Another hilarious read by Arundhati Venkatesh, author of the Petu
Pumpkin series.
Summer hols have started and Bala is
bored. Amma and Appa are always attending to his baby sister who cries,
eats and poops all the time. Thankfully, he has his good friends for
company - his BOOKS!
However, their existence is threatened
when Bala finds his baby sister eating up the pages from one of them. Bala
knows what to do - he locks them up in his cupboard. But what will he do
all summer long?
Soon Bala finds himself on his way to his
grandparents' in Melagam. Bala carries his ten favourite books with him.
Thatha tells lots of stories while Paati makes
the most delicious things to eat - dosa, vada, mysore paak and more!
One day, when Bala visits Appa's friends,
Navaneeth Uncle and Kala Aunty, he goes exploring in their orchard. Kala
Aunty warns him about not going near the well. But that’s the place Bala decides
to rest and read. Before long, there is
a flash in the sky and a monster stands before him - multi-headed, moustached,
book-eating monster, Bookasura!
Bala is terrified when the monster gobbles up four of his
favourite books! Not only that, Bala
must provide three books every day to keep the monster happy.
Bala is in trouble when he has no more books to feed the
monster. Inspired by Thatha’s story of
Bakasura and Amma’s constant criticism of TV, he comes up with a plan. What does he do?
The author plays well with words - Bakasura, Bookasura, Bakwaasura! Bala’s conversations with the monster are amusing with the clever use
of titles of popular children’s books.
I liked how the book finally ended, but disliked what I felt were
unnecessary descriptions about heads splitting open and eyeballs falling
out. However, some children may enjoy
reading about that stuff.
Overall, an enjoyable read for children 6+.
