Must-Read | "Today I Am" by Mies Van Hout + {International Giveaway}

We've been exploring a new book lately. I say "explore" because with reading, you can live many lives and travel through time & space with your imagination :) Today I Am is the Southeast Asian English version of the award-winning Dutch children’s book Vrolijk by Mies van Hout.

First published in June 2011 in the Netherlands, Vrolijk has since garnered numerous accolades, including being nominated for the prestigious Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis {German Children’s Literature Award} 2013. It has since been translated into many languages including German, Italian and French and will also be translated into other Asian languages such as Bahasa Indonesia, Thai, Mandarin, Tagalog and Vietnamese.

Filled with vivid crayon drawings of dazzling fish, Today I Am shows 20 common emotions a young child encounters. Each double page spread is devoted to one fish showing a particular emotion, along with its name in lettering that expresses the same feeling.

Reading it with Lil Pumpkin made me explore the myriad different feelings we take for granted sometimes. Sometimes people ask "how are you today?" and we answer with a simple "good". But life is more than feeling good, or not feeling enough to give a deeper answer.

I feel that the book encouraged Lil Pumpkin to learn more about her different feelings and increased her vocabulary in expressing her emotions. With each word paired with an easy-to-understand example of that emotion, it allowed us to talk about different situations where she could have felt that way, and how we can cope with that emotion, especially if it was a negative one, so that she remains in control rather than overwhelmed.

Emotional awareness is important in the development of happy and healthy children, and all emotions should be equally embraced. Being able to accurately recognise and understand emotions can help the kids in self-motivation, guide thinking processes and enhance relationships with others.

Even though there isn't much text in this book, a picture speaks a thousand words and just talking about the different fishes with different expressions provided a rich experience between me and my girl. This hard-cover book is currently at major bookstores, and suitable for kids aged 2-10 years old... although I think adults will find it a joy to read too :) 

Just for my special blog readers and friends, I have FIVE "Today I Am" children's book {worth S$20 each} to give away! It's an international giveaway so if you are living outside of Singapore, feel free to enter too!

International Giveaway Method: Random Draw

1. Be a Sakura Haruka Facebook page fan

2. Share this post link on your Facebook wall and tag my page. Make sure your post is public so I can view it!

3. Leave me a blog comment telling me your favourite fish + name of your FB account that you used to like the page + email add. For those unsure of how to comment, choose "Name/URL" option then add your name and comment. If you prefer to send me your email add privately, please contact me at sakuraharuka {at} live {dot} com.

FIVE random winners will be chosen. Just complete all 3 simple steps!

Details:
* Open to readers worldwide. Non-Singapore residents may enter too.
* Ends Sunday, 1 Sep 2013 2359hrs {Singapore time} 
* Incomplete or inappropriate entries will be deemed invalid and will not be included.
* All winners will be announced on Thursday, 5 Sep 2013 on this blog post and notified via email. Winners have 5 days to reply, or the prizes will be redrawn.
* Sakura Haruka is not responsible for any prizes lost, damaged or misplaced in the mail.

UPDATE: The giveaway has ended. The winners are Stacy, Alissa, Lilium Day, Brandi Yee and Ashmika. Stay tuned for more blog giveaways on Sakura Haruka! Check out my current readers promos too. Thanks for your support!

* Disclosure: Fish Book Co provided the Today I Am children's book for review and giveaway. No monetary compensation was received, and all opinions are my own.

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