The Donkey, The Ghouls and the Magic Shawl won the Second Prize in the Category Get Ready for a Magical Time in the Competition for Children’s Books organized by CBT. The other book by the author published by CBT is titled Lucky the Licking Dog.
As stories go, this book by Renuka Vishwanathan is a non-starter, in spite of the fact that it has won a prize. The storyline is flat, full of unexciting dialogues to explain concepts like ghouls which will not be comprehended by the very young reader, nor will it grab the attention of the older child. The illustrations are not eye-catching. There is no difference in the way humans and ghouls are depicted. Neither the original in English nor its Hindi translation, written in dull prosaic sentences, will enthuse any reader to keep turning the pages to know what happens. In today’s milieu of AI, it is doubtful if children of any age would relate to this bilingual title. CBT should aim to keep pace with the times in which it is clear that the young generation today has made a quantum leap in terms of cognition and intelligence quotient.
November 2023, volume 47, No 11