Tuesday, April 27, 2010

The Laughing Onion

Title : The Laughing Onion
Author : Arun Elassery
Illustrator : Anita Varma
Publisher : Eklavya

What happens when a little boy of 2-1/2 years decides to replace his Naana in telling a story one night against the protests of his elder sister? What story will his innocent mind weave?

A Laughing Onion that eats a Deer - becomes the first character in the story !!? Do you think this is a little confusing? So did his Naana. But the little child explains that a Laughing Onion lives in the forest and looks like a dog and says - Huh Huh Huh. Can you guess who it could be?
Let me help you a little here, he meant a laughing hyena. The laughing "Onion" eats the deer. After having made his Naana and sister understand, the relieved boy moves the story forward - 'Thhen' there is a monkey who gets angry. 'Thhen' there is a bird. 'Thhen' there is an angry lion and 'Thhen' back to their home. I think you got a glimpse of the flight of the budding story teller's mind.

While reading this book, I was reminded of the phase when my kids had their unique nomenclature for some things and we used to wonder how on earth do they relate the seemingly unrelated words to those things but that is how new and fresh minds work - thinking absolutely out of the box for which we mature minds strive so hard. Another thing that enthralled me is the beginning of each sentence, exactly the way kids feel the need to accentuate the sequence of events by prefixing every sentence with a 'Then' (as we speak Hindi at home, it is - 'Phir' always).

A thin book of just 15 pages with beautiful clear illustrations sprawled on full pages with small windows for the text. Anita Varma has used different bright colors to depict the story track of the little boy and white/black/grey to portray the night time. A lovely treat for children of 2-5 years age group.

6 comments:

utbtkids said...

Okay the libraries here have to carry books from Indian publishers.

Such wonderful concept, I would like to read this with my children.

sandhya said...

Nice pick, Vibha. I loved the 'phir' link.

Power Point Slide Shows said...

Good Work

Sheela said...

Sounds delightful, Vibha, thanks for the pick! So true how kids' minds work regarding unique nomenclature as you put it!

sathish said...

reminds me how sooraj used to tell his stories when he was younger - a lot of 'Thens'!

Praba Ram said...

Cute pick. The mutual sense of relief when the adult actually gets what the toddler is trying to say, can be priceless. Yes, as for the "and then...and then... ", in any language, precious. :)

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