Part 2 - Reading Challenge for Children: 30 books in 30 days

Continuing from my earlier post - http://sirimyspace.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/30-books-in-30-days.html - here is what we read for the next 15 days of the challenge! Hope you enjoy the picture books as much as we did :-)

Mar 16, 2014 -  Day 16
Reading prompt: I feel..

We don't have any books that specifically talk about feelings, but we picked a few stories that made us feel cross, worried, sad, happy, scared & excited!! :-))

'Where, oh where is huggle buggle bear' by Katherine Sully. At bedtime, a little boy can't find his teddy. And during his search, he goes from first being cross, to worried, to sad, to happy finally on finding his teddy! :-)
'The noisy night monsters' by Julia Seal. Ravi & Nina are trying to sleep, but are scared of the night-time noises as they think them to be some make-believe monsters!
'Spot's first picnic' by Eric Hill. Spot is very excited about going on his first picnic with his friends.. who wouldn't be!? :-)

Mar 17, 2014 - Day 17
Reading prompt: Colors

We read 3 books today!

'Llama llama red pyjama' by Anna Dewdney. The little llama in the red pyjama never fails to leave us in splits! :-)
Then we read 'Brown paper bear' by Neil Reed. A little girl finds a teddy bear wrapped in brown paper in a toy chest, and it whisks her away into a magical adventure. The illustrations are completely in shades of brown!
And finally we read 'The blue jackal' from panchatantra tales!

Also albeit a few days later, we drew inspiration from the colors prompt, and did some craft work! And what can be better than a rainbow with it's vivid colors that can brighten up anyone's day!!

 

Mar 18, 2014 - Day 18
Reading prompt: Tuck me in

A very stressful day at work, so there was time left for only book today 'Bedtime' by Tony Ross

We have so many other wonderful bedtime stories, but never mind, we have read them as part of other prompts during this challenge!

Mar 19, 2014 - Day 19
Reading prompt: Monsters & Dragons

We read Disney's 'Monsters Inc.' (my fav animation movie ever!) & 'Monsters University'!
And we also read the extremely popular 'The gruffalo's child' by Julia Donaldson, this needs no introduction really!
And then for the second time during this challenge & that too in quick succession, we read 'The noisy night monsters' by Julia Seal. It has the cutest little monsters! :-)

Mar 20, 2014 - Day 20
Reading prompt: The very hungry caterpillar

This prompt was to honor the 45th anniversary of the most loved book by Eric Carle.

And it's also world story telling day. I learnt something interesting about this today.
http://www.worldstorytellingday.org/About
There is apparently a theme that is chosen every year for this day, and this year it was monsters & dragons. The earlier prompt was to honor this. Sounds exciting, isn't it!?

And what did we read.. Of course, we read 'The very hungry caterpillar'!!
And to celebrate world story telling day, we also read 'Charlie Cook's favourite book' by Julia Donaldson. The book is really a brilliant celebration of books, stories & reading!

And that's our attempt at being crafty! ;-)

Mumma caterpillar and baby caterpillar..

Even though she knows that a caterpillar will turn into a butterfly, and there is not going to be a mumma caterpillar really, my little one still insists that it is so!! I'll just rest my case for now! :-)

Mar 21, 2014 - Day 21
Reading prompt: Sing along..

We read 'We're going on a bear hunt' by Michael Rosen, and happily sang along too! An absolutely wonderful book, so simple yet so thrilling an adventure, it is a family favourite. A wonderful classic!
And my little one loves these versions for singing along..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb-nTnriTP8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-hKr4qxUMI

We also watched over in the meadow, and it is so delightful!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6ljGXMMB-g
After that, we must have watched at least 5 more barefoot books songs, and loved all of them! Thank you bubble ink! :-)

Mar 22, 2014 - Day 22
Reading prompt: What I wear

We read 'Llama Llama shopping drama' by Anna Dewdney! Absolutely hilarious and can identify with some bits of it as well. My little one hates shopping for clothes too, just like the little llama who'd rather play than go shopping! :-)

We also read 'The shiny red shoes' from stories for 3 year olds by igloobooks!

 
Mar 23, 2014 - Day 23
Reading prompt: My best friend

We read lots of books for today's theme! :-)

The first one was 'My adventures with Dora the explorer'. This is a personalised book in which my little girl joins Dora on an adventure along with her best friend and little cousin brother, to meet other friends from around the world!
Then we read 'Fox makes friends' by Adam Relf. An endearing story about a little fox who needs a friend, and sets off to actually build one using sticks & vegetables. In the process, he meets a rabbit & squirrel and realises who friends really are! :-)
And we read 'Squirrel's busy day' by Lucy Barnard. A squirrel is too busy for his friends, but when an untoward incident occurs, his friends quickly come to his rescue. A beautiful message that your friends will always be there for you!
And finally attempted to read a few strips from my 'Calvin & Hobbes' collection! My pudding didn't really get it! But I'm head over heels in love with Calvin and his best friend Hobbes! :-)

Mar 24, 2014 - Day 24
Reading prompt: Inside your outside

We read our baby lift-the-flap board book 'Eyes, nose, toes peekaboo' (second time during the challenge)!

And interpreting the 'Inside your outside' prompt a tad literally, we watched 'FunnyBones' based on the book series by Janet & Allan Ahlberg! :-) What a classic, check out the funny skeletons doing funny things, in the dark dark night, on a dark dark street, in a dark dark house.. ;-)) Nothing scary about it, and absolutely enjoyable!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cfpk8QEhK1c

Mar 25, 2014 - Day 25
Reading prompt: Food

For today's theme, we read 'Apples are magic' by Julia Seal. The story talks about how fruits & vegs are important for growing up. Whilst my little one loves the book, she still is very fussy with eating her veggies! :-(

And then we read 'The tiger who came to tea' by Judith Kerr. It amuses my little one to no extent to think that a tiger can come home for tea! :-) I personally love the classic too. No frills and fancies, no morals and teaching, just a simple story to be read & enjoyed!

Mar 26, 2014 - Day 26
Reading prompts: Gardens

We read 'A busy day with patches the puppy' in which a search is on, for a lost kitten, in the garden! The book includes a puzzle and sundry other bits, so you can actually enact/play the story! It is one of those random please-stop-the-tantrum-and-let-me-shop buys at the supermarket, but not bad I say! :-)

We also read 'Peppa's easter egg hunt' where there is an easter egg hunt in the garden!

Mar 27, 2014 - Day 27
Reading prompt: Birthday

Aw, good prompt! But only one book, from Dora the explorer collection. We read 'The birthday dance party'!

'Surprise gifts' looks good, will have to check that out!

Mar 28, 2014 - Day 28
Reading prompt: Grandparents

We read lotsa books today, very early in the morning! :-)
'Jack and the flumflum tree' by Julia Donaldson. A little boy Jack embarks on an adventure to get the fruit from the flumflum tree, so his grandma is cured of her moozles! Grandma packs a patchwork sack with lots of things that help him on the way. An absolutely hilarious rendition of a story, with words like flumflum tree, moozles & isle of blowyernose! :-)
'Spot goes to the fair' by Eric Hill. Spot goes to the fair with his grandpa & grandma. The grandparents have as much fun as little Spot on the merry-go-round, helter skelter and much more!
'Bubbles is careless' from the Bubbles series. Grandparents come visiting, and grandpa has an accident because Bubbles hasn't tidied his toys up!
And last but not the least, the very loved 'Little red riding hood'! I had saved this book for a pop-up prompt which I thought will surely be there! Maybe it is coming ;-)

Mar 29, 2014 - Day 29
Reading your native language

We have only one book in Marathi! And that too 'baal gyan mala' which is to teach kids alphabets & numbers. This is the first time I read it out to my lil one & she sure found it interesting! Need to buy more of native language books..

Mar 30, 2014 - Day 30
My favourite book

Aw, day 30 is already here!

My little one's favourite books keep changing every day! But since yesterday, I must have asked her at least three times as to which books were her favourite, and she picked the same ones, and so we read them! 'Goat goes to playschool' & 'Toddle Waddle' both by Julia Donaldson. I think she is a bit grown up for these books, but she enjoys them so so much! Age is never a factor I suppose to enjoy some lovely books! :-)






So that's 30 days, and about 100 books read!!!! Yippppe, we completed the challenge! So proud of my little pudding!! :-))

 

The Bubble Ink, can't thank you enough for organizing such a lovely challenge! I've come across so many avenues for picture books and story telling during the challenge, which I was never aware of before. I've interacted with some wonderfully talented & lovely mums, and what I've learnt about childrens books during the last 30 days is just priceless! Thank you ever so much!!

We had an absolutely fabulous reading month!

If this has excited you, keep watching this space for the recommendations we picked up from the challenge, a true treasure trove of picture books!!

Love
Sirisha