Book Review : Too Many Bananas

Via Saffron Tree

“Too many bananas” is a heart warming and a simple story, which appealed to all of us at home. We were at our library the last weekend for a story telling session followed by Origami based on the book – Grandpa Cherry blossom and other folk tales from Japan. Pratham books had organised the event and there were quite a number of their titles for display and sale that day. In my eagerness, I started picking the books that I was familiar with, as gifts. Meanwhile Sooraj had picked this book and finished reading it. He said that he liked the book so much that he wanted me to buy it. “But if you have read it already, why do you want to buy it? ” asked me with a big load of books in my hand. He insisted and I gave in, without looking so much at the book ! It was a good thing because it turned out that it charmed each of us in it’s own way.

The story line is simple and beautiful; the sentences short and easily understandable for little kids. What I loved was the usage of words and pictures culturally relevant to the state in which the story is set(Karnataka). Sringeri is the name of a famous temple town of Karnataka, which is home to the Sharada temple. Shivanna is a common name here in Karnataka. Dodda- ooru in Kannada literally means means “big town” ! There is complete harmony in the pictures and words. The illustrations are very striking and expressive and it is clear that a lot of effort has gone into them. The funny facial expressions evoked lot of giggles ! Both my son and husband were completely bowled over by the the colourful pictures in the book.

Read the entire review here. And make sure you scroll down to see Sathish’s comment about how Sringeri has become Sooraj’s muse…:).