Even though I and my children do watch plenty of TV, I am a bit of a book snob. I’ll admit it. I sometimes won’t read a particular talk show host’s hot new pick (even if it is a literary delight) because I don’t want to read it just because I got caught up in the huge bandwagon parade.
One might think that movie tie-in books would fall into this eye-rolling “I’m too good for this” category, and they sort of do, but there’s one big difference: they are fun and grab kids’ interest.
I want my children to appreciate the literary merits of books, for sure, but I also want them to see books as fun–as playthings even. I think that playing with books early on plants some sort of seed in their budding brains: I always want to be surrounded by books.
Kyle “read” his board books on car trips when he was one. They were put into his crib as toys. He’s now a very busy four-year-old boy, who still loves books.
He’s been enjoying these Kung Fu Panda movie tie-in books, even though he hasn’t actually seen the movie. Keep reading to find out how to win your own set.
Kung Fu Panda Fact Book–This is just what it says, a fact book, with descriptions of each of the characters and five large fold-out poster pages.
Kung Fu Panda Create-a-Story–This is a really great book. The pictures are bright and colorful, 
the pages are thick cardboard on a sturdy covered spiral-ring, and it’s a perfect way for your child to observe sentence composition in action. Each page is segmented into four sections from which the reader can mix and match to create their own story sentence. The first section is a descriptive prepositional phrase, such as “On a hillside.” The second has the character noun and a verb, “Po wishes for.” The third section contains an object “tasty dumplings,” and the fourth closes it out with some varied structures–either a descriptive prepositional phrase, a compound verb phrase, or an adverbial phrase “as fireworks fill the air.”
The Kung Fu Panda Magnetic Storybook—
This really is just a plaything, but I love these magnetic storybooks. They are perfect for quiet play in the car or as a take-along anywhere where there might be some waiting time.
If you’d like to win a set of these books (U.S. shipping addresses only), please leave a comment here telling me the role that “fun” books play in your family. The winner will be announced on July 30. The giveaway is closed.
Managing Editor Jennifer Donovan is a contributing editor at 5 Minutes for Mom. She has been blogging at Snapshot for over two years. You’ll almost always find her holding either a book, a fork, a child’s hand, her laptop, or some combination therein.
We also have always surrounded our girls with books!
Hi,just found your blog. I also have two kids a girl who is 8 and a boy who is 4. Last Friday we took the kids to the cinema and saw Kung-Fu Panda, it would be great if i manage to find these books here in Malta too. I simply love books and my kids are somehow getting there too. Great blog! I will come back to read more.
My daughter who’s 20 months loves books! During the day she’ll go over to her book shelf and grab a book for us to read to her. She would have story time all day if she could. Growing up I loved to read. In fact I remember many times when my parents would have to insist that I went to sleep because I would still be up reading a book! My father would rather us be reading than watching tv…I hope that my children would rather curl up with a good book, than flip through the channels on tv.
Fun books are a way to express creativity – funny voices or intonations, elaborations on storylines, etc. are great way to really engage children.
We tend to save the fun books not for bedtime, but for when we’re having a rough day. Sitting down, and laughing to a silly book together, lets us relax and lets my toddler stop whining for a few minutes!
Fun books definitely have their place in our house. I want my boys to love to read anything and everything. We have books that I have bought through the years while teaching as well as the ones that my older son wants from television shows and movies. I also know that fun books are wonderful to help reluctant readers, something I hope neither of my boys will ever be.
We LOVE books at our house. We have more books than we have of anything else. The fact that my husband works at a bookstore just adds to our ever growing personal library.
I read with my daughter every day. She loves flipping through books on her own as well. I’m excited for the day when she learns to read and can read my books from when I was a little girl that are now on her bookshelf.
My son has always loved books, and is already a good reader at age 5. My daughter, though, has never been as interested and has to be encouraged to listen to books. Fun books really help pull her in and keep her attention.
My nephew would LOVE these books!
dbstout[at]juno[dot]com
Fun books really helped me to learn to read, and to learn to love to read! I’ve seen all these cool new books for kids, and I wish I had them when I was a kid!
We love books that are fun and educational, such as Usborne books. My favorite animal is the panda bear, so these books would be a fun addition to our home library.
We love the “fun” books because that gives my kids a way to remember the fun of the movie without having to watch it endlessly!