—
R. Natraj
OOPS THE MIGHTY GURGLE by RamG Vallath Duckbill Books, 2013, 222 pp., 199
November 2013, volume 37, No 11

The popular game Angry Birds has the user side with the enraged avian, choreographing its kamikaze attempt to raze down a structure put up by pigs, who have presumably pilfered the protagonist’s eggs. The game is a bit of a sensation, with millions of people across the world more or less addicted to it. RamG Vallath’s Oops,the Mighty Gurgle is a children’s (middle reader, if you are going by the publisher’s categorization) fantasy book that has the pigs (called ‘groinks’ ) seeking revenge.

The groinks have not taken kindly to being exterminated, albeit digitally, in this casual fashion, and decide that the appropriate response would be to conquer the universe. With earth facing annihilation, it is up to the eponymous Oops, a talking pumpkin, not just from the future but also from a parallel universe there, and his cronies to save the day. The book is the first of a proposed trilogy and readers can play a part in the creation of the next book by logging on to a website.

Continue reading this review