“You can find magic wherever you look. Sit back and relax, all you need is a book”. Don’t you love this quote from Dr. Seuss? Happy Go KL got the pleasure of reviewing three books from Zarina Parry. Let’s give our children a break from tv and their iPads with these books!
Three years ago, my family had just moved into our first landed property in Petaling Jaya, the twins were just 18 months and I had a massive twin-sized headache. But I looked out my kitchen and saw the sprawling park just across the road. I could already envision my kids cycling and playing there and I knew this move was worth it.
Parent turned author
Parks are places where kids can release some very real pent up energy (yes 2020, we are talking to you!) in the most healthiest of ways. For one parent turned author, the park near her home was inspiration for her recently published children’s books. Zarina Parry, a first time author from Kuala Lumpur, loves spending time outdoors with her three children. She is also co-owner of Aquabubs Swimming School in KL.
The books
Zarina wrote three books for ‘Park Adventures with Daniel & Lily’. The titles are ‘Discover Animals’, ‘Discover Activities’ and ‘Discover Plants’. The characters in the books are siblings, who visit the park frequently. They have all sorts of wonderful adventures (like catching shrimps!) while discovering new plants, insects, birds and animals.
Kids will like these books as they can easily identify with the characters. Daniel & Lily cycle and scoot around the park. They chase a rama-rama (butterfly), spot a biawak (monitor lizard) and touch a malu – malu (mimosa) plant to see it curl up. The other thing I loved was how at times the books are pretty interactive, asking kids to count the insects on the flowers or shrimps in the bucket.
Malay words are lightly peppered in the book, which I felt was so awesome as it allowed my kids to want to repeat and learn them. I also encouraged the kids to name the different animals Daniel and his sister came across and also count them. This way we felt we were on our own little adventure in our taman (park).
How to order them?
As Christmas is around the corner, these three books make great gifts for kids aged 3-8. The books are retailing at RM78 for a set of three – you can order the books online here with free delivery (win!) within Klang Valley. They are also available at Silverfish Books at Bangsar Village 2. You can visit them on Instagram here.
Artist Sharon Yong Abdullah illustrated the book. She teaches art to both adults and kids at Meraki Studio.
