This weekend, we had an evening trip to the world’s biggest book sale in Dubai: The Big Bad Wolf Books:
I know most of you are so excited to hear this. Sinong hindi? Just imagine, over 3 million books up for grabs at incredible 50-80% discounts! While I was there, it was sooo overwhelming. This is a book paradise. a heaven for book lovers!
When I was growing up, in a world without video games and gadgets– books were very important to me. I had 2 kinds of books: a volume of thick A-Z encyclopedia and school/academic books. We did not have enough money to buy extra books, I can’t even remember having 1 nursery book or even a small library at home.
That’s the reason why I am exposing Giane to read ‘good books’, as long as we can afford to buy them. Today, gadgets are impacting children’s passion for books, so as early as now, I am training Giane to appreciate and love her books.
Giane has started grabbing books from the shelves herself. I was so proud when I saw the first time she’s done that. Since we are living in a small apartment, space has been an issue (most OFW in Dubai can relate here) but I’m so grateful for the small little library we were able to create for her.
What I learned about Kid’s Books and what am I looking for?
Compiled flashcards |I also love books that are just categorized with a simple photo and one text that describes what the image. I like matching them with a miniature model. It can become tools to help our kids strengthen their memory skills.
Nursery Rhymes Books | The sing-song rhymes are important for language building, so rhyming books are a plus for me! Lately, she is in love with Itsy Bitsy Spider and Humpty Dumpty. Lovely illustrations, and simple words that children love!
Reality-based Stories | Because Giane is just learning about the world and cannot distinguish reality from fantasy yet, I would rather offer books that help her understand the world and her body better. At this stage, she cannot tell yet that kissing a frog would turn to a prince in real life, so I would rather offer a realistic book about vehicles and vegetable as it offers the keys to the world.
Simple Books | As little text as possible for some books. In infants, the text is not yet important. It’s comprehension that we want to build, so the more text they see, the more “noise” there is in an image. Text can serve as a distraction at this point.
Personally, I like the Kindergarten Board Books set: one image (real photo) per page and just one text to identify the photo – perfect for my toddler.
When It Comes To Books Less Is More | the more books the better, right? Actually no! Literacy is best developed through repetition of the same books. The more a child hears a story the more they will understand from it. With each repetition, they will gain a deeper level of comprehension. Read here to understand more. So hang in there Mommy and Daddy, you’re doing your kids a favour!
More thoughts on books :
1. In my previous post, I have shared that a display bookcase is what I highly recommended to encourage reading. I find it frustrating that people display the children’s book’s spine out.
2. We use these mini-board books during travels, and I always have the Animals book in my bag. It’s small enough that it doesn’t really bear weight, so I can just bring it in case we need to read or look at photos.
3. At this stage, Giane also likes recognizing familiar things by naming the photos she sees. You know those grocery catalogs or food delivery brochures? Get those — really useful!
4. Here is a board book hack to help our little ones to turn pages: Wrap rubber bands around the spine of the book to separate a few of the pages. This will keep them from sticking together and help her to turn them long before she can separate them.
My next target: scouting for books that encourage a lot of movement for Giane, planets and some Filipino books!
Hope this post was useful. Feel free to share your great finds and book stories, would love to hear about them!
Visit the world’s biggest book sale in the UAE: The Big Bad Wolf Sale Dubai has something for everyone, brand new, high-quality books across all genres, from fiction, non-fiction to children’s books, offered at unbelievable 50%-80% discounts.
18 October – 28 October (10 days only!)
24 hours a day, 256 hours, non-stop
Sound Stage Venue, Dubai Studio City
SURVIVAL CHECKLIST
What to Bring: Your own bags/boxes, lots of cash…and a great attitude!
What to Wear: Light, loose comfortable clothing and shoes
When to Come: Outside peak hours for maximum shopping comfort (weekdays 11 am – 5 pm)
What to Plan: Your budget and your optimum route through the sale. Expect to spend 2-5 hours with us!
Avoid: Tossing your unwanted books everywhere (put them back where you found them!) Please please please!
And in case you are hungry, there’s Jollibee right outside the entrance door!
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Grace Anatomy 