BOOK REVIEW: "The Adventures of Beekle-The Unimaginary Friend" by Dan Santat

A 2015 Caldecott winner

Author-illustrator Dan Santat brings us this story about a far-away island where imaginary friends are born and reside, waiting for a real child to pick them.  Beekle is one such imaginary friend.  But soon he is left alone in the island for he is the only one who has not been picked. 

Disappointed but determined, Beekle sets out on a journey to the real world.  He must find a real child who will be his friend!

Beekle finds the world of real people unfamiliar and strange until he sees other imaginary friends like himself.  But where is his friend?

Beekle climbs atop a tree.  There are many real children around him.  But when no real child comes to him, he feels sad. 

However, the windy autumn day brings something with it that makes Beekle feel better.  What is it and what happens next?

I like this book for various reasons.  One, this is the first time I read a story about imaginary friends instead of children with imaginary friends.  Two, the first sentence of the story really got me hooked– “He was born on an island far away where imaginary friends were created.”  Three, the depictions of various imaginary friends, including Beekle himself, are very likeable.  And finally, the way this book ends makes me wonder if there’ll be a sequel for readers to look forward to.

This book is appropriate for children 4+.  There is a message in the story - that life is full of ups and downs.  One must never give up on one’s dreams, but keep trying.

BOOK REVIEW: "Chained" by Lynne Kelly

Winner of the Crystal Kite Award for 2013

'Chained' is set in a fictional village in Rajasthan.  The story is about ten-year old Hastin whose sister, Chanda, is seriously ill with malaria.  When home remedies don’t seem to work, Hastin’s mother takes Chanda to the nearest hospital in the city far from their village. 

Chanda can be treated, but it will cost Hastin’s family more than they can afford.  Hastin's father is not alive.  But a kind man named Raju Sharma pays off the money needed for Chanda’s treatment.  However, Hastin’s mother must pay off their dues by working for the man in the city, away from her children!

When Hastin visits his mother in the city, he sees her poor working conditions and decides that he must step up as 'the man of the house'.  He begins looking for work.  But who will hire a young, untrained boy? 

ENTER Timir, a former circus owner looking to restart a circus.  Timir hires Hastin to work for him for a year - a period of time Hastin must work to earn money to repay his family’s debt.  And so Hastin begins his work as an elephant keeper!  

His first task is to catch a wild elephant in the jungle.  As much as he dislikes the idea of his task, he must do whatever his master says.  Every day he keeps watch on a troop of elephants that come to the jungle river, wishing that none of them ever fall into the nasty pit dug up by Timir's men.  But alas, one day, it happens!  And the one to fall in the pit is none other than the baby elephant he calls Nandita!

Hastin and Nandita develop a special bond over time.  Hastin sees himself in her for they are both separated from their families! 

One day, Hastin learns that the elephant trainer, Sharad has been mistreating Nandita to force her to do certain tricks.  To add to it, Timir makes her to perform more shows that eventually lead to Nandita's exhaustion and she collapses!  Kind old Ne Min, Timir’s cook, advises Hastin about taking care of Nandita when she is injured and unwell.

Hastin is miserable.  He feels responsible for Nandita's enslavement and often thinks of running away and freeing Nandita as well.

Timir is unsatisfied and angry about Nandita’s condition and blames Hastin for it.  He declares that Hastin must serve him for more than a year as penalty.

Do things ever get better for Hastin and Nandita?  Will they ever regain their freedom?   To find out, you'll have to read the book.

The story moves slowly, but becomes fast-paced after the first few chapters.  

I particularly liked the part where Hastin watches the elephants enjoying themselves in the river.  The scene where Nandita gets trapped and Hastin’s reaction to it is particularly touching!  I also liked how the author builds the suspense on the past lives of Ne Min and Sharad, making me curious to read further.

I didn't find the climax very convincing, but liked how the story ended.

Overall, I think this book is a great read for ages 10+.

BOOK REVIEW: “Poachers in Paradise” by Shamim Padamsee

The second book in The Adventures of the Flying Magic Jharokha series, Poachers in Paradise is Vayu and Deeya’s second adventure to find the second (out of three) keys to free their Uncle Jadoo from an evil djinn (spirit).

To help fulfill their mission, Jhoky, the magic flying window, takes the children to Kashmir where they befriend a Kashmiri girl, Zoon and her dog, Chimpu.

Poachers are out hunting for the native Kashmiri deer, hangul, for its beautiful antlers.  Vayu and Deeya, along with Zoon and Chimpu, help get the poachers arrested.

Bearing semblance to the Magic Treehouse series, this series is easy to read for readers who have reading skills.  I like this series because it not only whisks off readers on exciting adventures, but also gives them information about things unique to the place visited.  For instance, this story acquaints readers with things local to Kashmir - the hangul deer, kahwa (local tea), pheran (traditional dress for women) and wazwan (traditional feast).

I highly recommend this series for ages 6+ or anyone who loves the Magic Treehouse series.

BOOK REVIEW: "Girl Overboard! A Rose among Thorns" by Sheri Tan and Fernando Hierro

                                                      

My first book review for a Singapore themed book!!  

                  

Thirteen year old Rosie feels like her world has ended when her family moves from New York to Singapore.  She misses her old room and friends in New York.  Though she loves Grandma, she can’t understand why her family had to move to Singapore just to take care of her. 

Rosie hates Singapore – with the same old weather every day, school uniforms and after-school enrichment classes.  She shares her innermost thoughts and feelings in a diary that Grandma has gifted her.

Unlike Rosie, her eight year old brother, Alex, loves Singapore with its zoo and aquarium.  He often troubles her with his obsession for spiders and annoys her by touching her things.

Rosie’s first day at Woodside International School doesn’t go too well.  She not only makes an embarrassing entry into her classroom, but also gets punished by the gym teacher.  Could things get any worse?

Fortunately, an kind bus lady, Auntie Nora, helps Rosie get through her difficult days of being ‘new’.  Pink, a new friend, also helps her in times of crisis like when Rosie wants to get back at her arch rival for printing a silly picture of her in the school newsletter.

I bought this book at the Singapore Writers Festival.  At first glance it looked like a book for a younger audience (8-10 yrs) because of the font size, the illustrations and the length of the story.  But as I skimmed through it, I knew the content would interest my 13-year old, who eventually couldn't put this book down until she was finished with it.  Both, she and I, could completely associate with this book for it was somewhat ‘our’ story - we moved out of US a few years ago, my daughter has a pesky eight year old brother, we miss our friends, et al!

A mom who experiments with local dishes, kids wearing uniform jumpsuits at the Chinese New Year family reunion, Dad’s suit getting a makeover – are some of the other things that will give young readers a good laugh.

I liked the book for its simple story and amusing illustrations/comic strips.  A minor thing, but I did wonder why none of the parents accompanied their children to the bus stop on their first day of school.

Overall, a good read for young readers in Singapore, many of whom are expat children and will connect well with Rosie.

Looking forward to reading the second book in the series… "Girl Overboard! A Rose grows in the Jungle".

BOOK REVIEW: The Girl and the Bicycle by Matt Pett

 Another classic wordless book by another author-illustrator (I had reviewed Journey and Quest by Aaron Becker a few weeks ago).  This is the most recent picture book by Matt Pett. 

A girl desires the green bicycle that she sees in the display window of a shop.  But when she checks her piggy bank, she realizes she doesn’t have enough to buy the bicycle.  She desperately searches all possible places around the house for loose change that could have slipped here and there. But her small finds do not suffice.  So she sets up a lemonade stand and even puts up her toys for sale.  But even that doesn’t yield enough returns to be able to buy the bicycle.

Disappointed, the girl sits under a tree, watching her little brother playing with the falling leaves.  A flash of inspiration and she gets an idea!  She offers to rake leaves from her neigbours’ yards to earn some money.

A kind lady takes on her services.  The girl helps the lady through the different seasons – raking leaves in the autumn, clearing snow in the winter, planting seeds and cleaning out the garage in the spring and even walking the lady’s dog. 

Finally, there comes a day when she has enough money to get the bicycle.  Excitedly, she runs to the store.  But alas, the bicycle is gone!  It has already been sold!

Saddened by the futility of her efforts, she once again sits down to think, watching her little brother play with his toy bicycle.  Seemingly inspired by him, she gets another idea! 

What is her idea and what happens next?  You must ‘see’ the book to find out!

I like this book for the simple sketches that give us every sense of the girl’s feelings – joy, sadness, hope, a sense of achievement, shock, disappointment, gratitude.  

Even though the entire story is rendered in sort of a grayish-brown, black and white, one doesn’t miss the lack of colours at all.  The only thing depicted in colour is the green bicycle in question, besides of course, one scene where the red airplane (from the author-illustrator’s The Boy and the Airplane) makes an appearance.

As I flipped through the book observing the pictures, I reached a point when I thought the story was over.  But then when I finally turned to the last page, my heart was touched by the last illustration! 

Appropriate for 6+ years, this story is about not losing heart, learning to handle disappointments and solve problems, being kind and selfless and showing a sense of gratitude.  Be good and good things will happen to you.

BOOK REVIEW: Meddling Mooli and the Blue-Legged Alien by Asha Nehemiah, Sayantan Halder

I was at Higginbothams, Chennai, browsing the children's section for books by Indian writers when I stumbled upon this amusing read.  The author's name drew my attention to this book.  In the past I have read a couple of other good reads by her - "Mrs. Woolly's Funny Sweaters" and "The Mystery of the Secret Hair Oil Formula".  Asha Nehemiah has written several other wonderful books that I look forward to laying my hands on.  But for now here is her first book from the Meddling Mooli series.

Mooli (Murali) and Soups (Supriya) are best friends.  They follow a website called WAYOUTS (World's As Yet Original Untried Tricks and Stunts) and try to do some tricks of their own.  But this means chaos and trouble for the grown-ups!  Mooli's mother's kitchen is a mess, her list is gone and so is her electric beater.  How can she be filmed making her special cookies without her tools?

To win a prize on WAYOUTS, Mooli and Soups make a list of possible 'original' tricks.  One such trick is for a blindfolded Mooli to shoot a suction arrow on a spinning globe while calling out the name of the country it would land on.  But can anyone be successful without failing a few times?  

The arrows land everywhere, but on the globe - on Mrs.Mehta's dog, on a tree, a vacant balcony and even Mr.Reddy's forehead!  Worst of all, Mr.Reddy thinks the flowers from his garden are being stolen by Mooli and Soups! 

In their bid to prove themselves innocent, the two give Mr.Reddy a demo of how bad Mooli's aim is.  But instead Mooli's arrow makes it to the globe on the exact country he called out, much to their own surprise!  

Now all the kids must do is write to WAYOUTS about their success, along with a testimony from a witness.  And their only witness is Mr. Reddy!  But considering he still thinks they are the flower thieves, will he agree to give them a witness letter?

Will Mooli and Soups win a prize on WAYOUTS?  What do the Best Garden Competition, a video camera, a blue-legged alien, a toy remote-controlled airplane have anything to do with the rest of the story?  You can find out only if you read the book!!  

This book is appropriate for 7+.  

I liked this book because it is easy to read and has apt illustrations that go with the hilarious situations the characters find themselves in.  The story not only entertains, but also encourages children to try out new things, be responsible, accept disappointments and not give up.

BOOK REVIEW: Mala's Silver Anklets by Annie Besant, Nancy Raj

Look at the little girl on the cover and you can sense how mischievous and cute she is! 

Mala likes to sneak upon people - she upsets the cat, alarms her grandmother, frightens her little brother and scares the postman.  

One day, Mala's mother brings her a special gift - a pair of silver anklets!  Mala wears her new anklets and proudly walks around.  But soon she discovers a problem.  “Chik Chik Chum” the anklets make a sound everywhere she goes; when she tries to upset the cat, when she tries to alarm her grandmother, when she tries to frighten her little brother and when she tries to scare the postman.  Now the anklets tell everyone that she is coming!

Mala is disappointed.  What does she do?  Read the book to find out.

I was enamoured by the simplicity of the story and the perfect illustrations that show Mala to be what she is - clever, naughty and cute!

Another one of my favourites from Tulika Publishers, this book reminded me of my own dislike for silver anklets as a child.  Though it was not because of the same reason as Mala, I wore them only for very, very special occasions.

A fun read-aloud for little ones 3+ with its sound effects - Booooo, Hisssss, Muahahaha, Heehaw when Mala scares everyone and a melodious Chik Chik Chum for the anklets.  A great read for children 5+ as well.