Right Reads…

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Now that other folks e.g. my husband, my siblings and my friends are reading my books, I’m eager to share my thoughts about my books on this week’s “Booking Through Thursday question:

Are you a spine breaker? Or a dog-earer? Do you expect to keep your books in pristine condition even after you have read them? Does watching other readers bend the cover all the way round make you flinch or squeal in pain?

I’m definitely NOT a spine-breaker or a dog-earer, particularly for books which I intend to keep! They don’t have to be in pristine condition…they just need to look like a book i.e. flat and rectangular (or square) LOL???

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Tags: meme

I got this book way before I started potty training with my toddler. When he showed interest in using the potty, I thought it’s a good time to start reading about it

“The Potty Book for Boys” tells the story of Henry, a boy who can do many things i.e. run and jump, play on the slide, brush his own teeth. He’s ready to use the potty and his parents help him.

Henry gets a BIG present, which contains his new potty where he must “pee” and “poop”. He starts by sitting on the potty with either a book, a teddy or a song!

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Tags: basic concepts, boys, picture book, toddler

Waiting for Prince Charming to ride up on his white horse and make you happy? Don’t waste your time. You hold the reins of your own happiness.

We women have all the power, knowledge and confidence necessary to create the life we want – without relying on a man to do it for us. We just need to learn to use our innate gifts and start living deliberately today.

You don’t need a knight in shining armour to live happily ever after. But if he arrives, you’ll be ready to ride by his side.

The last sentence sets this book apart from the typical “feministic” self-helps that encourage and incite (even!) women to be the best they can be, minus a man by their side.

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Tags: self-help, women

Set in the late 1930s during the Great Depression, “Ballet Shoes” is about three little girls Pauline, Petrova and Posy who are adopted (by name) by an elderly, absent-minded geologist called Matthew Brown. Each of the three girls have interesting pasts, which come to the fore as they grow and discover themselves.

Because Great-Uncle-Matthew or GUM has no time for babies, the girls are raised by his great-niece, Sylvia and her nanny, Nana.

Pauline is a beautiful child while Petrova is more of a tomboy. Posy, the daughter of a young ballerina who “has no time for babies” has a natural dancer’s streak.

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Tags: ballet, pre-teen, theater, young adult

Otherwise known as the “Keywords Reading Scheme with Ladybird”, this set of 36 books is famously known all over the United Kingdom and possibly within the Commonwealth countries.

Did you know that this reading scheme is 44 years old? Now, I’m a strong believer of “old is gold” especially as these books are developed based on research on literacy.

The author, William Murray, an education adviser and together with an educational psychologist, Prof. McNally studied writing materials and spoken samples of English (using a tape recorder).

From their study, they found that:

12 words make up 25% of spoken, printed and written English,
100 words make up 50% of spoken English and
300 words make up 75% of spoken English.

Using the above ‘keywords’, he came up with the Ladybird Keyword Reading Scheme. If you read the books with your child, they will be able to recognize these words on sight (by memory) and have the basic and essential vocabulary to read, speak and write in English.

Basically, you’re building a strong foundation in English with this set of books!

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Tags: Ladybird, reading

Until today, homosexuality is a sensitive topic in Asia thus when this Singaporean novel was among the book pile of my “Asian Literatures in English” class in the uni in 1995, I wasn’t surprised nobody picked it up. I did and boy, am I thankful to my lecturer for including it!

“Peculiar Chris”, written in the early 1990s was touted as THE first gay novel out of in Singpore. HIV/AIDS was relatively unknown in Malaysia then so can you imagine the reception towards a gay-themed book in conservative Singapore?

The novel tells the story of a well-to-do 19 year old Christopher Han, who returns to Singapore from a vacation in Australia and a painful break-up from his girlfriend. He joins the National Service and there, he gradually discovers his homosexual tendencies.

My coursemates shied away from the book when my elderly, straight, male lecturer gave a brief synopsis - they feared reading about gay love, not knowing what “scary” or graphic sections they may encounter.

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Tags: boys, homosexuality, young adult