These two books part of a series brought out by the Publications Division in honour of the International Year of the Child. The first one is the story of the adventures of Pushpak, an Indian craft, which goes into space to make contact with Trivikrama (so christened by Indian scientists), sent by ‘super-intelligent beings somewhere in the universe’. All the action takes place in space, with the whole world tensely looking on through their television sets. The Indian craft, in trying to approach and make contact with Trivikrama, even shows a film on Ajanta and Ellora in space. The whole operation is controlled from the subcontinent. Pushpak, with its crew, which is fortunately made up of both men and women, finally makes contact with Trivikrama. The strange demands the aircraft has been making are finally interpreted as its wish to have 500 two-year old children, who latter turn into a race of super intelligent beings, live in space and save the earth from a dire disaster. The story is told in a sort of tense, clipped, high drama journalese, which, because it lacks much direct action, may well prove a little difficult even for the older child.
The Book Review, Monthly Review of Important Books