Three different books for pre-teens by authors with different styles and stories, yet only one is worth a read
Three different books for pre-teens by authors with different styles and stories, yet only one is worth a read
Bindi Babes
Author: Narinder Dhami
Publisher: Random House India
Price: Rs 150
Rating: JJJTHIS book for pre-teens, is set in the world of the Asian more specifically the Punjabi in the UK.
Narinder Dhami apparently wrote Bend it Like Beckham too, so this book would be attractive to anyone who enjoyed a glimpse into that community where everyone has a front garden, puts bags of household garbage in the bins outside while also understanding Bollywood and making samosas at home. Where trainers are shoes and not people, and it's ok for mothers to have boyfriends and quite expected for fathers to disapprove of their daughters' tastes in fashion ("a lot of the Indian parents we knew spent all their time trying to stop their daughters wearing fashionable clothes")
This book, while easy to read and easy to relate to, cleverly communicates deeper issues such as the levels of coping with grief and loss, the pretensions and preoccupations of adults, and understanding racist feelings and how to deal with them. Best of all is the aunt from India who, rather than being the stereotypical bumpkin one might expect, turns out to be kind, smart and gorgeous too the sort of global Indian that we seem to be getting used to.
Mulla Nasruddin
Author: Sampurna Chattarji
Publisher: Puffin Books
Price: Rs 199
Rating: JJJThere are hundreds of school children in this country who know Artemis Fowl and Don Quixote but not Mulla Nasruddin, and this book is for them. It's the story of 13-year-old Shashank (you can call him Hanky or Shank or even S, all his friends do) having suffered tragedy and how the Mulla enters his life and helps him deal with it.
The Mulla Nasruddin parables help us to look through the hype of life and see the simple truth beneath. They encourage us to think "out-of-the-box". These important messages make us smile and sometimes confuse us. As Shashank puts it, "Nothing he said was scientific or logical the way we were taught in school, but in the weirdest way, why did he always make sense? Maybe there WAS no reason, maybe he just wanted to joggle the way I thought."
This book contains many of these lessons, and the illustrations by Vishwajyoti Ghosh are stylish and attractive.
But, written for pre-teens, the language is a strange mixture of multicultural colloquialisms such as "he was a keen sort of chap", "the man was nuts", "I thought mullas were scary guys with guns", and Shashank even quotes an English teacher who enjoys idioms and apparently is capable of the construction "She's in seventh heaven after winning KBC".
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
Author: John Boyne
Publisher: Random House
Price: Rs 500
Rating: JJJJJ
This may actually be an adult book, but can be enjoyed by children too rather than the other way around. It's written in the simplest and most elegant language, and the descriptions so compelling that it's impossible to stop reading once you've started.
A child's world is one of innocence, self-absorption, and learning to deal with the troubles of the world. There are many things that children don't understand, and can only make sense of in the limited context to which they have access. This book deals with this sense of wonder and rather barbaric insularity in the most charming manner.
As you work your way through these pages, you'll be so engaged by the narrative that the world will fade away and as you come towards the end, if at all you can hear or think of anything other than Bruno's dilemma, it will be the loud racing of your heart as you wonder what's going to happen next.
This is not a new book, but it's receiving renewed (and well-deserved) attention because the movie is just out.
Try not to let anyone tell you what it's about. Definitely don't read the Wiki entry about the film it rather evilly tells the whole story, suspense and all, in about two paragraphs. Try to just pick up this book without knowing a thing about it and let this genius storyteller work his magic.
