Posts Tagged: e-book

Early readers / picture book / preschool — 3 Comments
17
Jan 09

REVIEW: Sikulu and Harambe by Kunle Oguneye and Bruce McCorkindale

sikulu-harambe

I won this book from Angeleyes’ giveaway last year and received the book and Harambe the hippo plush toy for Christmas! Thank you for hosting the contest :-)

“Sikulu and Harambe: By The Zambezi River” is an African version of the Good Samaritan Story where two animals, a spider (Sikulu) and a hippo (Harambe) are playing by the river when an old woman washing her clothes accidentally slips and her laundry drifts down the river…

The lady can’t hear Sikulu’s and Harambe’s offer to help that she rushes downstream to beg the fish, the elephant and the stork to help save her clothes. Sadly, none of them are willing, each animal has an excuse.

The spider is afraid of the water but the hippo asks it to hop onto his back. Together, they fish out the dripping clothes from the river and gather them into the washing basket.

The old woman is so grateful that she invites them to dip into a pot for a reward. Harambe the hippo gets a beautiful chitenge cloth (used to wrap newborns in Zambia) and Sikulu the spider gets gold and emerald bracelets for her 4 hands :-)

When the fish, the elephant and the stork meet the two friends at the “Ku-omboka” ceremony, they are envious of the beautiful gifts. When they hear about the hippo and the spider helping the old woman, they are ashamed and decide they will help others in need next time.

“Sikulu and Harambe by the Zambezi River” has a fast-paced action that kept my toddler glued to the story, which are helped by the beautiful illustrations (charcoal drawings? colour pencils?) that accompany each turn in the plot.

I found it a bit tough reading the African names for the animals to my toddlers and used the common names instead. However, this should not be a problem for preschoolers or reading-age children from 7-11 years old.

When my toddler is older, I’ll take this book out for a re-read because he’ll learn about the Lozi people, words in Swahili and the Lozi language plus useful facts about the animals, the culture, the people and the country of Zambia.

Older children can also discuss the moral of the story and share their responses with others who have read the book on Kunle Oguneye’s website. Parents are advised to guide their children’s activity on the website.

I enjoyed reading “Sikulu and Harambe by the Zambezi River” with my toddler – I certainly hope I’ll get a chance to review their other African adventures!

Kunle Oguneye has kindly made “Sikulu and Harambe By the Zambezi River” available online – click here to read it now.

To buy the book, click on the icon below:

ISBN-13: 978-0-9777382-4-3
Publisher: Blue Brush Media

Early readers / preschool / toddlers — No Comments
6
Dec 08

REVIEW: The Black Kitten by Natasha Vizcarra and Ferdinand Guevara

the-black-kitten-natasha-vizcarra-ferdinand-guevaraBeing stuck in China with little access to affordable English books has made me appreciate e-books!

Here’s another nice read from the Philippines for preschool or primary-age children. “The Black Kitten” is about a highly-innovative kitten who discovers the power of public speaking.

I enjoyed reading this book because the storyline was entertaining (and funny), the illustrations were bold, eye-catching and complemented the story really well.

Plus, I learned a bit of Tagalog from this bilingual book!

The blurb reads:

Imagine how sad Ignacia the kitten must feel when everyone shoos her away. She may be a black cat, but there are many things cats can do for people even if they are black.

Ignacia is a little, black kitten who is shooed and booed at every house she passes by due to the superstitious belief that black cats bring bad luck. Thinking about her sad situation, she figured out that she should introduce herself to the next person she meets – and counter the prejudice that person has about black cats.

Thus, the cute kitten prepares a short speech about herself, her skills and the benefits the prospective owner would gain if she adopted her as a pet!

Reading this book, I had a really good laugh at the way Ignacia promoted herself when she meets a little girl. The next time I teach a class on public speaking or business communication, I’ll be sure to use this book as a resource.

Who should read this book?
Preschool or primary-age children who face a low self-esteem about their appearance. Coming from mixed parentage, I remember growing up meeting people who were prejudiced against the way I look.

In school, friends and teachers who got to know me realized that I was more than what I appear to be. I think I succeeded in getting this across due to my talkatativeness!

When I became a teacher, I noticed that average students who seldom participated in class generally escaped a teacher’s attention. Thus, I tend to remember students who were either brilliant, talkative, mischievous or performing really poorly.

The average student ends up staying average – and invisible.

When children read “The Black Kitten”, I hope that they will learn from the way Ignacia promoted herself through her little speech. And realize that if they take the first step to introduce themselves, people will be able to see them beyond the colour of their skin, the features on their faces, their shapes or sizes :-)

Read “The Black Kitten” here.

Early readers / picture book / preschool / toddlers — 2 Comments
24
Nov 08

REVIEW: The Flying Train by Janaki Sooriyarachchi

the-flying-trainMy toddler and I were stuck at home for more than a week with croup and a bad flu. Imagine my delight when I found this book about TRAINS online for FREE!

It’s a printed book with pages scanned in with permission from the copyright owner.

Written by a Sri Lankan author and illustrator, the book tells the story of Tim and Nelly who are falling asleep when they are woken by a loud noise – a flying train flies through their bedroom window and invites them to hop on board!

Across 14 brightly illustrated pages, the children, the dog, the cat, the doll and teddy bear take a night ride into the sky to see the rainbow, the stars, the moon, the planets. They even crash into a rain cloud and get all wet…

I found the sentences a bit lengthy for a toddler and improvised a bit as I read it with him.

He loved the flying train, the action and of course the onomatoepia (e.g. “chuff, chuff”, “whoo-whoo”) especially the “Ah-chooo! Ah-chooo!” since both of us are down with the flu :-)

Preschoolers would LOVE this book for the colourful illustrations, the fast-paced action, the adventure ride into outer space (and learn a bit about science at the same time) and the delightful dialogue with loads of repetition.

After just one reading, he has demanded the book for Christmas!

Rating: ★★★★☆

Here are 2 ways to read the book online for FREE:
- Read the scanned pages (like a book), where you’ll need to click on arrows to turn the pages OR
- Scroll downwards where the story reads like a series of pictures with text next to them

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