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:

1. Hey Diddle Diddle,
2. Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star,
3. Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary,
4. Hickory Dickory Dock,
5. Little Jack Horner,
6. The Queen of Hearts,
7. Little Bo Peep,
8. Little Miss Muffet,
9. This Little Piggy,
10. Rock-a-bye Baby,
11. Old Mother Hubbard,
12. Pat-a-cake, Pat-a-cake,
13. Yankee Doodle,
14. Jack and Jill,
15. Humpty Dumpty,
16. Sing a Song of Sixpence,
17. Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat,
18. Baa Baa, Black Sheep,
19. Three Little Kittens,
20. There Was an Old Woman and
21. 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

Every two weeks, Alex Goh of Star Kids Children’s Bookstore will review two books for babies, kids, or teens (ages 0-18).

Magic Tree House #50: Hurry Up, Houdini! (2013) by Mary Pope Osborne; illustrated by Sal Murdocca
Suitable for ages 7-10
Format: Hardcover
Price: RMB 95

Synopsis
Jack and Annie are heading out on another mission for Merlin the magician! This time they have to find a famous stage magician, the great Harry Houdini. But when the magic tree house whisks them to Coney Island, they land in an amusement park. They will have plenty of time for fun before Houdini performs – and plenty of time to get into trouble! Sourced from Random House US

Review
Hurry Up, Houdini! is the fiftieth book in the highly popular Magic Tree House series.

Jack and Annie, the brother-and-sister pair, receive a note from Merlin to go on a new mission to learn a secret from the Great Houdini. To help them, Merlin leaves a Ring of Truth and a bottle of his magic mist. The ring glows whenever Jack and Annie hear the truth and the magic mist allows them to be great at anything they choose for an hour.

Like all siblings, Jack and Annie talk like best friends one moment and fight the next. However, they serve as good role models for young readers, especially when Jack returns for Annie and they work out their differences.

Featuring a real-life figure like Houdini makes this fictional story a lot more exciting, stretching the reader’s curiosity and inspiring them to find out more about history.

At the end of the story, many people still cannot figure out how Houdini is able to escape a tank full of water with his hands cuffed. The secret of Houdini wasn’t magic – it was hard work. He was able perform all those magic tricks and great escapes because he kept practicing until he perfected his art. This point is driven home for young readers. Truly a great book for every child and a great series to keep.

TimeRiders: The Mayan Prophecy (2013) by Alex Scarrow
Suitable for ages 13-18
Price: RMB 80

Synopsis
Get ready for TimeRiders: The Mayan Prophecy, the eighth book in Alex Scarrow’s number one best-selling time-travel adventure series.

Liam O’Connor should have died at sea in 1912. Maddy Carter should have died on a plane in 2010. Sal Vikram should have died in a fire in 2026.

But all three have been given a second chance – to work for an agency that no one knows exists. Its purpose: to prevent time travel destroying history…

When Maddy finally unlocks fragments of the secret that Becks has been holding on to, the TimeRiders start to piece together their true purpose. Racing through time to connect the clues, the team discovers a Mayan tribe and an ancient relic provides a vital link to the past…and future.

But not all the TimeRiders can cope with the discovery, and one threatens to bring them all down if they can act out their revenge… Sourced from Penguin UK

Review
TimeRiders: The Mayan Prophecy starts with teenagers Liam, Maddy and Sal being rescued during different time periods by a mysterious man, Foster. Later, they discovere that their rescue was not by accident; they were recruited by an agency wanting to stop people from traveling back in time to change history.

Earlier in the series, Liam, Maddy and Sal traveled to World War II and prehistoric times. They battled with Robin Hood, discovering in the process that Little John was possibly a robot from the future. They recued Abraham Lincoln from being murdered, only to discover that they brought him back to the year 2001 by accident.

Each story is filled with interesting historical facts and allows readers to experience different eras. They can also see the current world get twisted into different versions when a key historical figure or event fails to take place.

In The Mayan Prophecy, Liam, Maddy and Sal go back to 1479 to find a Mayan tribe that may possess an ancient relic linking the future to the past. However, the team loses Sal and are almost destroyed when confronted with “The Thing” that comes out of the relic. The book felt like an Indiana Jones story – truly a page-turner!

For this edition of Reading Corner, it is pure coincidence that I selected two books that involve time travelling. Sometimes I wished I could travel to the past and change things. The TimeRider series shows that there are consequences to changing the past and the human race might be better off if they simply let time run its course. Teens can ask themselves: “What would I do if I could travel to the past or the future?”

Later this year, look out for book nine, the final installment in the TimeRiders series!

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

Every two weeks, Alex Goh of Star Kids Children’s Bookstore will review two books for babies, kids, or teens (ages 0-18).

The Paper Dolls (2013) by Julia Donaldson; illustrated by Rebecca Cobb
Suitable for ages 3-6
Price: RMB 80

Synopsis
A string of paper dolls go on a fantastical adventure through the house and out into the garden. They soon escape the clutches of the toy dinosaur and the snapping jaws of the oven-glove crocodile, but then a very real pair of scissors threatens. A stunning, rhythmical story of childhood, memory and the power of imagination.
Sourced from Macmillan Children’s Books

Review
When I first saw the title The Paper Dolls, I asked myself “Who is still playing with paper dolls when there are so many electronic gadgets on the market?” However, being a new book by Julia Donaldson, I am curious to find out more about the story.

The story is about a little girl who, with the help of her mother, creates a string of five paper dolls. Every time the paper dolls face an antagonist (including a toy dinosaur, a tiger-print slipper, and an oven glove crocodile), they stick together and fly away to safety. Near the end, they are snipped into little pieces but magically rejoin and reappear in the little girl’s memory.

I thought this would be the end of the book, but the story goes on to follow the little girl’s development into a young woman, then a mother. She in turn helps her daughter make paper dolls.

This act of remaking the five paper dolls, each with a new name and special features, is heartwarming. It echoes what every mother does with her daughter, recreating the toys she used to play with in her own childhood.

I’ve read many Julia Donaldson books, and her rhymes are easy to follow. Kids can easily remember the lines, participate in the story, and act out the part of the five paper dolls. Even if you don’t consider yourself a good storyteller, all you need to do is pick up a Julia Donaldson book and you will come off as a pro.

We mustn’t forget Rebecca Cobb’s illustrations. Her style is simply stunning; the use of color pencils gives the little girl a sweet, innocent look. On the page when the little girl grows up, Cobb wonderfully illustrated the fine changes how that little girl changed into a young lady and became a mother with a baby. This is definitely one illustrator to look out for.

Hello: Baby Mealtime (2013) by Roger Priddy
Suitable for ages 0+
Price: RMB 55

Synopsis
For busy, interested babies, Hello Baby books combine high-contrast colours, bold illustration, visually stimulating patterns and simple first words in a selection of interactive, tactile formats. Hello Baby was the Brand/Series Identity Winner for Book Design and Production Awards 2013. Sourced from Priddy Books

Review
This book is an excellent companion for babies who are starting to sit up and eat solid food. Babies respond best to colors and patterns that are very different and early visual stimulation encourages their development.

This book contains eight pages – great for babies with very short attention spans – and would make a great gift. Good baby books are hard to find in Beijing, and this one’s a gem.

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