Children's Book Review

I bought 4 Children’s books last Christmas, like what I wrote last time, I’d make some reviews first then will give to it to my God daughter and my extended relative from Bicol. The other 2, still undecided to whom will I give it. Nonetheless, here are the following Reviews:

1.       Ang Tsinelas ni Inoy ( Inoy’s Slippers) by Renato C. Vibiesca/ Illustrations by James B. Abalos

I’m proud to say that it’s one of the Award-Winning stories for Children; it won A Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, Unang Gantimpala, Maikling Kathang Pambata 1996.

Basically, the story is about Inoy, he’s used to wear slippers that are interchanged. His mother always reminded him to wear it properly but he disobeyed her and even if his father has threatened to whip him if he does not wear his slippers properly, he continues to wear them the wrong way. Until he gets himself lost in the world of opposites and a smooth cockroach tells him he can only go home after he has found three things that are not reversed.

That’s what he did along staying in that strange world. The story is a reminder to the parents on how to teach their children a proper way of wearing clothes, shoes, slippers or any facilities at home or outside their house. It’s also a way for the children to learn obedience to their parents because it’s for their benefit to look good and proper, and also to use things appropriately.

2.      Ang pambihirang sombrero (An amazing hat) Story and Illustrations by Jose Miguel Tejido

“Mia was fond of collecting unusual thing.” That’s the first line from this story and one day she rummaged through her grandma’s wooden trunk and found a hat. She giddily wore the hat but it’s not enough for her to just look on the mirror to see if it fits her- so she decided to go out and asked different people’s opinion. They liked Mia’s hat, but they want more out of it, so what they did was to give her various things then put it on Mia’s hat. Before going home, everyone find out something unusual from the hat.

I think what made the story worth reading (aside from the colorful and dazzling illustrations) is that it will make the readers, especially the children from 8-9 years old to widen their imaginations and describe things vividly. It also gives a sense of curiosity on what might happen next to each line’s sequence.

3.      Sampung magkakaibigan (Ten Friends) by Kristine Canon and Illustrations by Ruben De Jesus

Friendship can be developed during childhood in school and this is what happened to the characters from this story. The main character here is Karlo, who bullied his weak classmates and friends. Later on he found himself alone in the middle of the playground. He was searching for his friends to play with him but no one wanted to.

The reader can either expect if there’s a character development on Karlo’s role or not. For the parents who are going to comprehend this, they can be a role model to their children’s growth, because what they initially see, they followed.

4.      Nag-iiyakang mga bata (Crying children) by Grace Chong  and Illustrations by Beth Parrocha Doctolero

The story went on when Teo volunteered to take care of the children at the Day Care Center. He thought being a volunteer teacher was an easy job. But- “Waahhh! Waahhh! Waahhh!” All the children started crying. The conflict stirred up when all his strategies failed in calming the crying children.

 The questions such as will the students calm down or not will arise upon the readers. If he did then what was his strategy?

The moral lesson from this story is that sometimes music can calm down a storm even children’s unsettled emotions.