Shabnam’s writing is fast paced and filled with witty flourishes. She has a knack for crafting eccentric characters who feel instantly real. Tinaz Toddywala’s detective zeal, Dorab and Dina’s wide-eyed schemes, teachers and neighbours all come alive with little quirks and sharp humour.
All these sound-characters are so different, but together they make the story really fun and unique. It’s not like a regular story with a beginning, middle, and end. It’s more like a world of sounds that come alive and make you imagine things.
When I finished the book, I realized something important.
Vinayak Verma’s illustrations make the story even more delightful. With expressive faces and details, the pictures add to the humour of each attempt at the elusive ‘perfect’ medu vada. Children will especially enjoy spotting all the funny versions of vadas along the way.
The book needs no words to rely on. The illustrations by Tanya Sharma bring to life the sights, sounds and smells of all the cities we visit. The cities are threaded not just with food, but also with their essence—for example, Hyderabad’s Charminar, Gujarat’s Dandiya, Jaipur’s Hawa Mahal, and Kerala’s boats. There is ample diversity and inclusivity in the choice of locations.
The technique used is a classic and effective educational strategy often called ‘shared writing’ or ‘interactive storytelling’. The teacher acts as a facilitator, guiding the narrative while allowing Popo to be the primary creator. This models the structure of a story (beginning, middle, and end) and empowers the child to be successful.
Appukutonok Kenekoi Ujon Koribo? tells the story of a kingdom besieged by an unanswerable question—how do they weigh the prince’s elephant, Appukuttan? While the adults scratch their heads, it is a child named Meenu who thinks differently. The Eureka moment comes with her ingenious idea, leading the elephant into a river and using a clever measurement technique based on the laws of physics.