Every two weeks, Alex Goh of Star Kids Children’s Bookstore will review two books for babies, kids, or teens (ages 0-18).
Nursery Rhymes by Priddy Books (2006)
Suitable for ages 0-2
Format: Board book
Price RMB 110
Synopsis
A book with CD featuring 22 favourite, classic nursery rhymes like:
- Hey Diddle Diddle,
- Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star,
- Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary,
- Hickory Dickory Dock,
- Little Jack Horner,
- The Queen of Hearts,
- Little Bo Peep,
- Little Miss Muffet,
- This Little Piggy,
- Rock-a-bye Baby,
- Old Mother Hubbard,
- Pat-a-cake, Pat-a-cake,
- Yankee Doodle,
- Jack and Jill,
- Humpty Dumpty,
- Sing a Song of Sixpence,
- Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat,
- Baa Baa, Black Sheep,
- Three Little Kittens,
- There Was an Old Woman and
- Goosey Goosey Gander.
Sourced from Priddy Books UK
Review
All 22 nursery rhymes are beautifully recorded and every child would want to hear them over and over again. For Chinese parents who are not familiar with Western nursery rhymes, this book will be a big help!
Key words are printed in bigger font size and highlighted in bold format. Children can learn to match and associate those key words that are illustrated in the picture.
Illustration on each page has touch-and-feel embossing. Parents can hold their children little fingers; follow through each character in the picture to enhance their children’s learning experience.
A must-have for every baby (young and old)!
Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by Eric Litwin; illustrated by James Dean (2012)
Suitable for ages 3-6
Format: Hardcover
Price: RMB 120
Synopsis
Pete the Cat is wearing his favorite shirt—the one with the four totally groovy buttons. But when one falls off, does Pete cry? Goodness, no! He just keeps on singing his song—after all, what could be groovier than three groovy buttons? Count down with Pete in this rocking new story from the creators of the bestselling Pete the Cat books. Sourced from HarperCollins US website
Review
There many picture books in the market that comes with a song or a CD. Many are very basic, monotonously repetitive and lack the ability to build a complete story with a single tune. Pete the Cat is an exception. The song in the story has all the success elements. The tune is funny, simplistic words and easy to follow. The song makes small changes each time they are repeated which make it appealing plus a humorous ending.
Young children who are starting to learn subtraction will find this song the perfect way to learn math. Every time, a button pops off, kids learn to minus one from the earlier number. Litwin brilliantly linked the final button to the belly button on Pete the Cat.
Pete the Cat received the Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor in 2013 and this award is given annually by the American Library Association to the author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most distinguished American book for beginning readers published in English in the United States during the preceding year.
Parents can download the FREE songs and videos about Pete the Cat from the publisher’s website.
What are you waiting for?
Alex Goh is the merchandising director of Star Kids Children’s Bookstore. He started his career as a children’s book distributor in 1996, traveling around the world looking for good children’s books to share with kids, parents and educators. Over the years, reading became an enjoyable part of his work and he flies around China sharing great stories with children from different parts of the world. If you’ve read a great book and would like more people to know about it, email Alex at alex@starkidschina.com.
Photos courtesy of Star Kids Children’s Bookstore
