys R Us" that is a toy store, its been many days we bought a toy. Let's go in here"

"Ba-r-nes.........ooooaaaaaawaaaaaa, daddy I was reading that and you just kept on driving, you didn't stop the car so I could finish reading that board. Mamma what store was that?"

Barnes and Noble, that is a book store.

"I need to buy books so I never have to stop reading, let's go in there"

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"Here Saumya, you needed a sun hat. Try that on but don't take the tags off yet"

"Mamma, you brought this from T J Maxx? The tag says T J maxx and the label says Oshkosh, so the company that made this hat is Oshkosh. I can read it"

Yes and yes

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T-o-y-o-t-a

"Mamma, that car store had a board on it that said Toyota. Is it a company that makes cars?"

yes.

"Our is VolksWagon, right mamma? I read in on your car manual."

----------------------------------------------------

"That board says 'we have all kinds of flowers', lets go in there, we can buy flowers, I love flowers"

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On the back of a magazine

"It takes a special chocoloate to make everyone happy"

"Mamma, why does it take special chocolate to make everyone happy? You eat chocolate? Maybe we can eat one and become happy now"!!

------------------------------------------

After reading the entire grocery list........

"Mamma, you didn't write mango in there, we need mangoes too"

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"I see UNO again, let's go to Uno. I am hungry. I just read it. Its right here"

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Saumya choose a book for bed sweety!

"Actually I will read it myself, you can listen"

Not Simple

Last night, much against my liking, bedtime story that our 4 year old picked up was about Cinderella's simple wedding. One of my friend gifted her this book on her first birthday and I keep telling her that these stories are far from reality and if you are reading something better put your hands on something that keeps you close to ground. The book was hidden somewhere but the girl has such good memory that she made me dig for it. And sometimes I just let it be. So the story was how everyone wants Cinderella to have a fancy and lavish wedding with everything big and elaborate while she is hoping to have a real simple affair which in the end she did get and was very happy.
"Mamma, why was Cinderella getting married?"
"Hmm, because she wanted to get married. Like me and your dad"
"Mamma, will I also get married?"
"Yes, if you want to"
"But you know when I get married, it will not be simple at all. It will be very very special, with everything extra special. Yes, mine will be a fancy wedding"
IHM, in her post talks about how her daughter wants to have a big wedding too, seems there is a wave of fancy in the air!

I can read!

Saumya, the life in our life,  the girl who will turn 4 next month, the girl who was inside me less than four years ago, a life form which we saw through the ultrasound monitor, trusting the words of the doctor that the little blob on the screen is actually our baby, a life who was sucking her thumb in the next ultrasound visit and we came to know the thumb sucker is a girl (yay!), the girl who came into the world 10 days earlier than expected, a girl whose face melted me to the core and changed me forever, a girl who didn't know how to sleep, how to eat, how to talk and walk, who couldn't make any sense of this world, I am so proud to tell everyone, this little gem of ours has started reading!! Ms. C, her Montessori teacher, is helping her realize this capability and has been sending books home so Saumya can read those to us. Last night when she finished reading an 8 page reader, I was so full of awe, "Mamma what's the matter with you, why are you smiling so much, what are you happy about?" Clearly, I couldn't hide my emotions and tears rolled down.  Saumya, the individual she is, hugged me so tight and I told her that I am just so very happy that she can read. It's one of those things that hold a special place in my heart. I remember a day in my childhood when the lady who used to deliver milk bottles to us at 5 in the morning, she came with her 10 year old daughter. I was six years old and was enjoying my summer vacation, sitting outside early in the morning and reading newspaper to my mother. The milk lady saw me reading and gave so many blessings while her 10 year old looked at me with an alien expression. Reading, for her, was a far fetched thought, for they couldn't afford school. That expression pierced me and I felt as if I have an undue advantage, a privilege which could easily have not been!! 6 is a young age but the contrast right in your face, makes you mature faster I guess. I felt like sharing my treat with her, to let her taste the delicacy I am enjoying and I requested my mother and the milk lady to let me help Manju, the milk lady's daughter. And there began mine and Manju's journey into the world where letters were not just a lifeless mass of ink rather they had the power to make us laugh or for that matter, cry! Seeing Manju's journey to literacy and then onto later getting admitted in a school and then taking a job later in life was such an exhilarating experience. Manju, helped me understand my self, she kindled the desire in me to become a teacher, a kindergarten teacher, so I can help sow the literacy skills right when the soil is ripe.

Now, seeing my own daughter reading , who is not yet 4, who doesn't yet know the paramount significance of literacy skill, fills me with pride and joy. You go girl!

image courtsey : www.atimetostitch.com

Hit the market

I am a member of Librarything and also on their early reviewers group. They get a batch of advanced reader's copies of books from various publishers every month and members can make their picks on the books they would be interested in reviewing. The members are then randomly selected or at least I don't know the selection process. I have snagged two books from the July batch and actually received my first book today. Advanced reader's editions of a book are published only few in number and are given away for promotional use and also to get a sense from the reviews on how a book is going to perform when it actually hits the market. I don't know how much importance it has but I am feeling pretty special. Eh, a publisher is sharing a book with me for which only 80 copies got printed and is waiting for me to send a review so a prediction can be made about its profits as well as the popularity of the author. I can take a bow, thank you very much! By the way, I joined Librarything to catalog all the books that are in my library or my memory for that matter that I have read. Its a great place to share your love of books with other readers and make friends.

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Librarything in any way or doing any promotions for them, though I am sure they love it when people write about them. I am just a member with whom they share their bandwidth and yes, the advanced reader's editions too.

Hop On Pop

Two weeks back while dad was busy finding running shorts; the preschooler and me were in the books section of a small department store. Can we buy this one, let me see, errr, no. Can we buy this one, see it has princess on it! Please?No Honey, we buy a book which is fun to read and not because it has a picture of a Princess with perfect blond hair and practically no waist! I have an aversion towards these Disney princesses that are being thrown at my girl everywhere we go. They are nowhere close to the reality she is facing everyday. The fictional world of kid’s television exasperates me to the brink. Dora's backpack talking to her, girl going into the coloring book; What are we trying to achieve by pulling the young intelligent human mind away from the factual world? Some argue it's all fun. What fun could it be when you are trying to make your way through the maze and every so often are presented by these phantoms which befuddle your path? Many of us think that kids love to pretend and I beg to differ. They seem to be enjoying the pretend work, for lack of trust and responsibility vested in them, that's the only way for them to be like us. Try giving them age appropriate real work like making lemonade in a real kitchen or pretending to make lemonade with all the fancy toys and your doubts will be cleared! A make believe world which children create themselves where they let their imagination run wild and change roles every day helps them understand the world around them but the Disney or Nickelodeon super imposed fantasy world doesn't do more than creating confusions. Oh well, sometimes venting is good for health. Getting back to the books, after rummaging through about 10 - 15 books, we hopped on pop, oh not on the one who was looking for running shorts rather we spotted the book Dr.Suess's "Hop on Pop” for the youngest readers. All I have to say is if you have a preschooler at home GO, Grab this one! It's a perfect companion for those who are on the threshold of reading. The rhyming phrases are hilarious like "Three fish in tree / Fish in tree? / How can that be?" The reader not only learns words but also gets introduced to the enjoyment that only reading can bring. Last night our daughter read more than half the book all by her self! The exuberant expression on her face and the twinkle in the eyes was priceless and invincible.