Khyrunnisa A

Smash It, Butterfingers! by Khyrunnisa A is the latest addition to the Butterfingers series of books meant for the reading pleasure of folks in their early teens. Sports is the main theme of all the books set in the backdrop of the fictitious Green Park School. In the book under review, students of the school have an adventure that involves badminton, and a cat named Ozymandias. The hero of the tale, Amar, is affectionately called Butterfingers, because well, he is one. He has a talent for dropping things, bumping and crashing into objects and people, injuring himself and his friends and family, and generally emerging from such misadventures unscathed and victorious…


Reviewed by: Sucharita Sengupta

A collection of 50 stories! Stories that have been read and known worldwide. They take readers on a journey into the time that’s part of history. Through the book, we meet characters from history and mythology, encounter stories from various older generations and also get a sense of how the then human relationships and society would have been like, across different parts of the world. This collection consists of renowned stories by some eminent litterateurs such as Leo Tolstoy, William Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Anton Chekhov, Rabindranath Tagore, Premchand and Sukumar Ray…


Reviewed by: Deepali Shukla
Abolkali Jimomi. Illustrated by Canato Jimo

Bobo and the Worms is by Abokali Jimomi of Nagaland. Any book for early readers must be accompanied by illustrations that fire imagination. Canato Jimo’s illustrations perfectly accompany this simple but prettily told story. Which child does not like visiting her grandma? Grandparents are special people in any child’s life. There is a warmth to them that cannot be replicated. Grandparents are not difficult or demanding like parents. Neither are they rough and unruly like one’s own playmates. They can get down on their knees and play with you or open their knees wide and rock you when you need comforting…


Reviewed by: Sumitra Kannan
Anurupa Roy. Illustrated by Adrija Ghosh

This book is an effort in reading promotion among children that Pratham Books stands for. It is a ‘Learning to Read’ book or ‘Level 2’ book. The previous (Level 1) is ‘Beginning to Read/Read Aloud’. The next two levels (Levels 3 and 4) are ‘Reading Independently’ and ‘Reading Proficiently’.As the inside back cover tells us, author Anurupa Roy is a puppeteer, puppet theatre director and puppet designer. She is the founder-managing trustee of the Katkatha Puppet Arts Trust, Delhi. She has directed many puppet performances and undertaken international tours with her puppet group…


Reviewed by: Dipavali Sen
AMMU AND THE SPARROWS

Ammu and the Sparrows is a sensitively written story dealing with the curiosity and questions and long wait of a child—for his parents. The book has been categorized in the green coloured Level 3 book—those books that are meant for children who are ready to read on their own.Ammu spends his days on his Ammamma’s terrace, looking out and waiting. Is he waiting for Amma and Accha sparrows to come or is he waiting for someone else? Is this wait going to get over any time soon? The open-ended story leaves the reader with many questions like these. And the best part is that the story does not give us ready-made answers, but allows the readers to imagine and construct the answers themselves…


Reviewed by: No Reviewer
Rajiv Eipe

Here is a bilingual book written by 16 children coming from different parts of India and different walks of life. They speak their heart out—they tell us in clear, bold, straightforward words what they wish for. Their dreams, wishes, aspirations, hopes—is what is the core of this book. And adults, elders, parents and teachers—may as well listen. As India inches towards the 75th anniversary of its hard-earned freedom in 2022—this illustrated book is a reminder to us adults as to what we have not been able to give to our children in so many years, and pay attention to what they yearn for…


Reviewed by: Tultul Biswas