Let me take you around my village,
through the narrow lanes shaded by
stooping mango trees and the betel
vines curling on the tall electricity poles!
Story –
A little girl Champa lives with her mother in a village, near Mithila. One afternoon, she is bored while her mother is taking a nap. In this boredom, she offers to take us around her home and village through her drawings since it is very hot outside to actually step out. She is proud of her drawings because her Ma is all praises for her drawings. She tells us she is learning to paint from her mother and in turn, teaches A B Cs to her mother.
Enthusiastically, she talks about the stooping mango trees, the 2 squirrels who live on the tree outside her house, the snake who umpires the fights between the 2 squirrels and lives in a hole underneath the tree, the 2 Koyal birds who are sisters living on different trees and who meet each other once in a while, the village well, the choupal where grandpas of the village sit and chat and the sweetseller who frequents in the evenings.
What appealed to me?
- The minutest details in introducing the various characters, which only an innocent observation of a child can bring.
- Although the story is simple, it is the art work in the illustrations which enhances the appeal of this book. The art work is based upon the Madhubani art form which comes from the Mithila region in Bihar. Madhubani art is talked about in detail towards the end of the book.
- The book does a fine work of generating interest in the richness of folk culture and traditional art forms of India.
- Revisiting the Hindi names of the months of the year with dedicated Alpana designs for each of the months at the end of the book.
What appealed to D?
- To know Mithila was the birth place of Sita, one of the pivotal characters from the epic, Ramayana.
- The interesting names of the squirrels, the snake and the Koyal and their playful antics.
- He had fun spotting and identifying the little objects, items and characters in the illustrations.
What D questioned?
- Details about Nagapanchami Puja (mentioned in the story). Why snakes are worshiped for this festival? Why are they fed with milk when they eat rats?
- The meaning of the underlined phrase in the line – ‘You must have heard of Mithila. I live in a village just a few miles shy of Mithila.’
This book is worth a read to give the city bred children a peek into the simplicity of life in an Indian village and enabling them to discover our rich culture and traditional art forms.
Author: Mamta Nainy
Illustrator: Shanti Devi
Release Year: First published in 2011
Publisher: Katha (India)
Age group: 5 – 7 years
Available on: Amazon India
This book is a part of my own collection. I received this book as a part of the monthly book subscription box from Enchantico.
Linking this post with Literacy Musings Mondays #LMM
Looks like a good children’s book. It is intriguing to me also.
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It is intriguing. More so for the art work. Thanks for the first read Lata 🙂
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That’s such a lovely review .I have two Madhubani paintings and these look gorgeous .
I think even my daughter will like these.
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Let me know your views about this book, Amrita, after you read it with your daughter. Your daughter might find an instant connect with the little girl in the story.
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I love your detailed review pointing out your favorite specifics. After reading your review I am thinking of reading about Madhubani paintings.
Great read and love the way you wrote it down.
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Thank you very much Sindhuja for appreciating.
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I love the way you have done the review, Anamika. Including what D questioned is nice, as it throws light to how inquisitive was he while reading the book.
P.S. I loved this letter format of comment form.
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Thank you Vinitha, as always, for the encouragement and support. His questions had to be included in the format because we can never proceed with anything without the quizzing 😀
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I have never read anything like this before. This sounds like a beautiful book, and I am sure kids would love it because of all the lovely artworks.
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It is, indeed, a lovely book because of its art work. Thanks for visiting Rajlakshmi 🙂
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I liked the way you have reviewed this book buy sharing D’s perspective and questions too. Sounds like an enlightening and interesting read!
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Thank you Shilpa. Enlightening , it is for sure.
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I agree this is fantastic way for city kids to know about life in the village. I love the illustrations.
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It is enlightening, as Shilpa mentioned, for the city kids.
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I had never heard about this book, but now I am definitely going to look it up, as it sounds interesting.
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I can say you will not be disappointed. Some books are gems, this is one of them.
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Lovely review of a very beautifully illustrated book indeed. I loved the way you have highlighted what you liked about the book and why.
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Thanks Shalini 🙂
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The artwork looks fantastic. Might buy this as a gift!
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This book will make a good gift 🙂
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Noted. Will gift this to my nephew. I think he’ll enjoy this .
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Do let me know what your nephew has to say about this book.
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