Review
For a kids’ book to deliver the lessons about Ahima, caste and gender discrimination and other social injustices, the author need to be extremely talented especially if the story is based on the background of freedom struggle. Supriya Kelkar is one such author whose could make the impossible seem possible.
The story is about Anjali who was brought up amidst luxury. Till the time her mother joined the freedom struggle, she was unaware pf what is happening around her. Once she opened her eyes, she could see that the life and the world around is not what could be seen on the periphery. She decides to side with her mother and do whatever possible from her end. She cleans toilet, convinces her Dalit friends to come to school and do everything in her possibility to eradicate inequality. While Anjali is trying to do her part, her mother gets arrested and a communal riot erupts. Anjali is heartbroken to see that her best friend Irfan is on the other sight of the fight and her innocent friendship gets affected. Further what happens make the rest of the story.
How the author conveys her messages about Ahimsa,equality and relationships. Most of the Indians have only academical knowledge about the freedom struggle and tends to imbibe everything the Gandhiji said. The rift between Gandhiji and B.R. Ambedkar regarding the names Harijan and Dalit and that the backward caste or the untouchables preferred the term Dalit would be a new revelation to many Indians.
For a kids’ book to deliver the lessons about Ahima, caste and gender discrimination and other social injustices, the author need to be extremely talented especially if the story is based on the background of freedom struggle. Supriya Kelkar is one such author whose could make the impossible seem possible.
The story is about Anjali who was brought up amidst luxury. Till the time her mother joined the freedom struggle, she was unaware pf what is happening around her. Once she opened her eyes, she could see that the life and the world around is not what could be seen on the periphery. She decides to side with her mother and do whatever possible from her end. She cleans toilet, convinces her Dalit friends to come to school and do everything in her possibility to eradicate inequality. While Anjali is trying to do her part, her mother gets arrested and a communal riot erupts. Anjali is heartbroken to see that her best friend Irfan is on the other sight of the fight and her innocent friendship gets affected. Further what happens make the rest of the story.
How the author conveys her messages about Ahimsa,equality and relationships. Most of the Indians have only academical knowledge about the freedom struggle and tends to imbibe everything the Gandhiji said. The rift between Gandhiji and B.R. Ambedkar regarding the names Harijan and Dalit and that the backward caste or the untouchables preferred the term Dalit would be a new revelation to many Indians.
Overall the book is educating, empowering and engaging. The style of narration is such that the kids will be engaged and at the same time author has set a benchmark that enables the kids to develop their language. The characters are ideal and hence the kids have a lot to learn from the kind of transformation that happens to the characters, especially Anjali, Irfan and Suman.
Verdict
Educating, empowering and engaging
Scenario: 5/5
Narration : 5/5
Character : 5/5
Entertainment Quotient: 5/5
This review is in return of a free book from the publisher
