Snoring Shanmugam Cover

Title : Snoring Shanmugam
Author/Illustrator: Radhika Chadha / Priya Kuriyan
Publisher: Tulika Books

If we had a rough evening, dinner time battles and the likes, then one of my picks to read that night is Snoring Shanmugam. It simply takes my 5 year old into a giggling spree. The giggling is infectious enough to spread into my 2 year old, who is most of the time observing and imitating her older sister anyways. The giggling hits the roof when we all snore like Shanmugam, the Lion.

The jungle animals are tired of their snoring and gentle lion king. They figure the snoring stops when they roll Shanmugam to sleep on his side. Their relief does not last long, however. As Kamalnayan, the camel, breaks the bad news about the tawny, brawny, nasty villain lion almost intruding into their territory. They are petrified and irritated with their useless lion king. Just then Bahadur, the baby elephant has a brilliant idea. She whispers the idea to amma, the mother elephant, which brings an instant smile in amma. Idea sure works and gets the villain lion running for his life. What is the idea? Well.. what’s the fun if we reveal the climax?

This book is apparently a sequel to I’m so sleepy, which also features some of the characters. I am yet to get a hold of this.

Snoring Shanmugam Inside

I must add, it is becoming a wee bit difficult to read to my older daughter these days. You see, she has started to read by herself, and follows every word when I read. Those days are gone when I read with my eyes closed. Hell hath no fury like a word getting substituted for another. When I make the snoring sound, she wants to know where it is written in the book. So, now I have to snore exactly like this – “Khorhrhrh… phsheew…”. rh has to be said ONLY 3 times, 3 times only. I hope it is a phase she will overgrow and we go back into reading and giggling and making all sorts of faces and sounds along.

One thing I like about Tulika books is that they are not preachy. Simple stories with lot of room for interpretation and imagination. With a good dose of culture infused via the illustrations, names of characters and the context. Very Indian. Kamalnayan, the camel, Chandu the crocodile, Ritu the rabbit, Paytu the pig are some of the characters. Guess the villain lion’s name – Gabbar Singh!!! Mannu, the monkey is another topic of discussion leading to hysterical laughs, because.. err.. her cousin’s nick name in real world is mannu, a very naughty yet cute kid.

Some of the tulika books we own are listed here. Hope to review these soon. Keep an eye.
Maalu Bhaloo
The Boy Who Loved Color (My fav)
Rooster and the Sun (5 year old’s fav)
What shall I make ( This book is such a super hit, that we now have both the English and the bilingual versions)
Magic Vessels
Snoring Shanmugam
Mazoo Mazoo
Magic Vessels
Best Friends
The Seed
Help Help

The Tiny Seed By Eric Carle

My almost 5 year old daughter has developed a liking to Eric Carle’s books. The minute she spots his name, she wants to read it. We were in a book shop couple of months back, when the kids got to choose one book each. I did not surprise me one bit to see The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle in her hands. I was surprised to see the Indian reprint, easing on the rupee, however

This book just like any other Eric Carle’s book is simply amazing. Beautiful, large and bold illustrations, simple words, repetitive sentences. It is the tale of a tiny seed’s journey through the seasons and how it survives amidst the larger, more powerful ones and finally makes it’s mark by blooming into a giant flower.

The author introduces different seasons, keeping the moral and the story line intact. The book starts with the tale of this tiny seed in autumn, how the tiny seed survives the winter, then spring and then summer. Autumn is back again, and it completes one cycle of seasons. It also show cases the life cycle of seeds, when the tiny seed that grows into a large flower, sheds it petals and then its seed, and the seed gets blown away by the wind, repeating the cycle all over again.

Depicts beautifully that size does not matter. A seed though tiny can sail along with the larger stronger one’s in its own way and can make it bigger than the rest, slowly and steadily.

More Reviews Here:
http://www.eric-carle.com/rev-seed.html
http://www.librarything.com/work/322241/reviews/
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/241074.The_Tiny_Seed

The Tiny Seed By Eric Carle