I think I've mentioned this in the past, Kiddo is a rather advanced reader. She enjoys stuff that is sometimes geared at the young adult level rather than for a 7 year old. I make sure it has none of that boy-girl 'stuff' but otherwise pretty much let her pick her own books. After all, she'll probably reread them over and over... Which means it's economical right?
Anyhow, I figured I'd put this list up in case someone else has an advanced reader and needs some book ideas. BTW if anyone is willing to share their list, I would be VERY grateful :)
So here it is...
Favourites:
1) Anything written by Adeline Yen Mah - She loves the Chinese Cinderella books and rereads them over and over
2) Luka and the fire of life - This is by Salman Rushdie. Written for his son and it's a lovely adventure story. Each person who reads it will see something different. Both kiddo and The Man got different conclusions from it and it's on my pile of kiddo-recommended books to read
3)The ark, the reed, and the fire cloud - by Jenny L. Cote. New favourite given to her by an aunt (also the parent of an advanced reader). It's about Max (scottie terrier) and Liz (cat) and their adventures in the times of the bible. Wonderful book.
4)Mao's Last Dancer - by Li Cunxin. About a Chinese ballet dancer and how he defected to America.
5)Half upon a time - by James Riley. This is a swell book! It's a new take on the fairy tales we grew up with. Another family favourite. By which I mean she reads it, then forces it on us because of how 'amazing' it is. Have to admit, I've read a couple of real gems this way.
6)21 balloons - by William Pene Dubois. She was thrilled it featured Krakatoa. I haven't got around to it yet but The Man says it's pretty good too.
Everything else she likes belongs in the secondary list. ie Geronimo Stilton, Thea Stilton, fairies, mermaids, princesses, Enid Blytons etc etc etc
Final thought about books. If available, get a kindle. The savings we have made on the books bought via kindle have already more than paid for the device... In fact, the savings have probably paid for my ipad too. Our family devours books, so despite liking the feel of a paper book, I'll go with the savings any day!
Happy reading!
Wednesday 8 February 2012
Time flies...
Time has really flown. I just realized that my last post was April 2010! That's an INSANE amount of time ago... A lot has also happened.
Let's see... I went on an aid trip to bring supplies to victims of the Mount Merapi Volcano eruption, we went skiing in Zermatt, Switzerland, we went to China twice(!!) and the UK... Oh, and let's not forget the most ground shaking event of all, we moved back to KL! Yes! After 4 years (4.5 for The Man), we finally moved home. There have been days when I wish we didn't, and days I'm glad we did. I think we're dealing with it in a positive manner though, focus on the good here and remember the good there. Nothing beats having my folks around though :)
Since this is pretty much a directionless post, I thought I'd just share my relocation process. This is in no way me taking pot shots at The Man, it just totally illustrates the whole 'Man are from Mars and Women are from Venus' theory.
It all began in early November 2011...
My dear maker of pronouncements told me that we would be moving back to KL sometime in 2012. No biggie. Question was did the kid finish out the school year or not. The next day, he decided that we should pop over to KL the week after that in order to look at schools. 'Why the rush?' you may ask (and indeed I DID ask that)... Reply, 'No big reason, just better to be informed now than be surprised next year.' Hmmm, totally reasonable at this point. Indeed, the education was a large factor of my wanting to stay put in Jakarta. Kiddo was getting such a good education at ACS that I really didn't want to rock the boat... At that stage, that is.
In any case, we came home and went to see The Australian International school and Alice Smith. More about that later... AISM was the better fit we thought. However their school year started end of January and kiddo would face either repeating half of grade 2 or skipping half of grade 2. Neither of which I was entirely in favour of. Still, AISM was head and shoulders above any other option that we looked at based on how we envisaged the kid's education progressing. So off we went to mull things over.
That very evening, The Man suddenly announced that he had terminated our Jakarta lease for the next year (after negotiating for 6 months) and would try and get the owner to rent it for 1 more month so that kiddo could finish the term. Hello!! Talk about unilateral decisions!! Next thing you know, owner says no deal, and we have to be out in 2 weeks and apend the remainder 2 weeks of term in a service apartment!! Following that was a harrowing week of begging our previous movers (I *heart* Ima of IMS movers) to come in and assess the stuff that we had accumulated over the last 4 years. Of course, The Man then also decrees that we are not moving furniture.. ie Get rid of it somehow, I don't care how...
At this point I was beyond panic. More along the lines of catatonia. All my school and church commitments... I couldn't see how to sort everything out in the few weeks left. When I told him it was kinda unreasonable to expect me to sort all this out in such a short time, his reply was, 'I planned it all in my head. Just didn't tell you so you wouldn't be stressed...' D'oh!!!
To this day, he denies that he said it exactly that way. But that's what I heard and I'm standing by it!! Anyway, I look back now and think that it makes a great anecdote and example of the differences between the sexes, or at the least, the difference between us two strange, completely different individuals, who despite all these differences (and believe me, there are A LOT!!) have managed to stay together for almost 19years (married for only 11.5 though, we couldn't make up our minds on when was a good time) and mostly importantly, are almost in perfect accord when it comes to bringing up our kid...
Life is weird, God is laughing...
Let's see... I went on an aid trip to bring supplies to victims of the Mount Merapi Volcano eruption, we went skiing in Zermatt, Switzerland, we went to China twice(!!) and the UK... Oh, and let's not forget the most ground shaking event of all, we moved back to KL! Yes! After 4 years (4.5 for The Man), we finally moved home. There have been days when I wish we didn't, and days I'm glad we did. I think we're dealing with it in a positive manner though, focus on the good here and remember the good there. Nothing beats having my folks around though :)
Since this is pretty much a directionless post, I thought I'd just share my relocation process. This is in no way me taking pot shots at The Man, it just totally illustrates the whole 'Man are from Mars and Women are from Venus' theory.
It all began in early November 2011...
My dear maker of pronouncements told me that we would be moving back to KL sometime in 2012. No biggie. Question was did the kid finish out the school year or not. The next day, he decided that we should pop over to KL the week after that in order to look at schools. 'Why the rush?' you may ask (and indeed I DID ask that)... Reply, 'No big reason, just better to be informed now than be surprised next year.' Hmmm, totally reasonable at this point. Indeed, the education was a large factor of my wanting to stay put in Jakarta. Kiddo was getting such a good education at ACS that I really didn't want to rock the boat... At that stage, that is.
In any case, we came home and went to see The Australian International school and Alice Smith. More about that later... AISM was the better fit we thought. However their school year started end of January and kiddo would face either repeating half of grade 2 or skipping half of grade 2. Neither of which I was entirely in favour of. Still, AISM was head and shoulders above any other option that we looked at based on how we envisaged the kid's education progressing. So off we went to mull things over.
That very evening, The Man suddenly announced that he had terminated our Jakarta lease for the next year (after negotiating for 6 months) and would try and get the owner to rent it for 1 more month so that kiddo could finish the term. Hello!! Talk about unilateral decisions!! Next thing you know, owner says no deal, and we have to be out in 2 weeks and apend the remainder 2 weeks of term in a service apartment!! Following that was a harrowing week of begging our previous movers (I *heart* Ima of IMS movers) to come in and assess the stuff that we had accumulated over the last 4 years. Of course, The Man then also decrees that we are not moving furniture.. ie Get rid of it somehow, I don't care how...
At this point I was beyond panic. More along the lines of catatonia. All my school and church commitments... I couldn't see how to sort everything out in the few weeks left. When I told him it was kinda unreasonable to expect me to sort all this out in such a short time, his reply was, 'I planned it all in my head. Just didn't tell you so you wouldn't be stressed...' D'oh!!!
To this day, he denies that he said it exactly that way. But that's what I heard and I'm standing by it!! Anyway, I look back now and think that it makes a great anecdote and example of the differences between the sexes, or at the least, the difference between us two strange, completely different individuals, who despite all these differences (and believe me, there are A LOT!!) have managed to stay together for almost 19years (married for only 11.5 though, we couldn't make up our minds on when was a good time) and mostly importantly, are almost in perfect accord when it comes to bringing up our kid...
Life is weird, God is laughing...
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