Good Read - Frindle by Andrew Clements

Recently, I gave my nephew, E, a book, "Frindle", by Andrew Clements as part of his birthday present. E enjoys reading the book as it is humorous.

The book is about a boy, Nicholas Allen, who has plenty of ideas. Mrs Granger, the language arts teacher, has X-ray vision and nobody gets away with anything in her classroom. To make matters worse, she is also a fanatic about the dictionary. However, when Nick learns an interesting tidbit about words and where they come from during Mrs Granger's lessons, he is inspired to invent a new word. A pen is no long a pen - it is a frindle.

Soon, the excitement about invented words spreads beyond Nick's school and town.

I would recommend this book to kids who are in Primary 3 and 4. If you have a Primary 2 kid who is an advanced reader, this book may be suitable for him or her too. In a nutshell, this imaginative tale about creative thought and the power of words will intrigue young readers.

Good Read for Lower Primary Kids - The Robozonic Series

While searching for good books to buy for my niece who is in lower primary, I stumbled upon this series, the Robozonic series. This series is written by a local author, Caline Tan. Caline was a teacher with the Ministry of Education for about ten years till she left the teaching service to devote more time to her two children.

The first book in the series is entitled "Save the Flowers". One day, on the way to school, eight-year-old Mabel met a mysterious talking pebble. She soon discovered that the "pebble" was not a pebble. It was a gadget known as Robozonic from the year 2111. Robozonic could communicate will all living things. Robozonic had to find a way back to the future but it had to first prevent some flowers in the park from being destroyed, with Mabel's help.

The author has also included the definitions of difficult words mentioned in the story. Overall, a good read for kids who are in the lower primary.

Go to the link below to read a sample from the first book, "Save the Flowers".

http://www.robozonic.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/RZ.pdf

Writer's Craft : Using Characterisation to create memorable characters

My sister-in-law was reading an extract from the book, "James and the Giant Peach", to my nephew who is in Primary 2. She was sharing with my nephew how Roald Dahl used characterisation effectively to create memorable characters. The following extract is on Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker, two characters in "James and the Giant Peach".

"Aunt Sponge was enormously fat and very short. She had small piggy eyes, a sunken mouth and one of those white flabby faces that looked exactly as though it had been boiled. She was like a great white soggy overboiled cabbage. Aunt Spiker, on the other hand, was lean and tall and bony, and she wore steel-rimmed spectacles that fixed on to the end of her nose with a clip. She had a screeching voice and long wet narrow lips, and whenever she got angry or excited, little flecks of spit would come shooting out of her mouth as she talked. And there they sat, these two ghastly hags, sipping their drinks, and every now and again screaming at James to chop faster and faster. They also talked about themselves, each one saying how beautiful she thought she was. "

It is never too early to expose the kiddos to good writing. It is also never too early to expose the kiddos to effective writing techniques. Roald Dahl often creates very memorable characters in his stories. Hence his stories are good mentor texts for teaching kiddos characterisation. 

Good Read - Ellie Belly Series

My nephew and my niece have both read the Ellie Belly series by local author, Eliza Teoh, and they simply love the series. This series is suitable for Lower Primary kiddos. The books are humorous as they chart the silly and funny antics of Ellie and her best friend, Cammy, as they go about saving a different animal in each book.

They can relate to the characters and the settings in the book as Ellie, the main character, goes to a   local school whereby teachers assign worksheets and pupils have recess and Physical Education lessons. Ellie also lives in an HDB flat.

The books contain diary entries which are contributed by children in Singapore. Hence children are exposed to this text type as they read the book. Here is a diary entry from the book, "Pawful Peril".

The author has also included the definitions of difficult words mentioned in the story. Below is an example:

I think the books in the series are good models to show the young kiddos how good authors write vividly. An excerpt below shows the thoughts racing in Ellie's head. The kiddos can learn from the author and include the character's thoughts in their own narratives.

Good Read - A Boy Name Harry (The Childhood of Lee Kuan Yew)

I saw a book on the childhood of late Mr Lee Kuan Yew in the National Library last week. A good read for kids who would like to learn more about the founding father of modern Singapore.

Good Read - Kids Discover Magazine

I came across a good magazine, Kids Discover, when I took my son to the National Library a few days ago. This magazine is suitable for upper primary kids and contains non-fiction texts. For example, the issue below contains information on Abraham Lincoln.

A Good Read - Charlotte's Web

Charlotte's web is a tale of how a little girl, with the help of a friendly spider named Charlotte, saved her pig named Wilbur from the usual fate of nice fat little pigs. This is a beautiful story of friendship, kindness and the passing on into time.

Here is my favourite quote:

“Why did you do all this for me?" he asked. "I don't deserve it. I've never done anything for you."
"You have been my friend," replied Charlotte. "That in itself is a tremendous thing.”

A great read for children.

A Good Read - Where the Wild Things Are

Where the Wild Things Are is one of those books that can be enjoyed equally by a child as well as a grown-up. The main character, Max, dons his wolf suit in pursuit of some mischief and gets sent to bed without supper. A forest grows in his room, allowing his wild rampage to continue. 


Sendak's colour illustrations are awesome. With mismatched parts & giant eyes, the wild things manage somehow to be scary-looking without ever really being scary. A note of caution: Sendak uses some defiantly run-on sentences. A great read for pre-school kids. There's an audio book version available too.  

A Good Read - Always Wear Clean Underwear

There's a great book, "Always wear clean underwear!" written by Marc Gellman. It is a wonderful resource for parents to read with kids and to instill values in them. I used some stories from the book during the Orientation Week when I was teaching in my ex-school. When I first saw this book, the title caught my attention. It is written in a conversational, easy to understand and humourous manner. Even my upper primary kids loved the stories. An AWESOME read!

For kids and parents who are interested to read this book, here's a piece of good news. You can find it in the National Library.

Here's an extract adapted from one of the stories:

Why do your parents care about your underwear? Nobody sees your underwear, and yet parents always tell kids to wear clean underwear.

Answer #1: Dirty underwear is full of germs and we don't want those germs jumping off your underwear and onto you.

Answer #2: You should always wear clean underwear because if you ever get into an accident on the way to school or on the way home from school and an ambulance has to take you to the hospital and the doctors in the emergency room have to take your pants off, if they see that you're wearing dirty underwear then they'll think that we're bad parents because we don't wash your underwear. (Take note that this is a run-on sentence from the book. A chance to incorporate the usage of appropriate punctation. Heehee.)

Apart from these answers, there must be some big deep reason behind this. I think I figured it out. The big reason for wearing clean underwear is to teach you this: What people don't see about you should be just as good as what people do see about you. 


We all try to look good outside. The hard part is to look good inside. 

If you pretend to be somebody's friend but say bad things about him or her to other people, then it's a lot like wearing dirty underwear. If you are nice to your brothers or sisters when your parents are around but hit them and make them miserable when your parents are gone, then you're wearing dirty underwear.


The hardest thing in life is to be the same way deep down as you are on top. If you are always pretending to be something you aren't, if you never say what you mean, if you never do what you say, then you'll be unhappy and people will stay away from you because they don't want to have a friend who is clean only on the outside.

A Good Read - Three Cups

My nephew and niece just read this wonderful story about financial responsibility and management, "Three Cups". It is written for kids by Tony Townsley and Mark St. Germain. 


On his fifth birthday, a boy receives the gift of three cups from his parents: one is for spending, one for saving while the third for giving. That’s where he is to keep his allowance. Over time, how much goes into each cup changes. The text includes a parents’ guide. 


"Teaching Children How to Save, Spend and be Charitable with Money." It is a great book that teaches earning, saving and donating. Besides teaching the kids about money management and financial responsibility, it teaches the kids the importance of compassion too. A GREAT read!


I tried to find this book in the NLB catalogue but failed to do so. If you are keen to buy the book, you may have to get it from the amazon website:
http://www.amazon.com/Three-Cups-Mark-St-Germain/dp/0979456304

Good Read: What Do People Do All Day?

My sister shared with me this book that she is currently reading with my niece. In this book, Richard Scarry introduces individual citizens of Busytown and then tells short stories about the specific projects they are involved in, for example, building a house, mailing a letter and putting out a fire.

It is a wonderful book that can be used to expose kids to the different jobs in society. It also shows that everything we do is connected to another person or project. Parents can emphasise to the kids that with the help of each other and hard work, the society is what it is now.

This book is great for vocabulary building for young kids. It also gives the kids an insight into what their parents and others around do every day.  Moreover, the illustrations are detailed.

Suggestion for parents: You can even use this book for I Spy activity.

A peek into the book:

~ Serena's Greenhouse

Good Read - National Geographic Readers

Source: Amazon

The National Geographic Readers series is a high-interest inquiry series. There are many books in the series and the five different levels cater to children of different age groups and reading levels. The books are easy to read. They have National Geographic photography and kid-friendly diagrams to capture the kids' interest and get them reading about animals, mummies, volcanoes and others. 

For example, the book on Mummies explains how ancient civilisations made mummies and show how mummification occurred naturally. There are also step-by-step drawings that show us how to make a mummy. 

~ Serena's Greenhouse

Good Read - Robbie Forester and the Outlaws of Sherwood St

Edgar Award winner, Peter Abrahams,  is the author of this modern Robin Hood story. The story is set in Brooklyn, New York. Robbie Forester, a seventh-grader, witnesses a dying homeless woman drop a charm bracelet as she is taken into an ambulance. The powerful charm bracelet causes Robbie to manifest strange powers in times of stress. She has plenty of stress coming her way when she learns that the homeless shelter where she and her mother volunteer is being closed, thanks to rent gouging by mysterious millionaire Sheldon Gunn. Sheldon Gunn is also behind attempts to close other local institutions. When Robbie shares the secret of the charm bracelet with her friends, they are all drawn into a fight for justice. 


Robbie and her friends find themselves in an ominous world of thievery, arson, big yachts, and big bank accounts. Readers will be kept on the edge of their seats by this wonderful tale of action, adventure, danger, and magic.  


~ Serena's Greenhouse

Good Read - Magic Tree House Fast Trackers

It is important for children to read a wide genre of books and this includes non-fiction books. In recent years, the cloze passages in the PSLE are usually non-fiction or information texts. For example, in the 2011 English PSLE, the cloze passage is based on Egypt, pyramids and mummies.

The Magic Tree House has a series of simple yet informative non-fiction chapter books - Fast Trackers. For example, children will learn how pyramids were built, how and why mummies were made, what hieroglyphics is and many more interesting facts.

For kids who love animals, they can also find out more about dolphins and sharks, polar bears and dinosaurs as there are also books on these animals.

~ Serena's Greenhouse