There’s a lot of information provided through this book, all of it in a fun and engaging manner: we learn about the porcupine’s habitat, preferred foods, predators, defence mechanisms, and more. We also get to see a broadly positive set of interactions between humans and this wild animal,
Ali is brought up by his adoptive Apo, grandfather. There are a few words of the Balti language sprinkled throughout the text, a nice touch that introduces us to another culture, while remaining easily understandable in the context of the story.
Tanushree Roy Paul’s warm and detailed illustrations bring alive the love and joy, as well as the lingering grief that Ali and his families experience.
There is very little text in the book, and the illustrations are beautiful. They are full of emotions, showing expressions vividly. With just a few words,
An attempt has been made to simply present the intricacies of a relationship between two ordinary people. But in doing so, it also brings out a picture of complex social perceptions, beliefs and systems in a seemingly regular society. In this story, two alternate situations are presented from time to time,
What is good about the books is that technical terminology and names of specific concepts have been written in the Devanagari script and given in English in brackets, for example, ‘zone of proximal development’ and ‘bottom-up model’, etc. On the other hand, in the case of a few articles, while it has been mentioned that the articles have been translated from English, and the source has also been mentioned,
One of the most enjoyable aspects of the book is how the authors complement scientific facts with common proverbs or couplets. For example, while discussing Apiaceae, they cite, ‘ऊँट के मुंह में ज़ीरा’, connecting the plants to familiar sayings, which makes them easier to remember.