Building family holiday traditions: Nutcracker

Between the Lines: Build your own family tradition

Sunday, 30 December, 2012, 12:00am

Annie Hofamilypost@scmp.com

I love the Christmas season and find comfort and joy in welcoming the same things every year, such as a fragrant fir tree in our living room and a turkey lunch at home with my family on Christmas Day.

Two years ago, we had a family lunch at The Peninsula and saw its beautiful display of Santa's village, complete with a chugging train and a large gingerbread house. It was such a happy day that we made a repeat visit last year. Being a fool for tradition, I envisaged an annual family pilgrimage with the obligatory photo in front of the gingerbread house to see how our children were growing through the successive years. So imagine my dismay recently when I saw that the open area that housed the display had been converted into a cafe.

Not to be disappointed again, I've decided that from now on we will resort to the fail-safe tradition of seeing The Nutcracker ballet. This year is the inaugural mummy-daughter outing to see this show, and we shared this experience with my childhood friend and her daughters. This is meaningful because my friend and I went to The Nutcracker together when we were growing up in Canada.

My daughter's first book on this subject is Alison Jay's The Nutcracker, which is based on the Balanchine ballet. It is the only version I have in which the lead character is named Clara. All the other versions are based on the original 1816 story by E.T.A. Hoffman about a young girl named Marie and the seven-headed Mouse King that she meets. Jay's distinctive crackle-varnish technique gives her illustrations an antique look.

I have two versions that are English translations of Hoffman's longish short story, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, which was originally written in German. The first one is illustrated by Roberto Innocenti, a self-taught artist in Italy who has also masterfully illustrated The Adventures of Pinocchio, A Christmas Carol and other classics.

No collection of Maurice Sendak's storybooks would be complete without his version, created as a result of his collaboration with then artistic director Kent Stowell to design the sets and costumes for the Pacific Northwest Ballet's production of Nutcracker in 1983. Even today, this company's annual Christmas production is known as Stowell & Sendak's Nutcracker.

The dark overtones of Hoffman's original story are beautifully rendered through Sendak's art. From the weird seven-headed king of the mice to the 11 consecutive pages of full-page illustrations of Candytown from different perspectives, I am again captivated by Sendak's genius. Seeing the Pacific Northwest Ballet of Nutcracker has been added to my bucket list.

I also have two versions that are more appropriate for reading aloud in one sitting. Lisbeth Zwerger has been accorded the Hans Christian Andersen Medal for lifetime achievement, and her interpretation of the Hoffman tale borders on surreal. The ominous watch face replaces the grandfather clock, and is an image that is reproduced in other parts of the storybook. She also chooses to illustrate aspects of the Hoffman story that may be unfamiliar in the ballet story, and uses unconventional perspectives of such scenes.

The version that I have been reading with my daughters is written and illustrated by Susan Jeffers. In her "author's note", Jeffers says the reasons she wants to attempt her own version are to produce a book that follows the ballet story, and to create a read-aloud version for picture-book-age children. Her version is one of the rare ones which portrays ballerinas in mid-dance, and makes the perfect accompaniment to our mummy-daughter outing.

Best wishes for your family's tradition-building this holiday season.

Annie Ho is board chairperson of Bring Me A Book Hong Kongbringmeabook.org.hk a non-profit organisation devoted to improving children's literacy

My Daughter Loves Jesus - Bible Stories, Todd Burpo's Heaven is For Real

Between the lines

Sunday, 23 December, 2012, 12:00am

Annie Hofamilypost@scmp.com

In the summer, I bought my elder daughter a chic pair of silver gladiator-styled sandals. When I showed them to her, she exclaimed, "Oh I looove them!" As visions of a budding fashionista danced in my head, she said, "I love them because Jesus has sandals just like these!"

My daughter loves Jesus. Her exposure comes from her kindergarten, which teaches Christian values. I find this amusing because I hold Buddhist beliefs, so I never expected my daughter to embrace Jesus in the way that she has, and especially at such a young age.

I never really thought about my own connection to Christianity until I realised that I know many of the Bible stories and songs my daughter is learning at school. That's because I grew up attending Sunday school.

My immigrant parents had no second thoughts about my brother and me attending Sunday school even though our family was not Christian. Vancouver is ethnically diverse today, but in my primary school years there were only four Chinese children in our student body. Sending us to church was a part of my parents' efforts to assimilate in their new community. Our family participated in Halloween trick-or-treating, Canada Day backyard barbeques and such, so joining Sunday school seemed a natural extension of these neighbourly activities. As a result, what I got out of Sunday school was the comfort of belonging rather than any connection with God.

Despite my own feeling about Christianity, I'm proud that my daughter has developed an interest in something that was not initiated or influenced by me. (Of course, I'm also proud when she has interests in things that are heavily influenced by me.)

The Jesus Storybook BibleTo encourage both of us to explore Christianity further, I have been reading bible stories to my daughter from The Jesus Storybook Biblewritten by Sally Lloyd-Jones and illustrated by Jago. Published by evangelical publisher Zondervan, this award-winning book also comes in a large format keepsake edition. My daughter's favourite story is the birth of Jesus. She loves to revisit this story in the different storybook editions, including The Christmas Story. Written by Jane Werner Watson and illustrated by Eloise Wilkin, this is a classic edition first published over 40 years ago. The artwork is beautiful and the story of Jesus's birth is retold to a younger audience while staying true to the bible.

Someone at my daughter's school gave me a copy of Todd Burpo's Heaven is for Real. It is an honest and inspiring account of a near-death experience by the author's son, Colton. Colton told his parents that, during his emergency appendectomy, he visited heaven and met long-departed family members. What is astonishing is that his recollections are so vivid and his descriptions so detailed. For non-believers, it is food for thought. For believers, Colton's account is an affirmation of what awaits them.

Heaven is for Real for Kids is a new edition of the original bestseller that has been adapted for children. I haven't shared it with my daughter yet because I foresee an onslaught of metaphysical questions and I want to wrap my head around how I might answer them. In the meantime, I'm busy with her day-to-day questions like why God doesn't need a raincoat when it's raining.

Annie Ho is board chairwoman of Bring Me A Book Hong Kong

Books for Budding Artists - David Wiesner, Peter Reynolds, Louise Yates, Bruce Degen

Artistic books for children with inspiring messages

Sunday, 16 December, 2012, 12:00am

Annie Hofamilypost@scmp.com

My daughter has been taking weekly art classes for more than a year. In the beginning, her favourite thing about going there was that those who arrived early could watch cartoons in the waiting room until class started. Then she entered painting competitions and started to win the occasional prize, and her interest in drawing was piqued by her growing confidence and her gushing parents.

Neither my husband nor I are artistically inclined. We appreciate art but cannot create it. And so, to give my daughter a further boost in her artistic endeavours, I read her books about budding artists' first encounters with art and what constitutes art.

Art & Max is the latest offering from the brilliant visual storyteller David Wiesner. Arthur is a great painter and Max is a keen beginner who thinks that he, too, can paint. Max's enthusiasm stems from his lack of awareness of his own shortcomings, and therein lies the humour. When Max is at a loss for what to paint, the great Art suggests that he be Max's subject. He generously offers, "Well … you could paint me." Max complies by spraying paint all over Art. The adventure begins and the story gets crazier and crazier.

The banter between these two unlikely friends reminds me of Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller in the film Meet the Parents, where the prospective son-in-law believes himself to be a decent fellow, until he comes under the disapproving eye of the prospective father-in-law.

While I am blown away by the gorgeously illustrated lizards in Art & Max, my daughter is more enthralled by the two art books of Peter H. Reynolds, The Dot and Ish.

The Dot is the story of a reluctant art student whose teacher patiently nurtures her interest in art while helping to change her perception of what art is. For example, when the student hasn't produced anything by the end of class, the teacher looks at the blank paper and offers, "Ah! A polar bear in a snow storm."

The story is well told and the pencil drawing style of Reynolds is simple and direct. I also love the fact that the student's name is Vashti, a distinctly ethnic name.

In Ish, Ramon is a boy who loves to draw. One day his older brother looks over his shoulder at one of his new creations and laughs, "What is that?" After that, Ramon starts and then crumples many sheets of paper because he no longer feels that any of his drawings look "right". Later, he stops drawing altogether.

Ramon's passion for drawing is rekindled after his younger sister takes all his crumpled drawings and shows him how the vase he was supposed to draw looks "vase-ish" and the tree he was trying to draw looked "tree-ish". With this new viewpoint, Ramon realises he loves making his special "ish" drawings.

Both of Reynolds' stories see the child artist change his or her perspective of what constitutes art, although one starts with a little girl reluctant to even try, and the other starts with a little boy who draws everything all the time. The message in these stories is inspiring.

Louise Yates' Dog Loves Drawing is a companion to Dog Loves Books. Dog Loves Drawing follows the development of book-lover turned bookshop owner Dog's interest in drawing. The illustrations become increasingly complex and complement the story well.

I Gotta Draw is a new book by Bruce Degen, an illustrator best known for hisJamberry storybook full of rhymes that flow so easily from the lips.

In I Gotta Draw, Charlie is described as "the pup with the pencil, the mutt with the marker, the dog with the drawing pad, the chap with the chalk!" He loves to draw but trouble looms when his strict teacher discovers that Charlie has doodled all over his homework.

Parents and children alike will be able to relate to the story's interplay between creating free-flowing art at home and producing neatly written homework at school.

Annie Ho is board chairwoman of Bring Me A Book Hong Kong, a non-profit organisation devoted to improving children's literacy through reading aloud to them and providing easy access to the best children's books for underserved communities across Hong Kong.bringmeabook.org.hk

Book Gift Ideas for Children's Book Lovers - Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Children's Book (Anita Silvey)

Picture books that speak volumes

Sunday, 09 December, 2012, 12:00am

Annie Hofamilypost@scmp.com

I always enjoy the challenge of finding the right book gift for my friends. This year, I think food aficionados will enjoy Melanie Dunea's My Last Supper,which comprises interviews with 50 great chefs about their choices for a last meal on earth.

For fashionista friends, there's Andrew Bolton's Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty. The cover was created with lenticular printing, so that the image changes from a haunting headshot of the clothing designer to his signature skull motif when viewed from different angles.

I have a cache of staples for lovers of children's books, and I am always delighted to discover new works. Here is a selection of anthologies.Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Children's Book is a collection edited by former children's book publisher Anita Silvey and is subtitled Life Lessons from Notable People from All Walks of Life.

Each double page comprises the notable person's own written account of the book that deeply influenced their life, plus an image of the cover with a description of the book and its author, and a 500-word excerpt from that book. Contributors include actor Kirk Douglas and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.

Leonard Marcus, a professor of children's literature who has written extensively about children's books and their illustrations, compiled and edited Show Me a Story: Why Picture Books Matter. I picked up a copy as soon as I saw that my beloved Mo Willems provided the illustration for the cover.

In this book, Marcus presents a question-and-answer format for his extensive and in-depth interviews with "21 of the world's most celebrated illustrators". The conversations are entertaining because they delve into the childhoods, creative processes, and personalities of these artists.

The big bonus is the rare display of full-colour plates in the middle of the book that reproduce the illustrators' sketches and drafts. The plates show how much attention and effort goes into each drawing.

The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art's Artist to Artist: 23 Major Illustrators Talk to Children About Their Art also features the perspective and sketches of children's book illustrators. There is some overlap between the artists featured here and those found in Marcus's Show Me A Story.

The difference is that, in Artist to Artist, the illustrators give advice to aspiring illustrators in the form of a letter to the reader. In addition to the letter, each artist also provides a photograph of himself as a child, as well as a photograph of his art studio. The most amusing contribution is each artist's self-portrait. Eric Carle, best known for The Hungry Caterpillar, conceived the idea for this anthology. It is a wonderful resource for aspiring artists.

One of the tips that I learned from read-aloud workshops is to read out the title and author of books. That helps children make the connection to other books by the same author.

When I became more diligent about reading aloud the names of authors and illustrators, I discovered how many of my children's favourite books, fromMother Goose Nursery Rhymes to Tiddler, are illustrated by Axel Scheffler. How could I have not noticed that the bulbous noses of Scheffler's characters are common to all these books?

The great joy of giving prominence to an author's name in a read-aloud session is to hear it repeated by toddlers.

My two-year-old generally only sings out the monosyllabic rhymes of a storybook. So it's endearing to hear her proclaim the words, "written by Robert Munsch and illustrated by Michael Martchenko".

Annie Ho is board chairwoman of Bring Me a Book Hong Kong, a non-profit organisation devoted to improving children's literacy through reading aloud to them and providing easy access to the best children's books for underserved communities across Hong Kong.bringmeabook.org.hk

SCMP - Famous Illustrators of Classic Stories

From Sunday December 2, 2012 edition of South China Morning Post

Dr Stephen Krashen - Second Language Acquisition

Between The Lines: Language Acquisition

Sunday, 25 November, 2012, 12:00am

Annie Hofamilypost@scmp.com

Once in a while, I meet someone who turns my long-held beliefs on their head. Dr Stephen Krashen is one of these people.

Krashen, the author of more than 350 academic papers, developed the first comprehensive theory of second-language acquisition. He could have a spectacular career as a stand-up comic if he ever runs out of serious topics to write about. I attended his talk for educators and it was inspiring to see more than 120 teachers and librarians from international and local schools gather on their day off to hear Krashen speak. Most were familiar with his work and were eager to learn more from him.

The foundation of his theory is that "learning" is a conscious effort to try to be accurate with rules and grammar, while "acquiring" is subconscious. Second-language teachers who use methods that promote language acquisition will see better results. The best way to achieve fluency in a language is to pick it up subconsciously.

Krashen gave us examples of the different ways in which second-language teachers try to get students to understand what is being said. It showed that immersion in a subject - at the talk, Krashen described the various parts of his face in German - is more effective than rote learning with verb conjugations.

The big revelation for me came when Krashen declared that talking is not practising because we acquire language by input and not output. I have been a lifelong student of languages, from the English I learned when I immigrated from Hong Kong to Canada at age six, to the most recent instance, a six-month course on Italian that I attempted before I had children. When Krashen made his claim, backed by his decades of research, I had dizzying flashbacks of the countless hours I had spent reading foreign sentences out loud. Questo è un libro (This is a book).

Talking is not practising. The ability to speak is not the road to, but the result of, language acquisition. When a baby utters her first words, she has already acquired the language.

A second revelation came when Krashen added that his studies also found that allowing students to acquire a language without accountability or questions at the end of the lesson is the most effective way to achieve fluency.

The two revelations put together mean that children should just be given opportunities to listen to someone speak that language to them, either through play, storytelling or daily routines. Do not pressure children to repeat words or answer questions about what they hear. I have been wrong to gauge my children's language skills by paying attention only to how well they express themselves in that language. They will become fluent more quickly if I simply speak to them in the context of activities they understand.

Despite Krashen's research, language programmes in Hong Kong and throughout many parts of the world continue to focus more on speaking and reading than on listening, with constant quizzing being an integral part of the curriculum of such programmes.

Krashen is an advocate of a new way of teaching second languages: TPRS, which stands for teaching proficiency through reading and storytelling. He also endorses USSR, or uninterrupted sustained silent reading.

As soon as he mentioned the acronym USSR, I remembered that I had a daily USSR period in my primary school. We would bring our own book to school and during USSR, each student would take his book out and just sit at his desk and read. Teachers generally didn't interfere with the students' choice of book, the theory being that any subject or format that could keep a child interested for 20-30 minutes should be encouraged.

Krashen's most recent published work is Free Voluntary Reading. In its 90 pages, the book sets forth his voluminous research, all of which points to the finding that more dictation, worksheets and lists of vocabulary to memorise are less effective than reading, a straightforward and rewarding activity.

As for parents who want their older children to become more fluent in Chinese, give them a set of Old Master Q comic books and leave them alone. I'm not kidding: Krashen collaborated on a study with his colleague, Dr Christy Lao, which showed that Chinese-American teenagers who were encouraged to read Old Master Q comic books acquired more Chinese than those who followed the traditional programme of weekly Chinese-language lessons.

Annie Ho is board chairperson of Bring Me A Book Hong Kong bringmeabook.org.hk

Cookbooks for Kids: Jessica Seinfeld's Deceptively Delicious, The Gastrokid Cookbooks

Smuggling vegetables to feed the kids

Sunday, 18 November, 2012, 12:00am

Annie Hofamilypost@scmp.com

My husband and I were in Taipei recently and decided to have French food instead of dumplings and noodles. During our indulgently "grown-up" dinner, we wondered when our two young daughters would be ready for a fine-dining experience, and whether they would enjoy food as much as we do.

My younger daughter almost always eats everything prepared for her. Then again, she's a compliant baby who's grateful for any novel experience. My elder daughter was the same at that age, but is now selective about what she will put into her mouth and how much she consumes. She's also particular about the order she eats her food.

At 15 months old, my elder daughter was conscientiously feeding herself entire bowls of all-in-one meals. Meanwhile, a friend's four-year-old child would be playing a handheld electronic game while being spoon-fed by his mother. I remember feeling so smug at those family dinners with friends. But at age four, my elder daughter now needs a lot of coaxing, and then threats, before she will finish her dinner.

A great beginner's guide to feeding children is Real Food for Healthy Kids by Tracey Seaman and Tanya Wenman Steel. In addition to more than 200 recipes ranging from basic to creative dishes, the authors discuss food psychology and etiquette. It is not uncommon for children to dislike anything new.

Studies show that it can take children over a dozen tries of a new food before their palate gets used to it, and they want to eat it. So a good rule is to make sure your children take one bite of any new food they are initially resistant to. Don't force them to eat more than that one bite.

The most-used recipe book in our home is Jessica Seinfeld's Deceptively Delicious. I admit that I bought the book because she is a celebrity (the wife of comedian Jerry). Although I don't share her belief in hiding vegetables, I am impressed by how Seinfeld sneaks them into what she serves her children, such as spinach purée in a recipe for brownies.

I always serve vegetables in plain sight of my children, but I do love Seinfeld's recipes because they're tasty, and they give my children that extra serving of veggies in case they don't eat their choi sum.

A staple in my book-gift closet, and one that I can't wait to start exploring with my children, is The Gastrokid Cookbook by Hugh Garvey and Matthew Yeomans. This has recipes for kid-friendly dishes that parents can also enjoy. Dishes include roasted chickpea bruschetta (from New York's Babbo restaurant) and their macaroni and cheese calls for prosciutto, pan-roasted tomatoes and crispy sage

But I'm probably getting ahead of myself. I need the elder one to stop separating her food and the younger one to grow some molars before I fantasise about culinary adventures with my children.

Annie Ho is a board governor of Bring Me A Book Hong Kongbringmeabook.org.hk

Amma Tell Me

In wonder of cultures that colour our world

PUBLISHED : Sunday, 11 November, 2012, 12:00am

UPDATED : Sunday, 11 November, 2012, 9:49am

This week, my younger daughter and I made diyas at our parent-child playgroup. Diyas are earthen oil lamps used for Diwali. The teacher explained Diwali, the Indian festival of lights, to the parents, while the children explored working with clay.

After we give the clay a couple of days to set, the children then paint their own diyas in gold paint. It will dry and be ready to take home just in time for Diwali.

When we get home, I pull Bhakti Mathur's Amma, Tell Me About Diwali! from my bookshelf and read the colourfully illustrated book to my younger daughter. She has just turned two, so when I read aloud to her, I don't necessarily give a verbatim reading of stories that may be a little too advanced for her.

The description of the rites and rituals surrounding Diwali and the explanation of how this festival came about are in rhyme. There are too many new vocabulary words for my younger daughter to understand and, therefore, maintain her interest.

Instead, we look at the lively cartoon drawings and point out what is happening.

My elder daughter, on the other hand, can appreciate when I follow the words on each page, and I read this story to her from cover to cover. She recognised the festive scenes that are reminiscent of Lunar New Year. In fact, Diwali is referred to as the Indian New Year.

Mathur's Diwali is the second in her Amma, Tell Me About series of stories. "Amma" means mother in many Indian languages, with the Amma in this series having two young sons, just like the author.

A working mother who lives in Hong Kong, Mathur has included in this series stories about Holi, the Indian festival of colours; Ramayana, the epic poem by Valmiki about Rama the righteous prince; and Krishna, on whose birthday Indians celebrate the festival called Janamashtami.

With the many nationalities and ethnicities living and working in Hong Kong, we are well-positioned to learn about the holidays and traditions of other cultures.

After moving to Hong Kong, I learned that Americans don't celebrate Boxing Day, the day after Christmas Day.

One of my elder daughter's early words was "Kwanzaa", a word she learned after watching a Sesame Street episode about this African-American festival.

Tuttle Publishing publishes a series of books on children's favourite stories from different countries. Besides Rosemarie Somaiah's Indian Children's Favorite Stories, there are also Korean Children's Favorite Stories andJapanese Children's Favorite Stories.

The main day of Diwali festivities is on November 13 this year, and my daughters and I are looking forward to seeing all the beautifully dressed Indian families coming and going in our building's lobby as they celebrate this festival of lights.

Annie Ho is board chairwoman of Bring Me A Book Hong Kongbringmeabook.org.hk

Richard Scarry: Best Storybook Ever, Busy Busy Town

Between the Lines: Richard Scarry's Busy, Busy Town

Sunday, 14 October, 2012, 12:00am

Annie Hofamilypost@scmp.com

When my daughter was just a few months old, my father-in-law bought Richard Scarry's Busy, Busy Town to read to her because he had read it to my husband when he was young. My husband fondly remembers Sergeant Murphy, the police-officer dog, as his favourite Scarry character.

Grandpa loved to flip through this action-packed book with his granddaughter on his lap. There was always something new to discover at each sitting. Many months later, my daughter found her own favourite character, Lowly.

She still didn't enunciate well at that time, so outsiders could not understand that she was referring to Busy Town's friendly worm whenever she said "Yo-Yee".

I found it amusing how Lowly the worm stood out on the page. The cats, rabbits, pigs, dogs, and all of the other animals were illustrated in similar shape and size. And among them would be twiglike Lowly, who always wore an alpine hat and a smile.

More recently, my daughter has been musing over the sequential descriptions of Busy Town 's busy activities.

In "At the Post Office", Huckle the cat writes a letter to Grandma, and Scarry proceeds to show the reader how that piece of mail reaches Grandma, who jumps with joy on receiving it. With a preoccupation with all things medical, it's no surprise that my daughter always asks us to re-read "Lowly Goes to the Medical Centre", a thoughtful overview of the different types of medical services a child might encounter.

I recognise Scarry's illustrations, but I don't recall reading them as a child. But it turns out that I owned his Best Story Book Ever.

This was revealed when, this summer in Canada, my parents finally succeeded in getting me to sort through the boxes of personal belongings that I had left with them, after moving to Hong Kong over a decade ago.

There among my childhood books was the original 1968 edition of Best Story Book Ever. I flipped through this comprehensive collection of stories, and the memories came flooding back.

Revisiting Best Story Book Ever as a parent I am amazed that it contains what seems like the entire curriculum for kindergarten. In this collection, are two-page spreads on a variety of subjects, such as shapes, numbers, musical instruments and occupations.

Scarry (1919-1994) created thousands of illustrations and accompanied them with educational narratives. Each item in an illustrated scene is usually named, giving readers a wonderful opportunity to learn some new vocabulary.

With Scarry as a partner, parents can help children to recognise and name many of the things in our everyday world.

Annie Ho is board chairperson of Bring Me A Book Hong Kongbringmeabook.org.hk

Books that deal with sibling rivalry - Chloe Instead; Best Friends for Frances

Dealing with sibling rivalry

Sunday, 21 October, 2012, 12:00am

Annie Hofamilypost@scmp.com

Sibling rivalry didn't exist in our household. My two daughters had been sharing a bedroom for more than a year. They played nicely. The camera caught countless instances of the two of them in a warm embrace. I felt blessed to be a part of this. That is, until my younger daughter figured out she had been getting the short end of the stick and started to tell me. Very loudly.

In generations past, it was natural for a new baby to be the centre of attention. Older children were expected to be more accomodating.

Then came the warning of contemporary parenting experts: if we don't pay more attention to a newborn's elder sibling, we are asking for trouble. The older one will seek attention by behaving badly. And he or she will become jealous and resent the new baby.

And so, a generation of growing families started to focus on the needs and feelings of the elder child. When my younger daughter was about to come home from the hospital, friends reminded me to buy a gift "from the baby to her big sister". Really? My elder daughter may not have grasped consumerism, but she must know that a baby cannot choose or buy a gift, right?

In any event, I bought the gift and she accepted it without much fanfare. And thus began my hyper-conscious efforts to ensure our elder daughter wouldn't feel supplanted.

Fast forward to a few months ago. I had my elder daughter on my lap and the younger one was on our helper's lap, as I got ready to read them a story. My younger daughter suddenly screamed, "Mama mama mama! I want to sit on mama's lap!" I was so surprised by this outburst that I promptly nudged the elder one off and plopped the younger one onto my lap.

Since then, my days comprise of the elder one's tattletale complaints about the younger being naughty, and the younger one whining about her sister not sharing.

Micah Player's Chloe, Instead is a great story about an elder sister learning to accept a younger sister who is nothing like her. A former creative director, Player produced the bold art work for his new release.

My elder daughter also enjoys Russell Hoban's Best Friends for Frances. It is a story about a badger named Frances who only wants to play with her friend Albert and treats her little sister as a nuisance. In the end she discovers that her little sister can also be her friend.

This scenario was mirrored when my eight-year-old nephew stayed with us recently. He and my elder daughter played well together, leaving my younger daughter trying to join the action. I couldn't quite figure out how one additional child could result in a three-fold increase in noise level. This has reaffirmed my respect for friends with three, four and five children under one roof.

Annie Ho is board chairwoman of Bring Me A Book Hong Kongbringmeabook.org.hk

David Christian Big History - Kevin Kelley The Home Planet

Between the Lines: Where little ones get the big picture

Sunday, 30 September, 2012, 12:00am

Annie Hofamilypost@scmp.com

Prominent historian Dr David Christian was in town to give a talk on Big History, a subject that he has been teaching for more than a decade. His personal narrative is interesting: he started off as a professor of Russian history, with a focus on the role of vodka in 19th century Russian society. After teaching the subject at Macquarie University in Sydney for a number of years, he asked himself how his courses were preparing his students to meet future challenges personally and for the human race generally.

He began to examine 19th century Russia in the context of Russian tribes and early European civilisations. And then he realised that to understand how those civilisations developed their unique characteristics, he had to take a step back to see the even bigger picture of migration patterns of prehistoric man from Africa to Russia. Before long, he had gone all the way back to the Big Bang.

Such introspection led Christian to develop his unique course on Big History. As he sees it, our formal education has become too narrow and fragmented, divided into disciplines and sub-disciplines and sub-sub-disciplines. He has taken learning in the opposite direction. His course starts with the Big Bang 13 billion years ago, with nary a mention of mankind until halfway through the semester. He provides this big picture for students to understand how all disciplines fit together, from cosmology to chemistry to geology to biology to anthropology.

Through this trans-disciplinary approach, students are able to move beyond their narrow view of an increasingly complex world. This approach allows students to understand how the specific subject matter they are studying fits together with other subjects. Hopefully, this will also encourage them to gain a global perspective and, simply put, to care more about planet Earth.

Christian cites Kevin W. Kelley's The Home Planet, a coffee-table book of photos of earth taken from space. Each photo is accompanied by a quotation from someone who has seen Earth from space. The common theme among such musings of astronauts from 18 different countries is an appreciation for collective humankind.

One astronaut explained that on the first day they saw Earth, each person on board looked for his own country. The next day, they pointed out their own continent. And by the third day, all they saw was one Earth.

My own example of the importance of taking a step back and looking at the big picture involves my friend's first-grader. He wrote the sentence: "The pepo in the park had fun." My friend understood that it was common for beginning writers to spell out words phonetically, but she was perplexed that her son could not spell "people" because he had just learned it for a spelling bee. When she gently reminded her son about the spelling bee, he said: "Oh, so this 'people' is the same as that 'people'?"

The boy was so focused on learning spelling that he didn't recognise those vocabulary words in the context of his own life.

Bill Gates took up this cause upon hearing Christian's lectures a few years ago. Gates and Christian are working on the Big History Project, with the aim to put a Big History class into grade nine curricula round the world.

What a sensible idea: to provide an overview and intellectual compass to all knowledge. By doing so, memorising the periodic table will no longer be viewed by students as a remote and isolated study. Instead, students can appreciate chemistry for its role in the creation of life on Earth.

Annie Ho is board chairwoman of Bring Me A Book Hong Kongbringmeabook.org.hk

Olympic Inspirations: Ambrose Goes for Gold, Koala Lou, Olympig

Books can bring out the best in children

Sunday, 23 September, 2012, 12:00am

Annie Hofamilypost@scmp.com

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Books can bring out the best in children

Few parents are ever completely satisfied with their children. When my children were born extremely premature, all I wanted was for them to come home in good health. When they came home in good health, I wished for them to be more outgoing in new environments. When they started to speak English words, I wished for them to learn more Chinese words. And on it goes.

The same is true of my friends with children. Those with active children wish their offspring would sit and read picture books for long stretches of time, while those with cerebral children wish for them to be sportier.

In the case of the latter, reading aloud is simply a matter of finding a wide variety of engaging books because they are already inclined to learn about the world through books. However, this doesn't apply to children for whom reading a book falls at the bottom of their long list of fun things to do.

Children who are not yet interested in reading, or being read to, need to be showered with books that focus on what they like, regardless of quality or genre. For children who love their superhero figurines, read comic books about the Avengers to them. For children who love fairy princesses, share pink sparkly pop-up books with them.

If we remind ourselves that the read-aloud journey is for parent-child bonding and for developing a lifelong enjoyment of reading, then we can relax a little on quality control.

When it comes to budding bookworms whom parents wish could spend hours running around an outdoor playground, a few quality books on topic may just provide the inspiration needed to get them moving.

Victoria Jamieson's Olympig is melodramatically subtitled The Triumphant Story of an Underdog. Espousing the belief that attitude is everything, it endearingly depicts Boomer the Pig as an optimist who continues to participate in various sporting events even though he is defeated time and time again.

Our family enjoyed extensive coverage of the London Olympics on television during our visit to Canada. The country was filled with pride when it won its first medal, a bronze in women's synchronised diving. I love how Canadians practise such good sportsmanship.

The title characters of the other two books, on the other hand, don't have the positivism of Boomer the Pig. Koala Lou and Ambrose the insect are closer in temperament to a typical preschooler; they are eager to win and feel dejected when the victor's trophy eludes them.

Koala Lou by Mem Fox is about a little koala's attempts to win the Bush Olympics. As Fox is Australian, the illustrations in this story capture the bush, which is that dry, shrub-filled landscape that is uniquely Australian. She also introduces local animals such as the emu and the kookaburra. Beneath the story, which accurately evokes the despair of wanting to place first but failing to achieve it, is a deeper theme of the love between a mother and her firstborn.

When little brothers and sisters were born and took up more of her mother's time, Koala Lou feared her mother no longer loved her as much as before. She mistakenly thought that her mother would love her more if she won the Bush Olympics, and hence her determination to train diligently for the gum-tree climbing event. Following this childish logic, Koala Lou equated losing the Bush Olympics with losing the chance of more love from her mother. Naturally, the story ends with Koala Lou getting love and reassurance from her mother.

Ambrose Goes for Gold by Tor Freeman has a lighter tone than Koala Lou, and this is consistent with its equally light pen-and-ink drawing style. In this story, Ambrose competes in various events at the Great Insect Games, but keeps losing to an insect with greater abilities, such as the grasshopper in the jumping competition.

Each time he loses he feels a little more dejected, until Ambrose all but gives up on the Games. But in the humorous twist at the end, Ambrose does, unexpectedly, finally win a gold medal. Good sportsmanship is a value I hope to instil in my children, if not as future Olympians, then at least in time for the big sports day at my elder daughter's school in November. These are just the books to help me with this task. 

Annie Ho is board chairwoman of Bring Me A Book Hong Kong bringmeabook.org.hk