Off the Bookshelf: A Roald Dahl Summer

How did you fare with your summer book list?  We didn’t get to stick to our list but we at least got to finish several new titles.

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We started summer with The Magician’s Nephew, the first book in the Chronicles of Narnia, with the intention of finishing all the seven CS Lewis books by the end of summer. However, halfway through second book The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the kids saw the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on television. This prompted Jade to re-read the book which she had already finished reading (from cover to cover all by herself! yey!) last February. After that, she read Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. By happenstance, we found three more Roald Dahl books in the thrift shop near our home. The Magic Finger, Matilda, and The BFG were added to our collection. Then my beautiful BFF Tita Gen bought her two more books – The Witches and James and the Giant Peach. That made seven Roald Dahls!

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Roald Dahl Books In a Nutshell

Most of Roald Dahls’ books are riddled with humorous poems and silly words that make children giggle. Most of his works for children are also told in a child’s point of view which makes it easy for young kids to relate to the story. However, the stories also often contain gruesome events and black humor so it’s best to read this along with your child or at least have a discussion after each chapter. The main characters in his stories are often children of ill circumstances. James, Sophie, and the little boy in The Witches were all orphans with two of them losing their parents in gruesome accidents. Matilda had crooks for parents. Charlie Bucket had his entire family with him but they were destitute.

Notwithstanding the grotesque and macabre aspects of his stories, Dahl leaves his readers with life lessons that even young readers could understand. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory shows them the consequences of being a glutton, a spoiled brat, and a television rat. It also shows how the humble and good-hearted are rewarded. In the BFG, we see how the supposedly weak ones are able to use their wits to stop the giants from eating “human beans”. We also see how the BFG improves his English once given a chance to learn it properly.

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Little Girl’s Two Cents on Roald Dahl

Has Jade read all of them? Sort of. She’s read four of the books and skimmed through the other three so she does know all the stories. Oftentimes, she’d go through one of the books and read the parts she skipped.

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Does she like them? Oh yes! She says Roald Dahl writes really well and tells very funny stories. She didn’t like The Witches though and says she’d “rather forget all about the story and erase it from memory” (Yes, she does talk like that!). Among the seven books, her top three faves are The BFG, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Matilda. She’s also requesting for copies of The Twits and The Fantastic Mr. Fox. So kind-hearted titas and titos, please keep the two titles in mind for her coming birthday.  🙂  Oh, and we wouldn’t mind getting some EB White books as well.

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Off the Bookshelf: Soupy Saturdays with The Pain and The Great One

Do you have children who never seem to get along with each other? Who seem to have mastered the art of war, uhm, getting on each other’s nerves? If there’s one parenting issue that transcends time, it has got to be sibling rivalry.  All families with multiple children deal with it in varying degrees. My parents did. Now, my husband and I are dealing with it.  It wouldn’t be a surprise that many can relate to Judy Blume’s The Great One and The Pain.

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Meet the Great One and the Pain

Abigail and Jake are siblings who both feel that their parents love the other more than themselves.  Abigail thinks of her brother as “the Pain” who’s always bothersome and who she wants to have nothing to do with.  Jake, on the other hand, thinks his sister is “the Great One” who always seems to do everything right in their parents’ eyes.   In the book, we are able to take a peek into the mind of each sibling with their alternate narratives.   No matter how different their views are or how much they think they “dislike” each other, we are able to see that they really do care for each other.

Soupy Saturdays

Soupy Saturdays is the first among a series of books about the Great One and the Pain.  In Soupy Saturdays, we read about several stories that all take place on Saturdays.  From a failed birthday party to a trip out of town, we also find out how they conquer Jake’s fear of Mr. Soupy the haircutter and Abigail’s fear of riding the bike.  Like all books in the series, this one ends with Fluzzy the cat’s narrative.

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What My Kids Say

Jakei wasn’t interested in reading the book yet. He’s barely five years old so that’s quite understandable.  Jade says she likes the book but Roald Dahl still remains her favorite.  She also thinks that Abigail and Jake are similar to her and Jakei (which is quite true as they are a bit of a know-it-all older sis and a mischievous younger bro).  However, Jade says she like Jake’s character more because “he chews on Bruno’s ear”.  Asked if she would recommend it to other kids, she just said “Yes, because it’s funny.”

As with most of our books, we got our copy on sale.  She still has a couple of Roald Dahl and CS Lewis books to read but we will still be on a lookout for the other books about The Great One and The Pain. 🙂

My NBS Warehouse Sale Haul

I actually didn’t think I’d be able to go to the warehouse sale last week but I did! Thanks to my husband, I was able to go on Saturday AND on Sunday. The warehouse was dusty, crowded, and hot but I didn’t mind staying there for hours. It was book heaven for frugal moms like me. Imagine books going for as low as P5! If you’re lucky enough, you can find great books in mint condition being sold at 90% off. Just check out some of our fave finds:

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Did you notice that those were all children’s books? 🙂 The little boy was with me when I went to the sale on Saturday so it was mostly his pick. Each of those books cost only P5 – 50 pesos.  I went back on Sunday all by myself hoping to find some novels for me to read but still ended up with more children’s books. Although, I still did manage to score a handful of good novels for my sisters and me.

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Sunday being the last day of the sale, the warehouse was packed and the queue to the checkout counters was loooooooooooooong. I spent more than hour waiting in line! I’m not complaining though as I still got to browse books from the tables as we moved along the line. During the four hours I was there, I saw people who chose to leave when they saw the crowd and the long line. For me though, the huge discounts were well worth waiting an hour in line.

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We’re definitely looking forward to the next NBS Warehouse Sale! From my experience last week, I’d keep these in mind:

  • Wear rubber shoes or closed shoes with socks. The floor was just bare cement and my black sandals turned gray after walking around for hours.
  • Go on the first day of the sale – in the morning! Best to go when the sale first opens to grab the best buys. Plus, books are still well-organized during the first day. If you have kids, I suggest you go on the first day as well.
  • Eat before you start shopping. Expect to spend hours going through the stacks of books and another hour at the checkout lane. Good thing I had plenty of candies in my bag to ward off hunger pangs.
  • Forget the book list! I actually had a book list with me when I went to the sale but it was rendered useless. One, the books were not arranged in any particular order. Second, there was just too many shoppers (too many competition :P) that I just grabbed whatever the kids would love to read and was in good condition. I wasn’t even able to check what the little boy was putting in the basket anymore. Which is why we ended up with “a hundred” Batman books. 😛
  • Bring wet wipes and alcohol. You’d need them after you shop. Most books are dusty so expect to get a bit of dirt on your hands. There’s a washroom on the first floor but a pack of wet wipes and alcohol would still come handy.

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Off the Bookshelf: I Wish They Taught Money in High School

Well, I do remember studying about money in high school. We were taught to count money and change as early as first grade. We also had business math in high school and we had those investment problems in algebra. So, yeah, in a way we were taught money in high school. But, like the authors of I Wish They Taught Money in High School, I wish they did teach us how to apply all those “word problems” in real life. If somebody had taught me how the stock market worked in high school or even how to invest in mutual funds, I’d have made a fortune by now! It makes me question that if a lot of students had been taught how to apply such techniques, would we need as many payday loans in order to survive in the world. Maybe we would all be rich and live happy lives knowing that our teachers gave us all the skills we needed to be able to look after our money and spend it wisely. Who knows? But this didn’t happen and consequently, it inspired this book to be created.

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The book, I Wish They Taught Money in High School, comes in two parts written by Sharon Que and by Clarissa Serina-de la Paz. Both authors share their respective money journeys with Sharon Que focusing on entrepreneurship and Clarissa Serina-de la Paz focusing on investments. Both debunk the myth that you have to be rich to start a business or to have investments. Their personal narratives and the quirky illustrations by GooglyGooeys.com make the book a light yet very informative read.

No One’s Too Young to Start a Business

In my generation, kids were supposed to focus on their studies and leave money-making to their parents. Prior to being gainfully employed after college, all our expenses were funded from allowances given by our parents. Unless we took stock market trading courses or had lessons on how to pay bills appropriately, we were basically just thrown into adult life and the way the world works in terms of money. Ms. Que though shares with us how she, as a young child, was already exposed to the rigors of business. This early exposure to entrepreneurship has paved the way for her early success in the field of business. Yes, she was already a young entrepreneur at age 10. 🙂 In the book, she encourages us to start a business and turn it into a way of life. She also shares with us how to be an entrepreneur without shelling out any capital. So whether you choose to open up a one product shopify store, a t-shirt printing company or sell jewelry, there’s no better time to start this than the present! The book also provides you with a step-by-step guide for registering your business. If you’re looking for other tips and tricks for starting your own business, such as how to get a higher sales count, then you can look at this negotiation skills training course to help you on the road to being successful. There is plenty of help out there you can find no matter the area you’re looking to improve on in your business, whether you’re just starting off or have been going for years.

From Working for Money to Making Money Work for You

Clarissa Serina-dela Paz on the other hand shares her money journey as a fulltime employee. She gives very helpful advice on how to make your money work for you. Those who slave in the office only to have paychecks barely last a second in their hands would be wise to take Ms. Clarissa’s advice.

Specific and Attainable Goals for Financial Freedom

Both authors espouse goal setting to achieve financial freedom. They do not claim to make you millionaires overnight but share doable ways on how you can grow your wealth even with meager resources. Though most of their recommendations can also be found in other online sites and books, it still is inspiring to hear their personal success stories. Unlike books written by financial experts, these two books do not contain highly technical terms that make our heads dizzy. They provide concrete ways – the very same ones they used – to achieve financial freedom. I Wish They Taught Money in High School is highly suggested for those who want to grow their money but have no idea where and how to start.

80% OFF at the National Book Store Warehouse Sale!

Get your 2014 booklist ready and head off to the National Book Store Warehouse Sale at the 4th floor of their Quezon Avenue branch.  Sale starts at 10am tomorrow, January 15, and will end on Sunday, January 19.

National Bookstore Warehouse Sale 2014