Book Review – “Cheenu’s Gift”
Earlier this month, we were giving out review copies of few of our books. We were excited to hear what all of you thought of our books (the good things and the bad things!) and hope that this feedback from people (educators, parents, book lovers, children) will help us create better books and help you choose books for your own kids.
This detailed book review comes from Malavika.
p { margin-bottom: 0.21cm; } Cheenu’s gift This is the charming story of a small boy called Cheenu. The story unfolds a routine day in the life of the boy. Cheenu, after school, is shown to eagerly await his father’s arrival. Once the school is over, he happily hops on to his father’s cart and trudges onto a journey of collecting old, unused paper, magazines and bottles from people. Though poor, Cheenu is a self satisfied child and requires just a good book or a magazine to be happy with. It is for this, that he accompanies his father everyday from school. He does not mind extending a helping hand to his father, who was a kabadiwala and had to usher in loads of heavy weight sacks, all full of the disposed stuff, everyday. Cheenu helps him right from weighing the disposed things to pushing the heavily loaded cart. In spite of juggling between school and work, he often got his treats. He received fun filled rides in lifts, sometimes good books and magazines, for absolutely free!!! The story has a hidden meaning too. It subtly portrays the need to find contentment around us. For instance, though not so privileged, Cheenu, found his way out to happiness. Though he had the monotonous and odd-job of assisting his father to work, every day after school, he extracted happiness out of it too. He enjoyed his trip and looked forward to it every day. This teaches a lesson to those privileged ones, who constantly are on the lookout of material things for fun. They forget to appreciate the joys associated with the simple things on life. The story is perfectly told against the backdrop of a picturesque landscape. Be it the bricked walls and thatched rooftops of school, the colorful attire of people or the varied greenery done up in stripes, dots and solid colors, the graphics are a perfect simulation of an animated movie. The change in landscapes, in terms of the color contrast of trees and fields look pleasant and welcoming. Children or readers of the book will have lots of reason to cheer. Simple and effective narration followed by delightful visual images make it quite readable. Even the interiors of Cheenu’s house, bearing a minimalistic look, have a homely appeal. All thanks to the writer-illustrator duo of Sridala Swami and Sanjay Sarkar who have done a commendable job of thoroughly entertaining their readers.
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