Books Forever - Son No 3

When Son No 3 was born, seven years after Son No 1, his reading diet has already been largely pre-determined. The children's library in our home was already pretty well-stocked with books that we have accumulated over the years. The upside was that since young, he could flip through books and take his pick as to which book to read. Books were naturally a part of his life. Nevertheless, there was a downside to the situation as his reading interests were somewhat influenced by his brothers who have 'been there, done that'.

As with the other two sons, Son No 3 enjoyed reading the Ladybird series, "Topsy and Tim" (above). They are my favourites too and I would highly recommend them for pre-school children. The books are anchored in real growing-up experiences of British children but Asian children should have no problem identifying with the universal themes. Some of the key events in my children's lives were preceded by reading these books, like "T&T Go To The Dentist", "T&T Start School" and "T&T Go On An Aeroplane". Just last week, I added two more books to the collection, "T&T Have Chicken Pox" and "T&T Learn To Swim". Son No 2 chose the books as he knew of friends getting chicken pox and he wanted to know what it was like. And yes, swimming lessons are on the cards.

So far, in his young life, the books that Son No 3 really desired are these Pokemon books (above). These are colourful picture books filled with puzzles and hundreds of Pokemons. All three boys love these pocket monsters - but lately, it's more Son No 3 who would spend long hours tirelessly searching for these Pokemons in the mazes and learning about each of their characteristics. What I can say is that though these books have little literary value, they are good for developing memory. It never ceases to amaze me that my children (and millions of Pokemon fans out there) could categorise each of these hundreds of Pokemons according to its type (fire, grass, water etc) and rattle off their different modes of attacks, how much HP they get, and the most effective defence mechanisms against which type of attack. As I often thought to myself, if students could remember all that, they should have no problem with the Periodic Table!

To me, what set Son No 3's reading programme apart from his two elder brothers is the exposure to Chinese story books. This is something that his brothers were not privileged to when they were younger because I was not able to read Chinese then. Thanks to the Chinese that I picked up while coaching Son No 2 this past year, I am now able to read children's Chinese story books confidently with the two younger boys. And by virtue of his young age, the chief beneficiary is Son No 3.

So our collection of children's books is likely to grow in that direction - more Chinese story books. In addition to Topsy and Tim, we will now follow the adventures of Ming Ming and Li Li (above) as they go about their daily lives!