In The Book Bag...

Ebi-kun has a new fad, thanks to his sensei. The books are called Deltora Quest by Emily Rodda, he has been reading them in Japanese but wants to read them in English too so he can compare the translation!

They are exciting fantasy books, I think 8 in the first series. He is ploughing through them, a book a day! Thankfully we joined the library a couple of weeks ago otherwise I might have to get a second job to keep the boy in books!

I know it seems odd that we have only just joined the local library but the reason is two-fold. Firstly, it's miles away! Secondly, it's all Japanese books and I have always encouraged him to read more English at home. They have a reading card for school where the kids are supposed to keep track of how many book they have read and how many pages. Ebi-kun has finally started using it! He was already 5 books down, 5 days into the month, all with 205 pages each.

We did discover that that there is a drop off point at school so he can just post the books there when he is done with them and the library truck comes round to school once a week so he can now borrow books from there too - he is like a kid in a candy store when it comes to books.

We have just finished Harry Potter and The Goblet Of Fire, it's fun reading them again, it is so long since I first read the series that I don't remember what half the story is about anyway! Ebi-kun wants to watch the film before we start on the next book, I think we might take a HP break over the summer and start again after we come back from the UK.

Now we are reading Beowolf by Micheal Morpurgo, illustrated by Michael Foreman and the illustrations are beautiful, fit perfectly with the text. Beowolf was one of my favourite books as a kid so I'm hoping Ebi-kun will fall in love with it too, might have to get him the old English version to read, then he can compare those two texts too!

Another book that is popular with him at the moment is Girls Who Rocked The World, this is a great book to dip in and out of since the stories are short. I also love the questions that they bring up, in fact when we were at the Magritte exhibition Ebi-kun asked why most of the famous artists were men. I'm happy that it's on his radar and he is noticing these things.

As for me, I have picked up E3 by Pam Grout. We had fun doing the experiments in E2 so I want to have a go with her next book. It's about abundance, manifesting money and woo-woo stuff, quite interesting when you start doing the experiments!

What's in your book bag at the moment? How about the kids?

3 years of conversation

A new habit in the Ebi-house is filling in this book. Q & A a day for kids by Betsy Franco. It's a diary, each page has one question then three sections to fill in for year 1, 2 and 3, so as the child gets older you can see how their answers change. There are 5 lines per entry so I've been encouraging longer answers with a reason rather than a one word answer.

Some of the sample questions are:

What would you like more of?

Who is your hero?

What seems to be dangerous to you?

Describe a time you were angry...

Now, there are a couple of reasons I bought this. Firstly I want Ebi-kun to develop good morning habits, it's well documented that successful people have morning rituals and routines. As it happens Ebi-kun is already an early riser and is up before me and my husband, he is usually dressed with his nose in a book when we come down in a morning. And I LOVE this, even at the weekend when he is allowed to watch TV, he reads first, it's like the written word is his alarm clock. So adding a writing habit into the mix is a good step forward.

Secondly, as Ebi-kun is in Japanese school all day and as he gets older his free time gets shorter, I needed a way to sneak some fun writing in English in. the Montessorian in me doesn't believe in doing drill books or forcing a tired child to sit down and do more studying when they have been at school all day (Don't get me started on the whole juku/cram school rant!) BUT I still want to keep his English level appropriate to his age. Speaking and reading are no problem, writing is the area we need to work at.

And finally, morning are our family time, daddy Ebi gets back late most nights so it's good to spend some time in the morning to talk about what we've been doing and what we plan to do. Adding the daily question into the mix makes it more fun. We deliberatly get up earlier than we actually need to so that our mornings are relaxed and easy going, I hate starting the day stressed out and harried.

If you like this idea for yourself, there is an adults version too.

Adventuring In The Book Bag…

It is International Book Giving Day this week, so I have books on the brain! Are you taking part? Let me know what you are doing.

It has been quite a while since I did one of these posts! This is what we have been reading recently…

Half Spoon Of Rice by Icy Smith, obviously genocide is not an easy topic to talk about with kids but I feel like this book did it well. It follows the story of a little boy who was taken by the Khemer Rouge, separated from his family and forced to work in the fields. His journey explains how they were not allowed to talk, worked really long days and lived in constant fear and how they only got a half spoon of rice to eat each day. When he eventually reaches freedom there is talk about seeing lots of dead bodies but they are not show graphically. This is a page where a solider is hitting a child and another where the boy has pulled a leg off a frog to eat it. 

Despite the grim topic and somber artwork there is a happy ending and he finds his family again! There are also author notes at the end of the book which talk about actual prisons and a handful of photos so you can take the discussion further if you wish.

This is definitely one of those books where you need to consider the personality and age of your child, Ebi-kun is eight and a half now, we read it together the first time and he had some questions, then later he read it by himself a few times. At one point he told me how lucky he was to live the life he does, I have to agree with that!

Available on Amazon and The Book Depository (free international shipping)

Next in the book bag is Gold Of The Gods by Bear Gyrlls, Ebi-kun could not put this book down! I have finally found something to replace Beast Quest! He took this on holiday with us and started it when we got to the elephant sanctuary, when he wasn't elephanting he had his nose stuck in this! It is an exciting (of course, it is Bear Gyrlls we are talking about) book about Beck Granger, who is the youngest survival expert in the world and it include special tips on how to survive in the wild - you know, for when you plane crashes in the Amazon jungle…

Available on The Book Depository (FREE international shipping)

And talking of Bear Gyrlls, I have just finished his autobiography Mud, Sweat And Tears. Great book, really interesting to learn that he isn't Mr Macho and how he really struggled at times. I had no idea he failed to get in the SAS first time round or exactly how gruelling the selection process is and then from how he broke his back but picked himself up and went on to climb Everest. He also has a junior version of the book, which Ebi-kun has got but hasn't read yet, I imagine it has been toned down somewhat for the kids version. If you are looking for a motivational book to read then this would be a good choice.

Available on Amazon and The Book Depository (Free international shipping)

Ebi-kun got The National Geographic Kids Infopedia 2014 for Christmas and it has been a big hit, he is forever reeling off random facts about polar bears, rocks, holidays around the world and coral reefs, to name but a few. It is one of those books you pick up, dip in and read a few pages and then get inspired to learn more. It covers no end of information and of course has stunning photography!

Available of The Book Depository (Free international shipping)

Last but not least, I want to give Exploring Angkor by Sun Heng Meng Chheang & Huot Sarith a mention, we picked this up at the National Museum in Seim Reap and also saw it at the airport shop. If you are visiting Angkor with kids it is a must buy, sadly I can't find any online retailer and it doesn't have an ISBN number. It is a great kids book, well written and broken down so a child can read it without getting bogged down too much with all the history details and stories, which happens in a lot of the adult books about Angkor. Plus it has photos and cute illustrations. Ebi-kun  gives it a thumbs up!

What are your kids reading at the moment and what about you? Got any good book recommendations to share? pop them in the comments please!