Buku Dongeng Anak Muslim tentang Alam Semesta

Cerita Anak Muslim tentang Alam Semesta by Fita Chakra

"Ma, what is mata air? eyes of the water?"  Obi asked me one afternoon.

Eyes of the water? no, dek. That’s the spring, dek. It’s where the water comes from" I answered with a smile.

"Kalau alam semesta? lanjut Obi.

"The universe, dek.. you know!" This time Bo, Obi's brother, answered the question.

"What are you reading, dek?"

"It's the new book from you, ma. Buku Dongeng Anak Muslim tentang Alam Semesta" Obi answered and read the title of the book out loud, dengan aksen lucu perpaduan bahasa Indonesia dan  Bahasa Inggris.

"Do you like it, dek?" tanya saya kembali.

"I love it ma!" 

Sore itu aku sedang memasak makanan kesenangan anak-anak, semur bola-bola daging. Obi, putri bungsuku, sedang asyik membaca buku di meja makan. Dan kali ini, buku Dongeng Anak Muslim menjadi pilihannya. Sambil membaca, Obi kerap menanyakan berbagai kosa kata baru yang ia baca di buku. Sesekali aku dan Bo, abang Obi, menterjemahkan kata-kata itu dalam Bahasa Inggris. Banyak celetukan lucu saat kami mencoba membantu Obi meneert cerita yang ada di buku ini, Malamnya, Obi lanjut menyelesaikan buku ini di kamar, sambil menikmati ahir pekan kami.

look who seriously finish the book..I guess that's too close, dek :)

Ada yang sudah baca buku Dongeng Anak Muslim?

Aku dan anak-anak sudah!

Buku ini bagus lho, baik untuk anak-anak maupun kita orang dewasa.

Buku karya Fita Chakra ini sangat menarik  karena 10 cerita pendek yang ada di dalamnya jelas tuturkan berbagai fenomena alam dan penjelasannya di Al-Quran, lengkap dengan surah dan ayatnya. Cerita-cerita yang disajikan pendek, tapi banyak pesan baik yang mudah dimengerti,  Selain itu, ilustrasinya juga lucu dan menarik, thanks to Fransisca Ayu, Hilman Makhlufm Lanting Studio dan Maureen Monitan. Oya, Sebagian royalti buku ini juga akan disumbangkan ke Taman Bacaan Masyarakat lho. Keren bangeeet kan?

Salah satu cerita favorit Obi adalah Rahasia Lebah. Obi memang suka dengan lebah yang kalau di gambar, menurut Obi, super cute. Karena memang menggemaskan dengan garis hitam dan kuningnya. Awalnya Obi sempat takut dengan lebah, namun kemudian setelah tau lebih banyak tentang bintang menakjubkan ini, Obi pun tidak takut lagi. Bahkan kita jadi tau beberapa rahasia menarik seputar lebah. Bahkan Al-Quran khusus bercerita tentang lebah di Sarah An Nahl [16]: 68 - 69. 

Mari kita jaga alam sekitar kita..

Lain halnya dengan Abang Bo.

Karena dia suka dengan pesawat, Bo menikmati cerita Pesawat Prince Ramazan yang sarat pesan baik, Beata kita harus selalu belajar, bekerja keras dan tidak mudah putus asa untuk menggapai cita-cita, namun tidak pernah lupa bahwa semua terjadi karena kehendak-Nya. Surah Ar - Rahman [55]: 33 mengingatkan kita semua mengenai kekuatan dan izin Allah SWT. 

Sementara aku suka banget dengan cerita Berbagi Kekayaan Laut. 

Mungkin karena aku suka banget dengan laut dan keindahan alam di bawah laut yang memang luar biasa. Aku suka dengan cerita dan ilustrasi di bagian ini, Apalagi ada cuplikan surah An-Nahl [16]: 14 yang ingatkan kita akan kekayaan laut yang diciptakan oleh-Nya agar kita cukup dan selalu bersyukur. Dan salah satu cara terbaik untuk bersyukur adalah saling berbagi dengan mereka yang membutuhkan.

Berbagi Kekayan Laut

Masih banyak lagi cerita menarik yang bisa dinikmati dari buku ini

For my kids, Bo et Obi, this book shows interesting part of science related to the Holy Quran. We had fun exploring the natural phenomena on earth, in the sky, under the water, and surrounding us. Really a fun way of learning about the nature and important references in Al-Quran.

Jadi, tunggu apa lagi. Ayo segera dapatkan buku ini ya di toko buku terdekat.

Enjoy the stories!

  

5 Awesome Books for your Teens

Who loves reading books here?
I do!
And I try to make sure that my family loves them too.

I do have a big collection of books and I have to admit that I do bring them wherever we are moving. So you can imagine those boxes of books I have from places we’ve lived before. When we were in NYC, books were so easy to find and some of the are super cheap, as we can definitely but the second-hand or preloved ones. No wonder we brought back 10 big boxes of books to add to our collection.

And now, allow me to share 5 awesome books for your teens.

Being a mom of 2 teenagers (one is teenager-to-be actually), I’m trying to make sure that they have good quality reading materials at home. Let’s find out what’s on our list.

Harry Potter series

J.K Rowling’s fantastic works are definitely on top of the list!

Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley are three teenagers with out-of-this-world lifetime experience that makes you want to enroll to Hogward School of magic right away. We’re not the only ones being spellbound by their adventures as millions of people are joining the band.

I spent my university years reading the complete series of this book and I keep them all. From the Philosopher’s Stone to Deathly Hollow, I passionately read the stories page by page, trying to relive those scenes in my head, until the movies were out.

Now my kids develop the same habit or reading and bring Potter’s books here and there.

I have the complete collections in English, Bahasa Indonesia and the pictorial series now, although it is only up to the 3rd book, the Prisoner of Azkaban.

The kids enjoy the magical world filled with wizards, creatures and unthinkable imaginations! They also learn many good (and bad) attitudes as well as family values and determination from these books. Have fun exploring the other side and have a magical journey!

Percy Jackson series

Rick Riordan’s wild imagination about the life of demigods ,- that is the children of Gods and humans,- in Half-Blood (now you know why they name it like that) Camp is really fascinating. They do live like us humans and among us as well, but they get this bonus of attracting and engaging monsters (luckily we can not see them thanks to the ‘mist’) who are trying to destroy the world or simply being revengeful. So say hi to centaurs, satyr, nymphs, wind spirits, ghouls, cyclops and of course, the gods and goddesses! Not only that we learn about the names, the characters, the history and myths, as well as those interesting lives of Greek Gods and their complicated affairs (believe me, they ARE complicated), but we also learn about courage, friendship, leadership, perseverance, loyalty and good hearts.

We started reading this as the first book, the Lightning Thief, was listed in Bo’s reading list on the 6th Grade. They even had a special tour to the Met museum, especially the ancient Greek section, to find some artifacts and figures mentioned in the book. It was really fun! I guess starting from there we got hooked by Jackson and friends’ adventures. We now collect and all the complete series, with the final battle of the Last Olympian takes place in New York City!

Riordan has written so many interesting series including the continuation of Percy Jackson’s adventures with the Roman Gods, then another adventure with the Egyptian Gods. Really interesting!

Laura Ingalls series

How I grew up with Laura, Mary, Carry, Grace, Pa, Ma and Jack!

To those born around the same years as I do, Little House on the Prairie or Laura Ingalls Wilder series must ring a bell. Beautifully telling us the stories and adventures of the pioneering family in the early years of the US independence, Laura and her family shared some wonderful family values that they held dear despite the tough and harsh journey they have to go through as they moved around from the Big Woods to DeSmet, where they finally resided.

I wept with them when the whole family was sick and Mary ended up blind or when Charlotte, Laura’s doll was found wasted on the mud by some spoiled girl.

I shared the joy when Laura became a teacher at the very young age and when they diacovered a lovely swimming spot aby the Plum Creek.

And I was curious when they started making snow sugar or smoked beef from Pa’s game.

I also enjoyed reading the Farmer Boy, Laura’s dearest husband childhood story.

My kids showed similar fascination as I introduced that adventurous life of Laura and her family.  I hope they managed to read the complete stories.

The Land of Stories series

Now this is another series you should not miss!

What a twisted plots of all those legendary and classic fairy tales we know since we were kids!
Chris Colfer is a darling genius!

Remember him from Glee TV series? 

Never thought he is a super talented writer as well.

Again we embarked on the journey of this series from Bo’s reading list in the 5th grade. Fascinated by the first book, the Wishing spell, we now have the complete series as well, up to the 6th book. And reading these series is super fun, as it completely changes our perspectives about all those traditional characters in the fairy tales. I don’t wanna spill the beans but apparently villains are not always that bad! So go get the book and prove it yourself ;).

Diary of the Wimpy Kids

I guess this book is famous enough, at least at the US, as I have seen many of the school students reading it at quite a young age. The adventures of Greg Heffley and his brothers, Rodrick and Manny, as well as his best friend, Rowley, are Hilarious. This book is more like an elementary student diary and I like the fact that Jeff Kinney, the author, put so many interesting sketches and hand writing notes in the book. 

Bo et Obi enjoy all those mischievous adventures, but at the end of the day there will be good messages highlighted from all those events. I do enjoy reading it as well so we can diacuss further about the stories and what the kids learn from the stories afterwards. It was certainly a fun experience.

There are so many incredible books out there that you kids may or will definitely enjoy.
Those books will be great gifts as well!
Now...Tell us about your favorite book or books!

What makes you love them?

The Amazing world of Dr. Seuss, Springfield, Connecticut

Oh the places you’ll go!
The Amazing World of Dr. Seuss, Springfield, Connecticut is indeed amazing.

***

"So, I'm going to pick-up the bike at Worcester." My hubby said that night, while we were having dinner.
"Where is it exactly? Still in New York?" I concentrated on my sashimi plate which was so good. I was thinking of getting more.
"No, it's almost three hours drive from here. It's in Massachusetts."
"What? That far?." I stopped dipping that piece of  salmon and paid more attention to my hubby.
"Yuuup...we'll stay overnight in one of the surrounding cities. Either Hartford in Connecticut or  Springfield in Massachusetts. They have Dr. Seuss museum in Springfield." He checked on the map at his phone. "Bo and Obi will love it", he added.
"I 'd love that, too! So, let's go. Get everybody ready! It will be our early Thanksgiving trip."  
Springfield, here we come!

***

It was one cold weekend when we decided to drive to Worcester, stayed overnight in Hartford,CT and visited Dr. Seuss museum in Springfield, MA.
We booked the car and the hotel (thank God I have extra points to use in Starwood Group hotel) and packed our bags and some food for the trip. It would only be one night stay and already we planned so much including some swimming and trips to the museums.
I still have my mom here so it was a great opportunity to take her out and see more of the country as well. 

When I head Springfield, my mind directly goes to the Simpsons place.
You know, the cartoon :).
But this city of Springfield is the one in Massachusetts, which happens to be the hometown of one of the most beloved kids-book authors, Dr. Seuss.

The Amazing world of Dr. Seuss.
That's the name of the place.
Familiar with Dr. Seuss and his books?
I do love him!
And so do my kids.
I have to admit I read those books as an adult.
Well, foreign books are expensive so I kind of getting to know his works a bit late.
But I love his books. I really do.
I have been teaching Obi, my daughter, how to read using One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish from Dr. Seuss.
Bo was enjoying the Cat in the Hat, Horton Hears a Who, Happy Birthday to You, ABCD, Oh the Places you'll Go, and more.
So, when we found out that Dr. Seuss' hometown is not too far, only approximately 3 hours drive from New York City, off we went!

We stayed the night at Hartford, Connecticut after visiting Yale, New Haven on Saturday and continued driving to Springfield, Massachusetts for about 20 minutes.
The museum opened at 11 AM on Sunday and we went directly here.
The ticket is USD 25 for adults, USD 16 for seniors, and USD 13 for kids.
And we can visit 5 museums with one ticket.
Amazing, right!

say hi to the Lorax :)

As we didn't really have much time, we first visited the Amazing World of Dr. Seuss.
Perfect choices indeed, as the place is very interesting.
It's like pages from the books.
Colorful and entertaining as well, with all those characters and quotes from the books.

Obi literally grew up with this :)

The amazing world of Dr. Seuss is uber awesome! 
My kids, love it so much and so does mama Bo et Obi 😇😇😇
We got soooo excited when we met our fave, the Cat in the Hat :).

We are exploring the colorful world of the Cat in the Hat, the Lorax, Horton the elephant, Thing 1 and 2, Thidwick the big hearted moose, the Grinch who stole Christmas, Yertle the turtle and more  at Dr. Seuss’ hometown Springfield, Connecticut.

On the first floor, we have drawings and excerpts from the books, while the second floor has the exhibition about Dr. Seuss' stories and life.

Then we got out to Dr. Seuss’ National Memorial Sculpture Garden 💜

Say hi to all these famous characters from Dr. Seuss’ great books! 

Dr. Seuss

Again, here we met the Cat in the Hat, the Lorax, Horton the elephant, Thing 1 and 2, Thidwick the big hearted moose, the Grinch, Yertle the turtle and more!
Those bronze sculptures are incredible.

The Grinch is here :)

Looking at the details, it feels like those characters just spring out of the books.
Well, for us, Dr. Seuss was not only telling us the children stories with his unique imagination, but there are so many important messages about love, life, friendship, respect, harmony, and more on each and every story.
And we are so blessed to have the opportunity to know that :).
  

So, what's your favorite Dr. Seuss' favorite character?
Do you like them as well?