Latest news with #picturebooks
Free Malaysia Today
11 hours ago
- Business
- Free Malaysia Today
UM lecturers use picture books to teach children about money
Lecturers Shalini Nadaswaran (left) and Vandana Saxena teach kids financial literacy through picture books. (Dinesh Kumar Maganathan @ FMT Lifestyle) PETALING JAYA : An eight-year-old boy from an orphanage sat quietly after a picture-book reading, then raised his hand. 'One day,' he said, 'I want to work, make money, and build a house. Not just for me but for my parents, my siblings, and my uncle, so we can all live together.' He wasn't just echoing the lesson of the book, in which children give their savings to their parents; he was going further. The boy envisioned financial independence not as a personal goal, but as a way of uplifting his entire family. This powerful moment unfolded during a financial literacy workshop by Universiti Malaya (UM) lecturers Shalini Nadaswaran and Vandana Saxena, who use picture books to teach seven- to nine-year-olds about saving, spending and planning. 'It's personal for both of us,' said Shalini. 'We're mothers, and we see how children today are surrounded by advertising. They know how to spend but don't necessarily understand the value of money.' Shalini, whose academic work centres on African women's literature, and Vandana, who specialises in children's and young-adult fiction, saw how picture books could bridge economic theory and lived experience. While the current materials are western picture books, Shalini and Vandana aim to curate more localised content. (Dinesh Kumar Maganathan @ FMT Lifestyle) 'When we read picture books through the lens of literary criticism, especially around economics, we started seeing connections,' Vandana, an Indian national, explained. 'We wanted to bring this into real communities – especially with children from vulnerable backgrounds.' Their 1.5-hour workshop began with a simple question: what would you do with RM100? 'Some wanted cars, jewellery, designer clothes. Others said ice cream. And some, especially from more vulnerable backgrounds, had no idea how money is earned,' Shalini recalled. Then came the read-aloud session – 'The Berenstain Bears' Let's Talk About Money'. The story follows two bear siblings who spend recklessly, and learn to earn and save. But it's what happened after the story that really matters. The same RM100 question was posed again – and this time, there was a shift. 'One girl who initially wanted to buy jewellery suddenly said she would make her own and sell it,' Shalini shared. 'Another boy said he'd now save his money in a bank – because otherwise, he might lose it.' By the end of each session, participants show a new understanding of money. (Shalini Nadaswaran pic) The children begin to grasp not just the idea of money, but the principles of earning and saving. 'You could see the wheels turning in their minds. They were beginning to think about money in ways they hadn't before.' So far, Shalini and Vandana have conducted just two workshops – one at a school and another at an orphanage – since they started early this year. A recurring challenge, they pointed out, is the lack of locally relevant picture books. 'There are certain things that are very Asian, like charity and giving to the poor,' Vandana explained. 'We do not see these in the books we use, even though these are different kinds of value systems we need to pay attention to.' So, they're laying the groundwork to write and curate their own content – 'something more localised for children so that, when they read the books, the setting is familiar and the understanding becomes easier'. But why teach children about money at all? 'It's an everyday reality,' Vandana noted. 'We need to mould them to have an understanding of money. Our children can't be stooges of capitalism.' Shalini and Vandana believe financial literacy should start at home. (Dinesh Kumar Maganathan @ FMT Lifestyle) This is where storytelling becomes key: it's not just about understanding money – it's about the experience of listening, and of imagining different choices. 'The children were spellbound when we read out loud,' Shalini said. 'You get kids with different levels of understanding. So, you must meet everyone's needs.' They hope to scale the project to more schools, orphanages, NGOs, and Orang Asli communities. Acknowledging their limits, Shalini and Vandana are creating free digital resources – lesson plans, story-based activities, and teacher guides – so others can run the programme even without them. Both lecturers ultimately believe financial literacy starts at home. 'Be open. Talk about spending, saving, earning. Children understand more than we give them credit for,' said Shalini. But this openness doesn't mean saying 'yes' to everything. 'Even simple lines like 'that's expensive, let's revisit this later' can build habits. It moves children away from instant gratification.'
Geek Dad
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Dad
Stack Overflow: 6 Books for May
On this roundup list, we celebrate my usual favorites: board books, books in translation, migrant stories, and even an early reader graphic novel that I enjoyed a bit too much. Let's start with picture books: Cristina Plays by Micaela Chirif (Author), Paula Ortiz (Illustrator), Lawrence Schimel (Translator) Micaela Chirif is an award-winning Peruvian author of children's books and poetry, and I am glad that we are finally giving some space to widely recognized authors like her (it has taken far too long). In this book, Cristina is playing with a doll house that has a rabbit doll. Cristina will soon exchange her place in the doll's house with her doll, in a vivid dream that displays her imagination, dwelling in a poetic way on what children feel when involved in representational play. Cristina Plays is on sale since April 15, 2025. Publisher: Orca Book Publishers Pages: 36/ Hardback EAN/UPC: 9781459841178 Up next, the idea behind the book gives voice to dads: Love, Dad: Inspiring Notes from Fathers to Kids by Andrew Gardner (Author), Joel Warsh (Author), David Cooper (Illustrator) This illustrated take on parents' wishes is nice because it portrays a wide array of loving dads, something we don't get enough of: When you grow up, I hope you… …let your smile change the world …feel you are loved, in every cell of your body …learn how to help those who need a hand Eighteen fathers are asked to finish the sentence above, and the eighteen wishes have lot in common. They all wish for their offspring to do well, to be brave and kind, and to learn to help others. As parents, we wish the best for our kids, always, but we rarely get to say it, we are busy barking orders, giving advice, and trying to survive. This letter anthology helps parents go past that. Love, Dad is on sale since April 08, 2025. Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers Pages: 40/ Hardback ISBN: 9780593572160 Up next, an early reader graphic novel (I didn't know those even existed!). Pencil & Eraser: Lost and Frown! by Jenny Alvarado (Author) This is the second adventure of a pencil and eraser BFFs. I have to say that the first one, Pencil & Eraser: We Have a Dull-Emma! was hilarious, especially if you are very young, first starting in the world of comics (the page layout is early reader friendly) and love corny jokes. If you are not into corny jokes, this book is definitely not for you. The joke breaks that happen sporadically in the book are fabulously corny: What is a ninja's favorite juice? Fruit Punch! (You get the idea…). In the first novel, Pencil is dull and convinces Eraser to go on a sharpener-hunt throughout the school, having loads of adventures in the process. In the second book, they fall out of their owner's bag on their way to karate, and have to navigate the town to get there, with a fun stop in the Arcade! These two friends are fun, relatable, and you have to admit that eraser is the practical one of the pair, but she loves her partner's goofiness very much. Pencil & Eraser: Lost and Frown! is on sale since May 06, 2025. Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers Hardback | Pages: 80 ISBN: 9780593699812 Now for a beautiful book about solidarity: New Shoes for Leo by Lauren Agra Deedy (Author), Susan Gal (Illustrator) Susan Gal has made something beautiful for this book, rendering it in a soft light that warms everything it touches. And it is a warm story. A young Cuban American boy must help fill a box for relatives on the island, an endeavor migrant families do for every country in the world: they send clothes, medicine, and knickknacks to poorer relatives on their country of origin, sometimes monthly, to help those who are having a harder time than them. William's Mami and his Tía Ana ask him to help on a task for a young boy just about his age: find shoes for him to be shipped to Cuba. Cousin Leo, he will soon discover, has a lot in common with him. He also has freckles, loves baseball, and is loved very much by his close-knit family. But no one has the right size for him! What can William do to fulfill his task? William is about to learn a very important lesson about love and solidarity, just by fulfilling this apparently simple task. New Shoes for Leo is on sale since March 04, 2025. Published by Scholastic Press Hardback | Pages: 40 ISBN: 9781338770216 Now for a recently translated book: Newborns. How Baby Animals Come Into the World by Paulina Jara (Author), Mercè Galí (Illustrator), Lawrence Schimel (Translator) On this lengthy nonfiction book, there are 25 diverse ways to come into this world, from little tiny kangaroos that crawl to their mother's pouch being the size of a pea, and continue to grow there, to baby tadpoles, tiny newborn spiders and cougars, all of them unique and a testimony to the marvel of evolution. Some gestation periods are days; some are years. Some babies are born ready to fend for themselves, while others rely on their parents for months. The only thing I did not like where the illustrations. I feel that a quirkier, more detailed look at animal expressions and baby faces would have made the book more relatable to young readers. Newborns is on sale since March 11, 2025 Publisher: Orca Book Publishers Hardback | Pages: 64 ISBN: 9781459840348 Finally, this book inspired Spirited Away by Hayao Miyazaki: The Village Beyond the Mist by Sachiko Kashiwaba (Author), Miho Satake (Illustrator), Avery Fischer Udagawa (Translator) This book, which inspired a famous Miyazaki movie, has little in common with the story portrayed in the film. As a fan of Kashibawa's work, I would be doing her a disservice if I said that the story was not magical on itself, it truly is! She has an ability for magical tales as strong as Dianne Wayne Jones'. When a young Lina is sent all by herself to a place called Misty Valley, she is in for an adventure. The village is connected to different places and times, the town is not on any map, and the headmistress of the house looks like the witch in Spirited Away , but the adventures are very different. There is a magical bookstore that is in itself a gateway to all magical bookstores in the world, there is a Pastry Chef that deals with enchanted desserts, and there are centaurs, gnomes, and other types of quirky characters roaming about. Misty Valley is a place where you go when you need to learn something, and you would not be able to find it if you were not going to change by experiencing it. After 50 years of being a beloved classic in Japan, I truly celebrate its translation into English. The Village Beyond the Mist is available since May 27, 2025. Publisher: Yonder 160 Pages/ Hardback EAN/UPC 9781632063922 Liked it? Take a second to support GeekDad and GeekMom on Patreon! Ken Denmead Editor-in-Chief Matt Blum Managing Editor Z Associate Editors/GeekMom Partners Jenny Bristol Senior Editors Jonathan H. 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